Turkey to pay wages of imams in flood-hit Bosnia

ANKARA

Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs will lend its helping hand to Bosnia-Herzegovina which is hit by floods. AA Photo

Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has decided to pay the wages of imams in flood-hit Bosnia-Herzegovina, in addition to restoring mosques and other religious service buildings that have been damaged in the flood.

“At the moment, the number of damaged mosques is over 10. Among them, there is the Recep Yazıcıoğlu Mosque in Maglaj, which was built by Turkey. These mosques need to be rebuilt,” Deputy Director-General of the Diyanet Foundation (TDV) Mustafa Tutkun told state-run Anadolu Agency on May 25.

“In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the wages of imams are paid by the local [Muslim] communities. Every mosque has a membership system. The community that is a member of a certain mosque pays the wages of the imam there ... Imams are not able to get their wages, as people have also suffered material losses. So until the situation of imams in flood-hit cities gets back to normal, we plan to make the payment as Turkey’s Diyanet Foundation,” Tutkun said.

He also touched on a recent visit made by his foundation to disaster-hit Bosnia-Herzegovina, during which aid packages and financial assistance worth 150,000 euros were distributed. The funding will be spent by the TDV’s councilor in the country in line with the needs of the people, he added.

The TDV will also lead a restoration of flood-damaged cemeteries in Bosnia-Herzegovina and distribute scholarships to religious vocational schools in Turkey known as “imam-hatip” high schools, Tutkun added.