Güngören is an industrial and working class residential district of
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. It is located near the district of
Bakırköy
Bakırköy is a neighbourhood, municipality and district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey. The quarter is densely populated, has a residential character and is inhabited by an upper middle class population. The municipality of Bakırköy ...
on the Çatalca Peninsula in the western half of
Istanbul Province
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_in ...
. It is the smallest district of Turkey in terms of land area with an area of 7 square kilometers. Güngören, which became a district on June 3, 1992, is adjacent to
Zeytinburnu
Zeytinburnu (literally, ''Olive Cape'') is a working-class neighbourhood, municipality (belediye) and district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the shore of the Marmara Sea just outside the walls of the ancient city, beyond the fortres ...
to the east,
Esenler
Esenler is a district of Istanbul, Turkey, on its European side. Esenler is mainly densely packed, working class residential in the midst of its industrial neighbouring districts of Gaziosmanpaşa, Güngören and Bağcılar. The mayor is Tevfik ...
,
Bakırköy
Bakırköy is a neighbourhood, municipality and district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey. The quarter is densely populated, has a residential character and is inhabited by an upper middle class population. The municipality of Bakırköy ...
in the south, and
Bahçelievler
Bahçelievler (meaning "houses with gardens" in Turkish) is a large middle class residential suburb of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European side of the city. It is accessible from the D.100 that runs from the Istanbul airport to the Asian side of ...
to the west. The district is now fully urbanized and consists of 11 neighborhoods. The mayor is Bünyamin Demir (
AKP). The district had a population of 283,083 in 2020, down from a peak of 318,545 in 2007.
History
Güngören was once primarily farmland set on rolling hills and was known by the village name of Vidos. Güngören, like neighboring
Zeytinburnu
Zeytinburnu (literally, ''Olive Cape'') is a working-class neighbourhood, municipality (belediye) and district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the shore of the Marmara Sea just outside the walls of the ancient city, beyond the fortres ...
and
Bagcilar have grown rapidly since the 1950s and in a largely unplanned way which has caused significant quality of life issues. Informally built
gecekondu
Gecekondu (Turkish for ''put up overnight'', plural gecekondular) is a Turkish word meaning a house put up quickly without proper permissions, a squatter's house, and by extension, a shanty or shack. Gecekondu bölgesi is a neighborhood made o ...
have been replaced with more formal apartment blocks while vacant land has been transformed into trade zones and industrial parks. The majority of the population is made up of migrants who arrived from rural
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
.
As metropolitan Istanbul grew, the national government developed
State road D.100 (Turkey)
D.100 is a west to east state road in Turkey. It starts at Kapıkule, the Bulgarian border check point, and ends in Gürbulak, the Iranian border check point.Vatan Türkiye Turizm Atlası, Boyut Yayıncılık, İstanbul, 2009 Since it runs all t ...
which runs through the center of the district. The construction of the highway led to the demolition of hundreds of informally built housing units but also made travel through the region significantly easier. In 1992, the T1 line of the
Istanbul Tram
The Istanbul Tram ( tr, İstanbul Tramvayı) is a modern tram system on the European side of Istanbul. The first section, the T1 opened in 1992, followed by the T2, which opened in 2006. In 2011, the T1 and T2 merged, with the line retaining ...
was extended through the neighborhood towards its terminus in
Bagcilar. The area is now served extensively by the
Metrobus (Istanbul)
The Metrobus ( tr, Metrobüs) is a bus rapid transit route in Istanbul, Turkey. The system has 45 stations that follow the city's ring road via Avcılar, Zincirlikuyu and the Bosphorus Bridge to Söğütlüçeşme using dedicated bus lanes ...
, M1A line of the
Istanbul Metro
The Istanbul Metro ( tr, İstanbul metrosu) is a rapid transit railway network that serves the city of Istanbul, Turkey. It is operated by Metro Istanbul, a company (formerly known as ''İstanbul Ulaşım A.Ş.'' before 2016), a public enterpris ...
and the
Istanbul Tram
The Istanbul Tram ( tr, İstanbul Tramvayı) is a modern tram system on the European side of Istanbul. The first section, the T1 opened in 1992, followed by the T2, which opened in 2006. In 2011, the T1 and T2 merged, with the line retaining ...
. Despite the evolution of the district into a formally built urban area serviced by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality it remains at high risk of damage due to earthquakes.
[http://itudergi.itu.edu.tr/index.php/itudergisi_a/article/viewFile/846/768] The area is increasingly the focus of both the national and municipal governments for reconstruction and retrofitting of existing structures in order to mitigate risk of collapse.
Güngören is a district with a variety of socio-economic issues including poverty, joblessness, poor education, pollution, poor quality construction and lack of green space. While originally catering to migrants from
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, the area is now home to a growing population of people from
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. The district was the site of the
2008 Istanbul bombings
The 2008 Istanbul bombings occurred on July 27, 2008 when two explosions hit a busy shopping street in the Güngören district of Istanbul, killing seventeen people, five of them children, and injuring 154. The attacks occurred at 9:45 p.m. ...
.
The area is hard to distinguish from neighboring districts. The southern and eastern part of the district along the D100 Highway is known as Merter and is primarily industrial. The northern and western parts of the district and primarily residential. In the center of the district is the large Kale Shopping Center. Along the eastern border of the district is
Yıldız Technical University
Yıldız Technical University ( Tr. ''Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi'', often simply referred to as YTU or Yıldız) is a prominent technical university dedicated to engineering and natural sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one ...
.
Population
The population of Güngören has grown rapidly in the last 70 years. The area recorded a population of 259 in 1935 rising to a peak of 318,545 in 2007. Population growth was particularly pronounced between 1970 to 2000 when the population grew from 20,000 to 180,000. The district is now fully built out and has seen population decline as families have left cramped and poorly built structures and depart for more spacious, modern and better built suburban residential districts that are now accessible thanks to the expansion of the
Istanbul Metro
The Istanbul Metro ( tr, İstanbul metrosu) is a rapid transit railway network that serves the city of Istanbul, Turkey. It is operated by Metro Istanbul, a company (formerly known as ''İstanbul Ulaşım A.Ş.'' before 2016), a public enterpris ...
.
Sports
The
Tozkoparan Olympic Swimming Pool is one of the four
Olympic-size swimming pool
An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...
s in Istanbul.
Güngören also has amateur football clubs belonging to districts such as Istanbul Güngörenspor, Haznedarspor, Tozkoparanspor and Güneştepespor which all play in the Istanbul amateur league.
Reaction to Recep İvedik
Güngören is the hometown of the main character of a 2008 Turkish comedy film, directed by Togan Gökbakar. The main character is an oafish man played by
Şahan Gökbakar. The portrayal is partially based on cultural attitudes and stereotypes in Istanbul and Turkey about Güngören's socio-economic identity.
Some residents of Güngören were displeased with the portrayal of the character and the community in the film. ''We are uneasy that our district is being mentioned by a character like İvedik,'' proclaimed Abdullah Yılmaz, the president of the Youth Council for Güngören District, in response to the release of the film
Recep İvedik 3 which featured a "red neck" comedy character portrayed as residing in the district. ''Güngören is a district where educated and intellectual people live. It is not right to associate Güngören with an impolite character who does not know any manners,'' he continued before stating that the council would take action to prevent the district from being mentioned in a fourth film in the series.
References
*
External links
District governor's official website
District municipality's official website
Miscellaneous images of Güngören
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gungoren
Populated places in Istanbul Province
Districts of Istanbul Province