Gaziosmanpaşa (; old name: ''Taşlıtarla'') is a developing

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

( belediye) and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over , it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in th ...

, on its

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an side. Its area is 12 km², and its population is 495,998 (2022). Esenler and Bayrampaşa are west, Sultangazi is north and Eyüp is south and east of the district.

History

The district was named after Gazi Osman Pasha (1832–1900), a prominent Ottoman general who was active in the Balkans. The area was empty, rocky pasture until the 1950s when immigrants from the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

(especially from

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and

Western Thrace Western Thrace or West Thrace (, '' ytikíThráki'' ), also known as Greek Thrace or Aegean Thrace, is a geographical and historical region of Greece, between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country; East Thrace, which lie ...

) settled here. Much of their housing was illegally built, primitive tiny cottages. Gaziosmanpaşa expanded rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s due to migration from eastern

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 ...

. The population is still growing with half the people under 20 years old. Gaziosmanpaşa was formed as a district in 1963 from parts of Eyüp and

Çatalca Çatalca () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 1142 km2, making it the largest district in Istanbul Province by area. Its population is 77,468 (2022). It is in Eas ...

districts. In 2009 Gaziosmanpaşa district was divided into three neighborhoods: Gaziosmanpaşa, the central; Sultangazi, the northern part; and Arnavutköy, the northernmost part.

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

star, Hedo Türkoğlu, who played in the

2009 NBA Finals The 2009 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2008–09 season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. A best-of-seven playoff series starting on June 4 and concluding on June 14, 2009, ...

, was born in the district. The NBA's

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

center Semih Erden was also born in the district.

Composition

There are 16

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Gaziosmanpaşa District: * Bağlarbaşı * Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa * Fevzi Çakmak * Hürriyet * Karadeniz * Karayolları * Karlıtepe * Kazım Karabekir * Merkez * Mevlana * Pazariçi * Sarıgöl * Şemsipaşa * Yeni Mahalle * Yenidoğan * Yıldıztabya

Gaziosmanpaşa today

The centre of Gaziosmanpaşa is still inhabited by the descendants of the 1950s and 1960s Balkan immigrants. Most of the original illegal houses have been pulled down and replaced with semi-legal blocks of flats to house the children and grandchildren. Other areas, often isolated communities far out of the city, are dominated by populations of migrants from Anatolia. These areas are an

ethnic An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

and

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

melting pot A melting pot is a Monoculturalism, monocultural metaphor for a wiktionary:heterogeneous, heterogeneous society becoming more wiktionary:homogeneous, homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative bei ...

. In particular, one area of Gaziosmanpaşa has a substantial population of migrants from Tunceli Province, a province mainly populated by people who claim both Kurdish and Zaza identities. The mixture of people plus the number of young people in the communities has at times given Gaziosmanpaşa the unfortunate reputation for being the centre of crime and of left- and right-wing violence in

Istanbul 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 ...

. The city council is trying to spend its way out of this situation by putting in sports facilities, theatres, shopping centres and better transport to the city. But still more and more housing is being built. As the area has grown without sufficient control or regulations the city is still struggling to put in schools and other infrastructure throughout Gaziosmanpaşa to support the population, while industrial development is taking place too. The area itself suffers from

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

despite the industry coming in, and the main employers are small workshops producing light fittings, electrical goods, clothing, lathe and metalwork and car repairs.

Urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

projects aim to revitalize the district through increasing housing prices.Istanbul’s most expensive place to rent property: The Grand Bazaar
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International relations

Sister cities: * Tutin, Serbia

References

Sources

External links

District governor's official website

District municipality's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaziosmanpasa Populated places in Istanbul Province Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey Districts of Istanbul Province