the fire location.
"Following the first arrivals to the fire location and the first pumping of water at 11:01 p.m. with the help of the above groups, water has been provided from the pool Beyazıt Square; the cistern in the courtyard of Nuruosmaniye Mosque; pool at Süleymaniye Mosque; cistern at Trade Inn; cistern at Kizılay Inn; 100 millimiter hydrants at Çarşıkapı Police Station, Çadırcılar, Hakkâtlar, Makascılar Street,

Besides this, the Fire Brigade Chief Tevfik Himalaya and his Assistant Tarık Özaycı and the other members of the brigade who fought this fire have been awarded in accordance to their ranks with various gifts as decided by City Council's decision dated 23rd of February 1955, registery number 1676/3270.
Istanbul Jewellers and Goldsmiths Association has also presented awards at the on 28 Feb.

Feb. 1995. They were as follows:
1. A silver cigarette box to the Fire Brigade Chief Tevfik Himalaya.
2. In the name of Cevahir Bedesten Goldsmiths a silver cigarette box to Fire Brigade Assistant Chief Tarık Özaycı.
3. A silver cup to Istanbul Central Fire Brigade Group.
4. A silver cup to Beyoğlu Regional Fire Brigade Group.
5. A silver cup to Üsküdar Regional Fire Brigade Group.
6. A silver cup to Kadıköy Regional Fire Brigade Group.
7. A silver cup to Bakırköy Regional Fire Brigade Group.
These gifts and awards are important for the sprit of the Fire Brigade. Our fire brigades are always humble and they feel really elevated when they extinguish a fire with minimum loss. This success is the most valuable prize for them."
The central and local governments went to the Bazaar's aid immediately. For the very needy barracks were built immediately at the courtyard of adjacent Nuruosmaniye Mosque within a month. The governor and mayor of Istanbul Prof. Fahrettin Kerim Gökay delivered the following speech at the opening ceremony of these barracks on 29 December 1954 just before New Year's Eve:
Dear fellow citizens
Turkish nation, with its great endurance and energy has immediately sided up with you to help you rid of your grievance.
From the very first moment onwards our President, Prime Minister, all related ministries, and all local authority executives are now in your assistance.
The sorrows of the Turkish nation have in the past been overcome by national unity.
The size of your grievance, as my friend earlier stated, has found echoes not only in our country but universally.
But the gentle hand of the state is returning a seventh of the victims back to their business today. I said a seventh, as some of the shops were twin shops the initial figure of 500 victims was brought up to round 700. Then there was the people employed by the shops.
These are just temporary barracks. Be sure that your shops at the Bazaar will be returned back to you in a very near future, without any infringement of your legal rights. The work is on its way.
We will soon deliver the temporary barracks being set up between the courtyard of the Sehzade Mosque and Mercan District.
The days of sorrow in the Turkish history have already ended. In these last days of the year, here at the holy courtyard of the blessed Nuruosmaniye Mosque I hope and wish that these temporary barracks bring you luck in the coming new year. I pray to God Almighty that our nation has no further sufferings and we all have sunny days ahead. With all my respects.

(*) Tarık Özavcı, İstanbul Yangınları 1923-965, İstanbul, Ekin Basımevi, 1965, s.117-1119.
(**) İstanbul Vali ve Belediye Reisi Ord. Prof. Dr. F. K. Gökay' ın 1951-1955 Konuşmaları. İstanbul, Belediye Matbaası, 1957. s. 203

Grand Bazaar is a sealed box" wrote Orhan Veli the famous Turkish poet. Although this was a rather poetic, the verse reflected a reality on the history of the Grand Bazaar. Considering that the Grand Bazaar has been Istanbul's main trade and crafts center for hundreds of years, where culture and trade have blended, precious objects of art have been produced and sold, there is hardly any written material on the Grand Bazaar. Books by Çelik Gülersoy, Efdalettin Tekiner and Orhan Erdenen plus a couple of booklets that describe Grand Bazaar are all that are available and even those are very difficult to find. But the fact remains that volumes and volumes can be written on the Bazaar and trade, crafts and arts that exists in the Grand Bazaar, some of which have already perished.
Research must be made on social life, trade activities and the cultural changes at the Grand Bazaar. It is the intention of this article to fill in a minute hole in the dark curtins of history of the Bazaar: Here is an brief study coming out of this sealed box: The brief history of the Grand Bazaar fires. Istanbul has suffered numerous fires of all scales throughout its long history. Grand Bazaar is a part of this city that has had its fair share of fires. Unfortunately only little information is available on fires of the Grand Bazaar although they have had a tremendous effect on both physical and social changes. We intend to start with the disasterous fire of 1954 which lead to the present formation of the Bazaar.Here we present two important documents concerning that fire. One of these documents is the report of the Fire Brigade Assistant Director's, who led the firemen at that time. The second is the speech of the Governor and Mayor of Istanbul Fahrettin Kerim Gökay during the opening ceremony of the temporary barracks that were built in the garden of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque. Our first document is the Fire Brigade's report on the fire:
"Report on the fire that took place in Grand Bazaar on 26 November 1954
"In November 26, 1954, at 10:53 p.m. Kumkapi Police Superintendent Hüseyin received a call from 26 434 and was informed that there is a fire under the church facing the Gedikpaşa Public Baths. A fire engine was requested and from Istanbul Group, under the command of Assistant Chief Yakup Karaoğlu, a fire engine was sent immediately. Just after the corner of Çarşıkapi Police Station towards Gedikpaşa, police and the people in the streets warned that the fire was at the bazaar and not the church. The engine went straight to the Bazaar's gate only to see that interior of the bazaar was on ablaze. Immediately the fire brigade headquarters switchboard was informed about the situation and asked for assistance. Meanwhile the fire was seen from Beyazıt and Galata fire watch towers and informed all teams.
"At 10:56 p.m. seven fire engines and four mobile water pumps were sent from the Istanbul Group and when they reached the fire location, it was understood that the shops at Kalpakçılar Avenue and in the streets towards Örücüler were on fire. The flames were so strong that entry to the bazaar was impossible. At 11:01 p.m. water was pumped through the doors, but since it was seen that the fire was spreading very rapidly and reaching out of the Bazaar at Cami Street of Hüseyinağa District, further assistance was requested from the brigade switchboard. At 11:14 p.m. the first team of the Beyoğlu Group, at 11:16 p.m. the Bakırköy Group, at 11:24 p.m. the second team of Beyoğlu Group, at 11:37 p.m. the engines of Üsküdar Group and at 01:12 a.m. the engines of Kadıköy Group have reached

Yeniçeri Street in front of the gas station and Fuatpaşa Street; 60 millimeter hydrants at Çakmakçılar slope and the Tavukpazarı; 100 millimeter hydrants Vezirhan Avenue and Kürkçüler Avenue; 60 millimeter hydrants at Hüseyinaga Mosque Street; 110 millimeter hydrants at the Grand Bazaar Goldsmiths Street. Entering the bazaar with water pipes from the Yorgancılar door that was opened by the people to save the merchandise in their shops and from the Bitpazarı and Örücüler firemen entered the Bazaar and water was pumped from 40 different spots. Fighting intensely, the firemen stopped the spreading of the fire on 27 November 1954 at 1:00 a.m. by 6:00 a.m. the same day it was a smoldering wreck and 12:00 a.m. it was totally extinguished.
"It's understood that the fire started at Davud's quilt shop No: 6-8 from quilts and cotton catching fire from an electric short circuit.
"The factors that caused the fire to spread can be listed as follows:
a) The flammable materials in the shops adjacent to the shop where fire started, have been placed very close to the electric wires and acted as wick. Plywood, cardboard and paint on shop windows further assisted the spread.
b) Wind from the shattered windows and the gates which were opened caused an air current that helped the fire to reach the displays and jump to the shops in the row.
c) The gunpowder dealers and the eau de cologne shops and the easily flammable materials in these shops.
d) The easily flammable materials such as straw, cotton, varnish kept in the furniture shops.
e) Existence of plenty of pudding, milk, köfte (meat-balls) and other eateries in the Bazaar.
f) Animals such as cats and rats running around burning.
"The result: After the fire was extinguished, it's been estimated that around 1200 shops were burnt but following inspections it has been concluded that within the bazaar, a total of 1364 shops -74 completely and 1290 partially- effected. Outside the Bazaar the figure remained at 30.
"This fire had caused 15,000,000 liras worth of losses and the insurance companies have paid out 7,034,168 liras in compensation, which is enough to explain the size of the disaster.
"The Chief of Fire brigade Tevfik Himalaya, his Assistant Tarık Özavcı, İstanbul Region Group Chief İsmail Koca, Beyoğlu Regional Group Chief Cemal Oral, Ali Demirel with (registery number 493), Cafer Aydın (registery number 444) and Zeynel Öztürk (registery number 197) have been rewarded with a wristwatch by the government for their success during the operation.