Avcılar 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 50 km², and its population is 452,132 (2022). It is on the

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 of the city, just to the west of the Küçükçekmece inlet 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 ...

History

The Marmara coast road bridges the mouth of the inlet, always an important route in wartime. Therefore, when preparing the conquest of Istanbul the Ottoman forces were keen to populate the

Küçükçekmece Küçükçekmece (; meaning “small-drawer”, from much earlier ''Rhegion'' (Greek: Ρήγιον) and ''Küçükçökmece as “little breakdown''" or “''little depression''”, in more ancient times just as Bathonea), is a municipality and d ...

area with the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

, the Turkish presence in the area dates from this period. The road from Istanbul to

has become increasingly important ever since and by the time of the population exchange with Greece at the founding of the

Turkish Republic Turkish Republic may refer to: * Turkey, archaically the "Turkish Republic" * Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the ...

there were 50

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 ...

families in the village, the property they vacated was then used as a military depot. Little is left of this history; the church had long been converted to a mosque and was pulled down in 1977 for a new mosque to be built; fountains and ruins have disappeared. There is some remaining Ottoman architecture including a hunting lodge belonging to the sultans, (the name Avcılar means 'hunters' in

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

) because actual hunters used to live in this area to protect the villages and some traditional farmhouses.

Composition

There are 10

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 Avcılar District:Mahalle
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023. * Ambarlı * Cihangir * Denizköşkler * Firuzköy * Gümüşpala * Merkez * Mustafa Kemal Paşa * Tahtakale * Üniversite * Yeşilkent

Avcılar today

The magazine ''

Bayan Yani Bayan may refer to: Educational institutions * Bayan Islamic Graduate School, Chicago, IL Places *Bayan-Aul, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan *Bayan Mountain, an ancient mountain name for part of Tarbagatai Mountains at Kazakhstan in Qing Dynasty period * ...

'' is created here and it has had resistance from the authorities. Their offices have been visited by people carrying petrol cans. 150 media workers have been held under arrest in Turkey including the cartoonist

Musa Kart Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon *Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam province, Iran * Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran * Musa Kalayeh, Gilan province, Iran *Abu Mus ...

who is held in a location near to Avcilar.Fueling Turkish feminism with satire and humor
Clement Girardot, 16.04.17, Mashallah News, Retrieved June 2017

Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa

One of

Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa (IUC) is a public research university which was formed in Istanbul on 18 May 2018. It takes its name from Cerrah Mehmed Pasha, who gave its name to the ''Cerrahpaşa'', Fatih district in Istanbul. It has nine fa ...

's campuses is sited in Avcılar, housing the faculties of engineering, business management, sports and veterinary medicine. The campus is far away from the Anatolian Side of Istanbul and transportation was very complicated and difficult before the introduction of the

Metrobus Metrobus may refer to: Transport services Bus Rapid Transit *MetroBus (Bristol), a bus rapid transit system in Bristol, England, United Kingdom *Metrobus (Buenos Aires), a bus rapid transit system in Buenos Aires, Argentina *Metrobus (Istanbul), a ...

system. There is parkland in the campus and around

Lake Küçükçekmece Lake Küçükçekmece () is a lagoon located between the Küçükçekmece, Esenyurt and Avcılar districts of the European portion of Istanbul Province, northwestern Turkey. The lake is neighbored in the south by state road D.100 and in the nort ...

Earthquake vulnerability

This district was badly hit during

Marmara earthquake Marmara may refer to: Places * Marmara, Greece (Sfakia), mountainous area on Crete * Neos Marmaras, a village in Greece * Marmara Town, a town in Nigeria * Marmara (Lycia), a town of ancient Lycia, now in Turkey * Marmara Region, comprising ...

. A major fault-line follows the Marmara shore and Avcılar is built on low-lying sandy soil, some of its landfill, right on this shore. This and the fact that the buildings are tall and were very cheaply built make it a particularly vulnerable area. Buildings damaged in 1999 have been repaired but an earthquake centered nearer to Istanbul will likely have more severe impacts.

References

External links

District governor's official website

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