Istanbul+Neighborhoods

=**Istanbul Neighborhoods :**= Kadıköy Sultanahmet Tophane Yeşilköy The Blue Mosque Square Beşiktaş Karşıyaka (in the city of İzmir) Nışantaşı Ortaköy

=**Kadıköy**=

Kadıköy shows Istanbul’s identity as a city of diversty with a variety of people,having suitable places related with their needs.Churches,mosques and synogogues for religiuos activities and restaurants,shopping centres for people from every class are from these places.While for middle-class the narrow side streets of Kadıköy are packed with all kinds of cafes,bars,restaurants, historic cinema buildings with market area which is mostly closed traffic,away from the centrum there are expensive shops and the area more upmarket further down the coast.All these places are very attractive and make people feel the joy of crowd. Therefore this neighborhood is accessible place for everyone. Kadıköy Fish Market / Bahariye Street = = =SULTANAHMET= 
 * Neslihan Kılıç**
 * Pınar ÜNAL**

Most people, who live in Istanbul, or come from abroad for touristic reasons, think Sultanahmet is the initial place of the historical relics of civilizations which existed once in Istanbul. . With Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and the other places like museums, palaces. Sultanahmet reflects not only country’s history but also the people who belong to other cultures such as Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Egyptian. So Sultanahmet represents Istanbul in historical and touristic ways. Tourists, who come to Istanbul, first want to visit Sultanahmet because it reflects the culture and history. For example, Hagia Sophia was cathetral at the time of Roman. It was constructed in five years. Then it turned into mosque at the Otoman Emprime’s time, now it is a museum and in restoration in Turkish Republic. It is the oldest and the most swiftly constructed cathedral in the world. With all of these reasons, it still creates interest on people. On the other hand, Blue Mosque which is in Sultanahmet, shows the marvellous architectural style with its six minarets, magnificent ceramics, the technics that were used in the costruction of it. With the perspective of historical tourism, Sultanahmet is a neighbourhood which tourists must visit when they come to Istanbul.

== HAGIA SOPHIA MUSEUM BLUE MOSQUE

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=TOPHANE=


 * Berfin Beşiroğlu**

With the tramway system, American Bazaar and with the lasting structures such as Tophane-i Amire, Tophane Fountain and two mosques (Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque and Nusretiye Mosque), Tophane represents Istanbul's identity as a modern place which combines //history// and //culture//.

on the left: Nusretiye Mosque (1826) right: Tophane-i Amire

Tophane Fountain (1973)

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=YEŞİLKÖY= == seaboard of Yeşilköy and one of the "Art Nouveau" houses. == Atatürk Airport and Aviation Museum another part of the coast (there is a church)
 * Berfin Beşiroğlu**

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=THE BLUE MOSQUE SQUARE=

**ŞULE KARATAŞ**

 * The Blue Mosque Square draws tourists from all over the world because of the many attractions it has.The first thing that comes to mind is the historical richness of this area.There are many monuments, museums,mosques,churches dating back to early civilization,attracting many people.The second thing that I want to mention is the natural beauty it has.Being situated on the tip of the Eminönü peninsula the Blue Mosque Square has magnificance view of Bosphorus.Because of historical and natural beauties of the Blue Mosque Square many people flock there from all over the world.

**

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=**BEŞİKTAŞ**=

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 * //Beşiktaş is a place that consists of many historic, touristic and also famous parts of Istanbul. There is a clear connection between Beşitaş's fame and its uniqueness. Because it is a center of historical sites, education and culture and a focal point of architecture, we can say that it is a center of art, as well and this is what makes Beşiktaş attractive and the first of all the neigborhoods that are visible in Istanbul, even in Turkey .//**=====



**Ortaköy Mosque / Dolmabahçe Palace**
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=**Karşıyaka - A neighborhood in İzmir, a city on the Aegean in Southern Turkey Şevki Hasırcı**=



 To think of towns as groups of people who are bound by geography, and that is the only thing that’s common amongst the groups where the same area code is shared, would be a generalization. Take, for instance Karsiyaka –casually located in the Aegean sea on the opposite side of a U shaped bay from where the vast majority of the city of Izmir’s heterogenic population is located. In fact, the name explains itself because Karsi means opposite and yaka means coast. Karsiyaka is one of three neighborhoods in Turkey that didn’t enforce a strict dress code for government officials because the level prosperity was higher than the other towns in Turkey. So what makes Karsiyaka different then the other towns in Izmir (known as “Smyrna” in ancient Greek), or for that matter,any other neighborhood in Turkey? When I was young I didn’t have a good understanding of the phrase “I am not from Izmir! I am from Karsiyaka.” Later in life – like anything good that comes with age – came the realization that this neighborhood is not just like the others in that it has a sense of identity but much stronger than in other places. One of the things that people from Karsiyaka are most proud of would be that Karsiyaka is its own domainprovince. Like the other provinces (centered around cities) Karsiyaka has its own license plate number: thirty-five and a half. The license plates in Turkey all start with two numbers that show where the driver is from, and these numbers go up in alphabetical order; for example, 34 is Istanbul and 35 is Izmir. My interpretation of the fraction that people add for Karsikaya is that Karsiyaka is like thirty five (which is Izmir’s license plate number) but half notch better. Karsiyaka is almost universally identified with this number. It can be seen on walls as graffiti, on jerseys, on fans online handles and pretty much where ever you look. Where ever I go, when I uttered the words “I am from Karsiyaka” a prompt response was given “not from Izmir huh?” or “thirty five and a half right?” Objection granted, I am looking forward to these kinds of responses, so I can tell how great it is to live in Karsiyaka and how it’s a privilege and not a right to live in Karsiyaka. Coming back to the issue of quality of life (prosperity), people who live in Karsiyaka are nice towards each other. For example if you forget to put cre dits in to your bus pass any random stranger will offer you his/her pass and will not ask for any payment in return. If you live outside of Karsiyaka you might have a hard time getting used to seeing people smile for no apparent reason and saying hi to total strangers. Karsiyaka is not just a town it’s a very tight community, it is common for neighbors to help each other out or for a young man to be really defensive of a girl he has only just met. This is what being a community is for Karsiyaka: sticking up for each other. Karsiyaka amongst other things has an amazing history. In its earlier days Karsiyaka had a lot of migration, such as Bosnian immigrants who were running from the Serbian tyranny. One of them was my great grandfather who left everything he had in what’s now Bosnia to be at peace in Turkey with his family. The reason that they came to Turkey was that Turkey accepted political refugees from other countries just like the Ottoman Empire did with the Sephardic Jews that fled the Catholic tyranny during the Inquisition. When my great grandfather and the rest of his family came to Izmir after what must have been a long and exhausting run, they were issued a piece of land in central Afyon, but as a great twist of fate my grandfather didn’t like the land he was given and he started to pay rent for a piece of land in Karsiyaka. For over two years he wrote to Ataturk (the great founder of our country) regarding the piece of land he nurtured. Two years later he was summoned to the governor’s office to be informed about some new information about the land. The governor kindly informed my great grandfather that he was awarded the land by Ataturk himself with a personal response. He also ordered the the governor to pay back the rent that my great grand father paid. The governor asked my great grandfather to donate the document to the governor’s office as it was probably the first in Turkey’s history and and the only personal item in that office from Ataturk. Much like human beings, towns with identities have souls; they live, they breathe, they grow and fight. To make the metaphor complete, just as human beings are made of cells, towns are made of human beings. The soul, the identity of a town whether it’s thirty-five and a half or Smallville U.S.A., is embodied by the people that live in them. Just like my great grandfather’s story, Karsiyaka is full of history like that. I haven’t felt this great of a town sprit anywhere else in the world. I always thought that the theme song for Cheers was about Karsiyaka, because if you are from Karsiyaka you cannot call where ever you lay your head home and it kills you inside to know when you are far from home – it is not as easy as tapping your shoes together to go home.



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=Nişantaşı= Nişantaşı is doubtlessly the most important shopping and fashion center of Istanbul. Its name originates from the target stones which were built during the Ottoman period. The district has 4 main avenues: Teşvikiye Avenue, Valikonağı Avenue, Abdi İpekçi Avenue and Rumeli Avenue. In Teşvikiye Avenue which starts in Maçka and goes to Valikonağı. There you can you can see the most luxurious cars and the most elegant people of Istanbul of course along with the special stores which stock the most expensive brands.



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=ORTAKÖY=

Deniz Aysu Tavşanlı
=== Istanbul is the most crowded city of the Turkey. Because of Istanbul’s population, it is the third city in the Europe, and it takes place in eighth sequence in the world. Istanbul is the centre of culture and finance of the Turkey. In the past, Istanbul had plyed capital city to some Empires, such as, Ottoman, Rome, East Rome and Latin Empire. Some neighbourhoods of Istanbull still carry on this history, like Ortaköy, and Ortaköy explicitly shows Istanbul’s identity as a city in between diversity ethnic religions. ===
 * ORTAKÖY MOSQUE**

THE BOSPHORUS

ORTAKÖY SQUARE