Çengelköy () is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of
Üsküdar
Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...
,
Istanbul Province
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. Its population is 13,801 (2022). It is on the Asian shore of the
Bosphorus
The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...
strait, between the neighborhoods of Beylerbeyi and Kuleli. It is mainly a residential district. Many mansions were built there in the Ottoman period. There is a Greek church called Aya Yorgi in the district, which is not used much today. Abdullah Ağa Mansion and Sadullah Pasha Mansion are important mansions in Çengelköy.
From the 6th century, the port of Çengelköy was called ''Sophianai'' because of the palace
Justin II
Justin II (; ; died 5 October 578) was Eastern Roman emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the niece of Justinian's wife Theodora.
Justin II inherited a greatly enlarged but overextended empir ...
built nearby for his consort Sophia.
The name ''Çengelköy'' means "hook village" and the origin of the name is uncertain. One story put forward is that the village is named after the 19th-century Ottoman admiral Çengeloğlu Tahir Pasha, who had a mosque and waterside mansion built there (there is a Çengeloğlu Street in Çengelköy). Another story derives the name from the Persian word ''çenkar'', "
crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...
," because of the abundance of
seafood
Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...
in the Bosphorus there. A 16th-century Ottoman document apparently refers to the place as "Çenger köyü."
Çengelköy is world-famous for the small
cucumber
The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.Kandıra).
Opened in 2015, the Mehmet Çakır Cultural and Sports Center, consisting of six indoor swimming pools, is the biggest sports complex on the
Anatolia
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
n part of Istanbul.
The Vahdettin Pavilion, also known as the Çengelköy Pavilion, an official residence of the
Presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
and a state guest house, is situated on a hill in Çengelköy.