Page 192 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 3

Exemplary Civilization in Sustainable Water Management from
The Perspective of Environmental History: The Ottoman State

water without causing damage to the environment. In addition, it is due to
the fact that the Chief Architect, with an insight, fulfilled his duty properly and
it contributed to the survival of such an important structure as Hagia Sophia
to this day. The preservation of historical artifacts with this approach serves as
a source of inspiration for today.

The Ottoman’s Foundation (Waqf) Waters
Foundations, which show a sense of solidarity in society and provide
various services for different purposes to eliminate poverty, undoubtedly
had an important place in the Ottoman lands. There are a large number
of foundations that provide water services, as it is a society that considers
the provision of water as charity according to its beliefs. In this context, the
foundations that started their activities in the period of Orhan Gazi, one of the
founding sultans of the Ottoman Empire, provided water supply services to
the city with the help of canals after the conquest of Bursa. Studies have shown
that the Ottoman state, which adopted the approach that “running water is
clean” due to its beliefs, preferred running water over the cisterns used for
stagnant water that were preferred in Byzantine water structures (Sağır, 2016).
Care was taken to ensure that water flowed continuously from the fountains in
the neighborhoods thanks to the foundations built with this mindset (Şensoy,
2005). Water tanks with wells (şadırvan), fountains, dispensers, Turkish baths,
ponds, reservoirs, etc., which were constructed with this sensitivity, have
survived to this day (Eroğlu, 2000).
The foundations, which played an active role since the establishment of
the Ottoman state, undertook a mission that was encountered for the first
time during this period with the experience and deep-rooted knowledge they
had gained. In this context, the European travelers of the period expressed
in their notes their admiration for the establishment of the foundations for
the maintenance, purification and provision of running waters, which were
originally established for charitable purposes (Topal, 2015). The Ottoman
Empire, which was appreciated by European travelers for the methods it used,
also showed a meticulous approach to the supervision of the foundations
operating in almost every stage of water management. In one of the court
documents mentioned as an example in this regard, it was revealed that some
people in the administration had built a fountain in front of their houses with
the water of the Can Feda Hatun Foundation. After the state authorities were
informed about this situation, the mentioned persons were forbidden to use
the water of the foundation and the necessary criminal measures were taken
(Gültepe, 2000). It should be noted that the Ottoman state, as an exemplary
model in the use of water, did not allow people who did not have the right

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