The promotional program of the books “Tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina” and “Turkey’s Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sanjak Region” published by Union of Turkish World Municipalities (TDBB) was held at the campus of International University of Sarajevo (IUS) in the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 25, 2021.
The book promotion program was attended by Turkish Ambassador to Sarajevo Sadık Babür Girgin, Mayor of Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Yücel Yılmaz, Mayor of Beykoz Murat Aydın, Mayor of Bağcılar Lokman Çağırıcı, Mayor of Başiskele Yasin Özlü, Mayor of Karatay Hasan Kılca, TDBB Secretary General Fahri Solak, Rector of IUS Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yıldırım, author of Tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina Nihad Klincevic, author of Turkey’s Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sanjak Dr. Jahja Muhasilovic, faculty members and several guests.
TDBB Secretary General Fahri Solak, during the speech in the ceremony, explained that TDBB is an international organization with nearly 1200 member municipalities from 30 different countries which was established in 2003 by the decision of the Council of Ministers of Turkey. Solak also posited that they are promoting two important books today and added that “One of these books is named “Tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The author Nihad Klincevic compiled it, photographed all those tombs, and wrote the history and features of the historical tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the end, TDBB published this book in three languages, Turkish, English and Bosnian”.
Solak also gave information about the other book named “Turkey’s Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sanjak Region” and he expressed that “this book is work of a Bosnian researcher who completed his doctorate program in Turkey.”
Secretary General stated that he hopes the books will contribute to the intellectual life of Bosnia and Herzegovina and he said that, “I think tombstones are like the title-deeds of a country, because there are tombstones dating back centuries. We think this work is very important because they are photographed and presented to the international community in different languages”.
Moreover Solak noted the book named “Turkey’s Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sanjak Region” explained the last twenty years of Turkey-Bosnia-Herzegovina relations and he added that this book which was published in English, will reach a wide audience. Furthermore, Solak ended his speech after he thanked the managers of IUS for hosting the promotional program of the books.
The author of the book of “Turkey’s Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sanjak Region” Dr. Jahja Muhasilovic stated that the book is important for many reasons, for example it explains Turkey’s soft power and Turkey’s public diplomacy which is a tool for providing this soft power of Turkey. These are very remarkable topics in our region. The author also expressed that “In this book, I examined three types of Turkish public diplomacy: religious diplomacy, student exchange diplomacy (international student exchange, that is, foreign students studying in Turkey) and cooperation between local governments namely local diplomacy”.
Nihad Klincevic, the author of the book named “Tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina” stated that the work was completed as a result of many years of research and he added that “Each tombstone has its own universal story. They are not simply stones or pieces of rocks. Their story is not only related to the personality of the buried person. And I am honored that the book has been published in three languages by TDBB”.
Rector of IUS Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yıldırım stated during his speech that, “TDBB will conduct many important works during this visit, we know that. We are also very happy to host this program. I thank to directors of TDBB”.
Vice President of TDBB and Mayor of Beykoz Murat Aydın also expressed his pleasure about the publication of these two books, both of them are very important and also published by the Union. Aydın also pointed out that the Union publishes important prestigious books about each member country.
The ceremony ended with the presentation of appreciation plaques and the gifts of the signed books to the participants.
