Who Established the First Printing House in Turkey?
The person who established the first printing press in Turkey was born in 1674 in the city of Kolojvar in Hungary. The same person, who later became İbrahim Müteferrika, was the child of a poor family. When he was still a child, he was sent to a seminary to study to become a Protestant pastor. In 1692, Hungarian King Tökeli İmre was fighting on the same side with the Ottoman army against the Austrians. The 18-year-old seminary student, who was on the side of the Austrians because he was Protestant, was captured by the Ottomans in a war after the Second Vienna siege. He was brought to Istanbul and sold as "slave" in the slave market. The man who bought it was harsh, ruthless, and rude. The young man, who could not bear this situation, accepted Islam. He took the name Abraham. Later, he wrote the work called "Risale-i Islamiye", which was full of sincere praise for Turkishness and Islam. The writing of this book coincides with the years 1711 - 1714. İbrahim was a smart and really knowledgeable man. He knew Hungarian, Latin and other western languages. He also learned Turkish, Arabic and Persian. Especially after he wrote the book called "Risale-i Islamiye", he was admired by Nevşehirli İbrahim Pasha, the governor of the Grand Viziership. Printing press
İbrahim Pasha, who later became the Grand Vizier, took him under his protection. Nevşehirli İbrahim Pasha was a person who wanted to make innovations related to western thought and civilization. İbrahim Efendi, who was taken into the state service, was appointed to a political mission in Vienna with the rank of "Muteferrika" in 1715. It was given to the King of Middle Hungary (Erdel-Transylvania) Rakoçi. He also held other assignments. In 1719, together with Mehmet Çelebi's son, Sait Mehmet Efendi (who later became grand vizier, Twenty-eight Çelebizade Sait Mehmet), who had returned from his embassy in France, they applied to Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha to open a printing house and print books. İbrahim Pasha did not spare any kind of help and largely effective support. They opened the first Turkish printing house (printing house), with only İbrahim Müteferrika occupied with technical works. Here, as the first work, the great "Vankulu Lügati" was published in two volumes. Grand Vizier Damat İbrahim Pasha also gave a fatwa stating that the printing of non-religious books was not considered objectionable in terms of Sharia. However, deeply religious and bigoted people were still discontented. After the first eight ten works were published, Sait Efendi İbrahim Müteferrika had the first printing press brought from Vienna by the letter (type) smelters and the rights to be brought, in 1726. The printing business, as well as his enterprise and breakthrough, stopped.Afterward, İbrahim Müteferrika was able to obtain a new edict from Mahmut I only to publish a book in his own name.
