A devastating blaze has all but destroyed one of the last remaining institutions of the city’s once huge Greek community, leaving everyone in grief.
Fire blazing at Istanbul Balikli Greek Hospital. Photo: Istanbul Municipality
A fire in Istanbul’s Balikli Greek Hospital on Thursday has left the buildings in ruins and forced the evacuation of patients.
Istanbul city authorities confirmed that there were no deaths and injuries. The fire was under control by late Thursday night.
“Our elderly and patients in the patient care centre were evacuated after the fire broke out in our Balıklı Greek Hospital in Zeytinburnu, Our centuries-old healing centre. Thankfully, we had no casualties or injuries. We are following developments on the ground,” Ali Yerlikaya, Istanbul City Governor, said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown but is to be investigated Istanbul Fire Department said.
Balıklı Rum Hastanesi’nde çıkan yangın ekiplerimizin müdahalesi sonucu söndürüldü. pic.twitter.com/Lc2L6IKSA4
— İstanbul İtfaiyesi (@ibbitfaiye) August 4, 2022
The Balikli Greek Hospital is one of the oldest and most prestigious hospitals in Istanbul.
Run by the city’s now shrunken Greek community, it was established in the late-18th century in Zeytinburnu, just outside Istanbul’s ancient city walls.
The head of the global Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople Bartholomew, said he thanked God no lives were lost.
“We thank Almighty God that there was no loss of life, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the state and municipal authorities, as well as the firefighters, nursing home and hospital workers, and everyone who volunteered to put out the fire and save the nursing home residents,” Bartholomew said.
The Greek embassy in Ankara expressed its grief.
“Deeply saddened and moved by the destruction of the nursing home of Balıklı Hospital, one of the historic foundations of the Istanbul Greeks. … Looking forward to seeing it reborn from its ashes,” the embassy in Ankara wrote on Twitter.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also followed the incident, calling the director of the hospital in person.
Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu News Agency reported that Erdogan assured Stati Leana, the hospital director, that repairs and reconstruction will start soon.
Balikli Greek or Rum Hospital is one of the three remaining hospitals run by the small Greek minority in Turkey. The hospital provides health services but also serves as a nursing home for the Greek elderly.
The Greeks or Rum were once a huge community in what was then Constantinople.
They numbered nearly 1.8 million in the country back in 1910 but the community was devastated following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War 1.
Subsequent Turko-Greek wars and a population exchange agreed between Turkey and Greece in 1923 reduced millions to a few thousand. An anti-Greek pogrom in the 1950s got rid of most of the Greeks who had remained in the city.
According to some estimates, the Greek community in Turkey today comprises only 3,000 to 5,000 people, mostly living in Istanbul.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
