Istanbul has been occupied, looted, destroyed by earthquakes for centuries, but it does not suffer from anything as much as it suffers from fire. Majestic palaces, long bazaars, wooden mansions, inns; Along with the carved furniture, manuscripts, rare artifacts and memories inside, the memory of the city is lost in the great fires. Istanbul fires, which spread rapidly in windy and southwestern days and sometimes cover an entire district, not only burn buildings and take lives, but also cause political consequences. Due to the fire, the janissary aghas were exiled, the grand viziers were dismissed, the sultans wanted to be removed… Abdurrahman Kılıç; In the light of his own experiences and research, the relationship between wooden architecture and fire, the local and voluntary basis of firefighting, how it settled into the state system over time, as well as answers to questions such as what the sultan would do in a big fire, what was the duty of the axemen, why would the janissaries start a fire when they were uprising, how the fire was announced from the towers. reveals in detail in Istanbul Fire Towers and Screams. Abdurrahman Kılıç briefly explains his reason for preparing such a book as follows: “Fire is the old scourge of Istanbul… It has haunted Istanbul for centuries. He had destroyed a third of the city. Each time it started for a different reason, breaking the old capital’s bond with the past. One day he dismissed the grand viziers, one day he wanted to dismiss the sultans! Nice impoverished the owners of the mansion in an hour. Laws were enacted, punishments were brought, prayers were made, amulets were written, but fires could not be prevented, fires could not be dealt with. Buildings were destroyed in earthquakes, many lives were lost, but historical documents were saved; In the fires, all of them were destroyed and the traces of history were lost. In the absence of today’s technology, smoke and flame were observed from the roof of a high building or from the top of a tall tree, and later from fire towers. Today, fires can be monitored with automatic detection systems, infrared cameras and even satellites in order to receive early notice of fires, and people and organizations are immediately informed by wired or wireless warning systems. In our country, regular fire surveillance was first started at the Galata Tower, and then observation was made from the wooden fire kiosk built in Ağakapısı. Ağakapısı Fire Mansion was burned several times, sometimes intentionally, but it was still rebuilt as wood each time. After the Janissary Corps was closed, Ağakapısı was given to the Şeyhülislamlık, so it was decided to build the new tower in the garden of the Serasker Building (now Istanbul University Central Building). While it was being completed as wood in the garden of the Seraskerlik Building, it was burned by the old janissaries, and the current Beyazıt Fire Tower was built instead. During the construction and repair of the tower, fires were observed from the minarets of the Süleymaniye Mosque. After the start of the settlement in the Bosphorus, the fires increased here as well, and the Icadiye Fire Tower was built to monitor the fires in the Bosphorus. Historians have not paid much attention to the fire towers and the announcement of the fires. Compared to the information about the wars and statesmen, the history of the fire is given very little place. We obtain information about fire towers mostly from travel books, archive records, inscriptions and memories. However, especially in memories, we frequently encounter hearsay, distorted, biased and false news and exaggerated events. We find the generalization of individual events. Today, information pollution on the internet harms the learning of fire science and history. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation about the fire brigade, the firefighters, and the towers. Those living in Istanbul see the Beyazıt Tower and the Galata Tower, but most people think that they are just towers, thinner and higher than other buildings. The number of people who know that these towers have been used by the fire department for centuries is not high. I didn’t know either. During my time as the fire department (1989-94), every time I went out to Beyazıt Tower, I would look at the writing on the inscription at the entrance and not understand anything. Then I learned. I printed the inscription in Latin letters. I had it hanged by the officials in the tower and asked them to learn it themselves and tell them to those who came. I started collecting information about the tower, postcards and photographs. I had a project prepared to turn the tower into a firefighting museum, to separate it from the university and to provide its entrance by Bakırcılar Çarşısı. My aim was to open the tower, which was built for the fire brigade and used by the fire brigade, as a museum to the public and tourism; so that visitors would get to know the present fire brigade and its past, as well as watch the beautiful view of Istanbul. I talked to Cem Demiroğlu, the Rector of Istanbul University at the time, and wrote to the relevant institutions, but unfortunately I could not succeed in transferring the tower to the Municipality, I could not defeat the bureaucracy. It was at that time that I first thought of writing about fire towers. Towers are bridges connecting our past to our future. This bond must not be broken, it must be strengthened. He who does not know his past cannot design his future. I started to write this book by gathering the courage to contribute to the history of the fire department, even if it was just an iota. Although I make an effort to have few mistakes, of course there are mistakes and shortcomings. I would like to express my gratitude in advance for the support of our readers in completing the deficiencies and enriching the book.
