Historic Istanbul villa heavily damaged by fire

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The fire started at the historic Müşir Fuat Paşa Mansion’s roof at 6 a.m. AA photo

A fire broke out in a historic mansion which hosts Turkish Foreign Ministry’s occasional meetings in İstanbul’s Sarıyer district early this morning.

The historic Müşir Fuat Paşa Mansion’s roof was seriously damaged by the fire which started at 6 a.m. but firefighters managed to control the flames and there were no injuries, according to initial reports.

The Foreign Ministry’s Istanbul representative, Ambassador Mehmet Dönmez, said the fire had been totally extinguished and that the cause of the fire was unknown.

“It is estimated that an error in the electrical circuit has caused it, because the first flame was seen on a wall box,” he told the reporters.

The mansion, which was built in the second half of the 19th century, is located on Istanbul Bosporus Strait and has been used by the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) countries as a meeting point after being renovated in 1991.