Küçükçekmece (; meaning “small-drawer”, from much earlier ''Rhegion'' (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Ρήγιον) and ''Küçükçökmece as “little breakdown''" or “''little depression''”, in more ancient times just as Bathonea), is a municipality 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 ...

of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 44 km², and its population was 326,452 in 2022. It is 23 kilometers west of the city centre and lies next to Lake Küçükçekmece. Both the lake and land reside on the European shore of the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

. It is the second most populous district of Istanbul.

History

The area was known as Rhégion in antiquity. The lagoon has almost always been controlled by the same imperial power in control of Istanbul (then

Constantinopolis Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

), as the

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a contin ...

, the road from Istanbul to Western Europe also passed by here. Küçükçekmece was part of the significant trade route. According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the

kaza A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...

of Küçükçökmece (also referred to as Rhagion by

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

back then) had a total population of 17,975, consisting of 10,945

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

, 5,340 Muslims, 1,396

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

, 61

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, 31

Latins The term Latins has been used throughout history to refer to various peoples, ethnicities and religious groups using Latin or the Latin-derived Romance languages, as part of the legacy of the Roman Empire. In the Ancient World, it referred to th ...

, 15

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

and 187 foreign citizens in the 1800s, and the population did not see a significant change until the early-mid 1900s. During the

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

periods the site of Küçükçekmece had also been inhabited. The ruins of this town, which have always remained visible, had been studied extensively in 1930 specially during the

Republican era Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

by the Swiss archeologist Ernest Mamboury,Mamboury, p. 569 (1953) who - basing upon ancient sources - identified the settlement with the town of Regium (Ρήγιον in Greek). In 2009 a new identification has been proposed, this time with the small Roman and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

village of Bathonea, which was home to Viking settlers, specifically

Varangians The Varangians ( ; ; ; , or )Varangian
," Online Etymology Dictionary were

Varangian Guard The Varangian Guard () was an elite unit of the Byzantine army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Nort ...

s. Many artifacts, such as Norse Crosses rather than Orthodox ones belonging to the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

were found. The settlement was likely once only made up of the small village of Bathonea, to later turn into the town of Rhagion or also Küçükçökmece, and later as the Küçükçekmece we know today around the 30s.

Küçükçekmece today and in the future

The population of Küçükçekmece is growing, and new schools, supermarkets, parks, shopping centres, modern living spaces, cultural centers and other facilities are rapidly being built, and an ongoing metro-line construction which will connect from

Bağcılar Bağcılar is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 23 km2, and its population is 740,069 (2022). It is located on the East Thrace, European side of Istanbul, near the ...

, Kirazlı to a new Halkalı metro. Alongside 9 other metro constructions all around İstanbul, Istanbul has the highest amount of metros being constructed in a city in the world, construction being carried out by the İBB (Istanbul Municipality). Many residential areas in certain districts were

gecekondu , meaning 'put up overnight' (plural ), is a Turkish language, Turkish word meaning a house put up quickly illegal building, without proper permissions, a Squatting, squatter's house, and by extension, a shanty or shack. is a neighborhood made o ...

neighbourhoods, illegally built quasi-slums typical of old working-class Istanbul. The remaining lot of these are being gradually replaced by large housing projects, or ”'' Kentleşme, Kentsel Dönüşüm projeleri''” in Turkish. Küçükçekmece, along with

Başakşehir Başakşehir is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 107 km2, and its population is 514,900 (2022). It is in the European part of Istanbul. The district is home to İsta ...

Gaziosmanpaşa Gaziosmanpaşa (; old name: ''Taşlıtarla'') is a developing working class municipality ( belediye) and district of Istanbul, Turkey, on its European side. Its area is 12 km2, and its population is 495,998 (2022). Esenler and Bayrampaşa a ...

Esenler Esenler is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 43 km2, and its population is 445,421 (2022). It is on its European side. Esenler is mainly densely packed, working class residential in the midst of its indust ...

Bayrampaşa Bayrampaşa (pronounced ) is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 9km2 (3.4 sq mi, 2,000 acres, 800 ha) and its population is 275,314 (2022). It is on the European side of the city. The mayor is Hasan Mutlu ( CHP) ...

Zeytinburnu Zeytinburnu (literally, ''Olive Cape'') is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 12 km2, and its population is 292,616 (2022). It is a working-class area on the European side of Istanbul, T ...

, and

Fatih Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

, are home to many refugees of Middle Eastern origin, especially urban areas around the Küçükçekmece Lake.

Geography

The settlement lies 20 km west from Istanbul. The district is eight kilometers wide, reaching a small inlet west of Istanbul on the banks of Lake Küçükçekmece. The land here is flat, rising very gently away from the sea shore and lake shore, and as such is easily built upon. This has historically encouraged, and still encourages further growth and development in the area. Future growth and development is expected in the municipality. Though, some parts of the land right around the edges reaching to the lake are

man-made Artificiality (the state of being artificial, anthropogenic, or man-made) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotati ...

and also build upon, making it risky for old buildings or building vulnerable for earthquakes to be built there, but the Küçükçekmece Municipality and

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (, İBB) is the government agency in charge of the municipal affairs of the Istanbul Province. It is one of the 30 metropolitan municipalities in Turkey. History The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality ...

closely monitor development around the region as part of their ongoing “Earthquake-proof Istanbul” program. The government-based TOKİ development project in the 2000s started mostly focused on this region, thus many TOKİ buildings are present, and even today some are being built alongside the private-firm urban projects. It is quite an ideal flat land, but is affected by earthquakes due to being near the

North Anatolian fault The North Anatolian Fault (NAF; ) is an active right-lateral strike-slip fault in northern Anatolia, and is the transform boundary between the Eurasian plate and the Anatolian sub-plate. The fault extends westward from a junction with the Ea ...

, and earthquakes are felt aggressively in most cases. Buildings built and being built there today are quite modern and earthquake-proof, as they are obligated to be built as such by law. Old buildings, damaged buildings, and gecekondu buildings are demolished safely by either the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Küçükçekmece Municipality on the behalf of ministries involved, or the ministries themselves.

Location

Küçükçekmece lies on the European shore of the Sea of Marmara, settled on a lagoon named Lake Küçükçekmece. Across the inlet is the district of Avcılar and the campus of

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

. The inlet is connected to the Sea of Marmara by a very narrow channel, therefore the water has low

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

. The EU80/TEM, D.100 (Part of EU80) & E3 highways and motorways pass through this municipality, connecting to the rest of Europe and Turkey, making the highways a very significant economic and cargo route.

Composition

There are 21

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 Küçükçekmece District: * Atakent * Atatürk * Beşyol * Cennet * Cumhuriyet * Fatih * Fevzi Çakmak * Gültepe * Halkalı Merkez * İnönü * İstasyon * Kanarya * Kartaltepe * Kemalpaşa * Mehmet Akif * Söğütlü Çeşme * Sultan Murat * Tevfikbey * Yarımburgaz * Yeni Mahalle * Yeşilova Atakent is the most populous neighbourhood, with 102,682 inhabitants (2022).

Places of interest and attractions

The Küçükçekmece Bridge, also known as the Küçükçekmece Mimar Sinan Bridge, is a historic stone arch bridge built by famous Ottoman architect

Mimar Sinan Mimar Sinan (; , ; – 17 July 1588) also known as Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ, ("Sinan Agha (title), Agha the Grand Architect" or "Grand Sinan") was the chief Ottoman Empire, Ottoman architect, engineer and mathematician for sultans Suleiman ...

in the 1500s, which crosses the mouth of the lagoon. The bridge has been restored and is well-maintained. The Mehmet Arsay Klasik Automobile Museum is an classic automobile museum in the Atatürk neighborhood of Küçükçekmece, opened in the 1900s featuring many classic well-maintained and polished old cars. It is next to the Arena Park AVM, a large shopping center in the heart of the Halkalı district, (and near Atakent) which is also both a top attraction for outsiders and locals in Küçükçekmece. It is easily accessible by bus, bicycles, car, and soon metro. There are many cultural centers, theaters, restaurants, shops and galleries in Küçükçekmece, such as the Atatürk Kültür Merkezi, Cennet Kültür and Art Center, and Sefaköy Cultural Center. Lake Küçükçekmece and its surrounding area is home to parks, living spaces and institutions around the lakeside, the parks are both for walking and for doing sports outdoors right next to the lake. Picnics are also available around the wide lake. The

Yarımburgaz Cave Yarimburgaz Cave () is a cave of significant archaeological and paleontological importance, located within Istanbul Province Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's eco ...

s, although not entirely inside the district, but on the north of Lake Küçükçekmece are pre-historic and

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

400,000 year old cave settlements, once hosting inhabitants, (

Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' ( ) is an extinction, extinct species of Homo, archaic human from the Pleistocene, spanning nearly 2 million years. It is the first human species to evolve a humanlike body plan and human gait, gait, to early expansions of h ...

) who would later migrate to

prehistoric Europe Prehistoric Europe refers to Europe before the start of written records, beginning in the Lower Paleolithic. As history progresses, considerable regional unevenness in cultural development emerges and grows. The region of the eastern Mediterra ...

and begin the first footsteps of civilizations in Europe. The cave had ancient

cave paintings In archaeology, cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin. These paintings were often created by ''Hom ...

on its walls, and artifacts from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

. The cave, before there was any proper scientific and archeological research surrounding it, was subject to vandalism, specifically vandalized while being used as a set location in several movies in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1990s after the cave started gaining global attention, illegal

treasure hunters Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. One of the most popular types of modern day treasure hunters are historic shipwreck salvors. These underwater treasure salvors try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with both c ...

, mostly smuggling into the Middle East and

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 ...

, started illegal digging in the caves, but the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

stepped in and closed off the site. Today, the maintenance of the cave is questionable, it still has significant archeological and

paleontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

impact and such research has still been going on there. Some artifacts and other findings from the caves are on display in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums in the

municipality. Most of its parts are closed off to the ordinary public. The Bathonea Ancient City is a currently active archeological and paleontology site, with ongoing scientific research. Access is only available for certain university students, professionals in the field, scientists, researchers, journalists and professors or can be accessed by others on behalf of a granted permission by the institution under the

Kocaeli University Kocaeli University ( Turkish: Kocaeli Üniversitesi) is a state university in İzmit, Turkey. It was founded as the Academy of Engineering and Architecture of Kocaeli in 1976. The electrical and mechanical engineering departments, basic scien ...

. Known as the "Viking Neighbourhood of Ancient Istanbul".

Sports & culture

The 1911-founded football club Küçükçekmece S.K. plays in the Istanbul First Amateur League, there are many more clubs and teams in many different sports field based in and representing the Küçükçekmece region. Other than those clubs and teams, such as many private colleges, schools, organizations and such have their own sports teams in all fields which can and play in their own or differ clubs, teams, matches from women's sports to men's sports, which also includes and is available for the younger children. Matches are hosted across many available spaces such as in private or public, indoors or outdoors sports fields, centers, and schools. (Which also can be the hosts on the behalf of the played games.) There is also a newly built (by membership)

Esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

center, gaming/cosplay events, events similar to

VidCon VidCon is an annual convention for influencers, fans, executives, and online brands. The event primarily features prominent video stars from across the internet. It was founded by veteran YouTube creators John and Hank Green ( Vlogbrothers), a ...

and

ComiCon A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention emphasizing comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at conv ...

can also be hosted there. The opening and hosting was done by Mayor Kemal Çebi, İstanbul Mayor İmamoğlu, and several internet personalities (mainly Twitch streamers) that were invited and present. Most prominent fields are the basketball, volleyball,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and swimming fields.

Transportation

Other than significant highways and significant roads that pass through the municipality, there is the Sirkeci-Halkalı railway line that also passes through Küçükçekmece and serves the railway stations; Küçükçekmece, Soğuksu, Kanarya and Halkalı. An ongoing metro-line construction will connect from

, Kirazlı to the new metro station and line being constructed in the Halkalı-Atakent area. Public transportation is widely used in the municipality, especially among the students and elderly. Traffic can be an issue at entry/rush hours in the early mornings, specially on school and work days. Exit hours are rather calmer in the municipality.

International relations

Küçükçekmece has a cultural, economic and educational cooperation agreement with

Józsefváros Józsefváros (, ) is the 8th district of Budapest, Hungary. Historically one of the city's 18th–19th century outer suburbs, it is considered part of the broader city centre due to its proximity to Belváros (Budapest), Belváros (Inner City) ...

(Budapest District VIII), Hungary, which was signed in 2015.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kucukcekmece Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey Districts of Istanbul Province Populated places in Istanbul Province