On the occasion of Eid-al-Fitr, “ALSAR” Foundation, arranged a reception ceremony at its premises, where representatives from the local government, various personalities in the field of culture, art, and civil society participated.

The Head of ALSAR Foundation, Mr. Mehdi Gurra, during the ceremony of this festive day that radiates the values of humanitarian solidarity, expressed among other things his gratitude to the representatives of local government for their cooperation in their common mission, to help people in need, stating also that the institution he directs, under the frame of fulfilling its social welfare program, will carry on its activity of modest help-giving and extending a charitable hand, wherever there are people in need, so as to alleviate their economic and social problems.

This is a special day that acts as a reflection opportunity in order to contribute more to a brighter future of the society and the Albanian nation.

In the frame of the volunteering projects cultural activities, the excellent students of “ALSAR” Foundation have arranged two activities on the review of literary works.

In the activity, the review of the work written by Prof. Dr. Mehmet Maksudoglu and entitled “Ottoman History and Institutions” was presented. The main speaker in this activity was a student from the Faculty of History and Philology, namely Indrit Qehajaj.

In his presentation, he highlighted the values and facts that this book by Prof. Dr. Maksudoglu is based on authentic documents, written at a time when they were very influential. The speaker argues that unlike other empires of human society in the history, the Ottoman Empire has functioned as Devlet founded (based) on the principles of Quran that cultivated mentality and practices of respecting cultures and ways of economic, social, educational and artistic of different peoples.

The discussion was also focused on the religious tolerance that prevailed in the Ottoman Devlet and the policies that were followed to maintain such tolerance and to ensure every believer equal rights and the security of life, honor and wealth.

Students though to go beyond the Ottoman history, and to also discuss about the Albanian territories under the Ottomans. It was discussed about the systems that were used by the Ottomans, from pashaliks to Ismail Qemali. Based on the analysis and their evaluation, they valued that this book, directly and indirectly, shed light upon different matters of Albanian society development, from the beginning of the 15^th century to 1912.

In the auditorium, there were students from different faculties who congratulated the speakers on their review and the initiative undertaken by the excellent students of “ALSAR” Foundation, which aims to broaden their cultural horizon.

In the frame of the cooperation relations’ in the field of education and culture with the Faculty of History and Philology at the University of Tirana, the project “Book – the most precious gift” modestly aiming at the contribution to enriching its educational and academic institution’s student libraries was carried out at the university’s auditorium.

With the finalization of this project, 20 different books, publications of “ALSAR” Foundation, were donated to students, which are an authentic source of knowledge and provide them a wide range of knowledge and data from interesting research work and studies related to historical issues, culture and scientific research among which is distinguished series of “Kombiar Calendar (1897-1928)”, one of the greatest works of Albanian National Awakening.

Supporting the initiatives that aim at promoting the values of our culture and cultural heritage, the “ALSAR” Foundation has provided its contribution toward Women’s Museum, which is established to present through artefacts, documents or other objects of cultural value, the history of Albanian women in periods such as Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Ottoman Period, Renaissance and Independence, Monarchy, World War II, Communism and until today’s decades.

From the women perspective, the Women’s Museum is seen and represents their position in the family, contribution and impact on society to achieve civilization, emancipation and to have their rights.

By displaying personal objects, clothing, documents, filming, furnishings, books, and to any object that is in historic, spiritual and psychological function of women’s lives, the museum will provide unrevealed information. This will help to educate youth, who through the culture can cultivate their knowledge and historical memory.

Through its cultural programs, “ALSAR” Foundation is committed to preserving the values of our cultural heritage.

In the framework of cultural activities, the “ALSAR” Foundation organized a tourist vacation in Bosnia-Herzegovina aiming to become familiar with the cultural and historical inheritance of this place, located in our region.

The magic of this trip lies in the fact that it is worth to peacefully contemplate a place that you see for the first time, to satisfy the curiosity and emotions that conquered you days ago and to see beautiful and impressive things, objects and interesting landscapes.

This rare vacation did not thrill us only for the natural beauties, culture, historical objects with architectural values, order, human behavior, but also for the development of this place, known as Bosnia-Herzegovina.

We all know the bloody history of the most ethnic wild genocide, sincewhen20 years have passed and it is to be remembered as one of the most tragic events in the Balkans. Before the 90’s, Bosnia-Herzegovina for some decades was one of the six republics of Yugoslavia, a multiethnic state, where the most part was covered by Bosnians, others by Serbian and Croats.

The humble and culture-loving people of Bosnia-Herzegovina, who experienced the horror of absurd genocide from his neighbor, have highly preserved the evidence of ancient and new culture. The traces of that unprecedented conflict are still visible today in various buildings: houses, hotels, factories hit by bullets and missiles, as a natural museum of that page of history written in blood in the years 1992-1995. “Mostari” is one of the cities that suffered the most severe genocide.

During our trip, we stopped in this city, located in the middle of a large rocky gorge. What attracts you the most in Mostar is the bridge, the symbol of the city, known as “Bridge of Mostar”.

Neretva River passed dozens of bridges, but the most interesting is the Stone Bridge, a magnificent architectural construction. The five-hundred-year-old bridge was destroyed with artillery on 9 November 1993 by the Bosnian Croats’ army. The old bridge has not any strategic importance, but its destruction aimed at extinguishing a symbol of Ottoman culture. It was rebuilt 11 years after its destruction. After 7 years of intensive work, today stands again wonderfully with the same structure as the first, built during 1557-1566, under the orders of the Great Sultan Suleiman.

The next morning found us over Sarajevo, initially in Vrelo Bosne, a park that reminds you of Drilon in Pogradec. Sarajevo surprises you with its typical architecture. This reality is enough for us to understand the nature in one hand and the culture of its development in the other.

It is difficult to walk over the entire city of Sarajevo, but we as much as we saw, we remained quite satisfied and at the same time, surprised. Especially when we were in front of numerous mosques made us hesitate in our first encounter with their greatness and beauty.

You did not know what to see first, and still, we made dozens of photos in front of the 500-year-old Gazi Husref Bey Mosque, special for architectural values. A masterly artwork in technique and combinations.

The days were not enough to enjoy all these glamorous charms of Bosnia and Herzegovina. By showing you these pictures of those beauties during the days of this trip, we think we will transmit to you a little piece of those emotions we experienced in that short, but unforgettable stand.

Upon completion of the Turkish language teaching course for the residents of the Municipality of Kukës, the “ALSAR” Foundation in cooperation with the Municipality of Kukës, organized the solemn ceremony of awarding certificates to the students having attended this course.

In this event, we were honored with the participation of Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in our country, His Excellency Mr. Murat Ahmet Yörük, Mayor of Kukës Mr. Bashkim Shehu and Head of “ALSAR” Foundation, Mr. Mehdi Gurra.

In their greeting speeches, they appraised the role and contribution that this project offers in the framework of inter-institutional cooperation in the field of education and culture, considering this a great opportunity for all the interested learners and youth who want to expand the horizons of their culture and knowledge in foreign languages. Thanks to this, they will be able to benefit from international and contemporary education, to pursue their studies in Turkey either in secondary school or university.

The Turkish language teaching course in Kukës was regularly attended during the 2017-2018 school year by 130 students under the guidance of a professional teacher, who was assigned to work with this age group by employing contemporary methods blended with audio-visual programs to make these courses more appealing and to facilitate the effective knowledge absorption.

The implementation of this project is yet another successful cooperation between “ALSAR” Foundation and the Municipality of Kukës.