Levent is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

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 2,911 (2022). It is one of the main

business district Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." A business entity is not necessar ...

s of

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 ...

located 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. It is situated to the north of the

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( or ) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with the Bosphorus Strait at the point where the strait meets the Sea of Marmara, the waters of the ...

, at the western 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 A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

. Levent, together with nearby Maslak, is one of the main business districts on the European side of the city, where numerous

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

projects are currently under construction or in the planning phase. One of the modern skyline clusters of the city is located here, hidden behind the hills of the

and not disturbing the atmosphere of the historical peninsula of Istanbul, which is at quite a distance. The tallest skyscraper in Levent is the 54-floor Istanbul Sapphire, which has a roof height of 238 metres (261 metres including its spire). It was Istanbul's and Turkey's tallest skyscraper between 2010 and 2016 — as of 2020, it is the 4th tallest skyscraper in Istanbul and Turkey, behind ''Metropol Istanbul Tower 1'' (70 floors / 301 metres including its twin spires) in the

Ataşehir Ataşehir is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. Its area is 25 km2, and its population is 423,127 (2022). It is located at the junction of the Otoyol 2, O-2 and Otoyol 4, O-4 motorways on the Anato ...

district on the Asian side of the city; and ''Skyland Istanbul Towers 1 and 2'' (2 x 70 floors / 293 metres), located adjacent to Türk Telekom Stadium in the Seyrantepe quarter of the

Sarıyer Sarıyer () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 177 km2 and its population is 350,454 (2022). It is on the northeastern part of Istanbul's European side. Sarıyer al ...

district, on the European side. The stations

Levent Levent is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Beşiktaş, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 2,911 (2022). It is one of the main business districts of Istanbul located on the European side of the city. It is situated ...

and 4. Levent along the M2 line of the

Istanbul Metro The Istanbul Metro () is a rapid transit railway network that serves the city of Istanbul, Turkey. Apart from the M11 line, which is operated by TCDD Taşımacılık, the system is operated by Metro Istanbul, a public enterprise controlled by th ...

serve the Levent business district and its surrounding neighbourhoods.

Etymology

View of Levent financial district from Istanbul Sapphire

Levent is also a name for men in Turkey (cf.

) that derives from the ''

Levend Levend or levendi (Arabic ''lawend'') was a name for irregular soldiers. The term originated with the Ottoman Navy, but eventually spread to encompass most irregular troops. The origin of the term is probably from Italian ''levanti'', and was u ...

'', a type of soldier ( naval infantry) of the

Ottoman Navy The Ottoman Navy () or the Imperial Navy (), also known as the Ottoman Fleet, was the naval warfare arm of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Ottomans first reached the sea in 1323 by capturing Praenetos (later called Karamürsel ...

.Kıyafet-i Asakir-i Bahriyye: Costumes and ranks of the Ottoman Navy
/ref> ''Levend'' itself has derived from ''Levantino'' (

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

ine) which means ''Person from the

(East Mediterranean)'' in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

.Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, . This was how the Italians (the Genoese and Venetians) used to call the Ottoman sailors, a name which was also adopted by the Ottoman Turks.

Sevan Nişanyan Sevan Nişanyan (; born 21 December 1956) is a Turkish-Armenian writer, fugitive and lexicographer. Author of a number of books, Nişanyan was awarded the Ayşe Nur Zarakolu Liberty Award of the Turkish Human Rights Association in 2004 for his con ...

. ''Sözlerin Soyağacı: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojik Sözlüğü''. URL: http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/search.asp?w=levent Retrieved 30 October 2009. The use of the word ''levend'' for describing seamen first appeared in the

Ottoman Turkish language Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register (sociolinguistics), register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian language, Persian. It ...

during the 16th century. These marine soldiers had the reputation of possessing strong, muscular physiques and daring, fearless characters; which is the reason why the Turkish word ''levent'', its

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 ...

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

'' levénti'' (λεβέντη) and its Bulgarian cognate ''levént'' (левент) are still popularly used for defining "athletic, gallant, brave" men. The name Levent (''Levend'') came to be applied to the neighbourhood because in 1780 the Ottoman

Fleet Admiral An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha was awarded a farmland here by the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid I; and in the early 19th century a military compound was built in the area of this farm.Haldun Hürel. ''Semtleri, Mahalleri, Caddeleri ve Sokakları A'dan Z'ye İstanbul'un Alfabetik Öyküsü''. İkarus, 2008. . Page 220. The nearby

İstinye İstinye is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Sarıyer, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population was 15,721 in 2022. It is on the European side of the city between the neighbourhoods of Emirgan and Yeniköy, on the northweste ...

neighbourhood on the European shoreline of the

also featured an important shipyard and dock for maintaining and repairing the military vessels of the

. However, the Imperial Arsenal (''Tersâne-i Âmire'') and the Naval Ministry (''Bahriye Nezareti'') of the Ottoman Navy were located on the shores of the

History

In the early 19th century, during the final years of the reign of Sultan

Selim III Selim III (; ; was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, he was eventually deposed and imprisoned by the Janissaries, who placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV (). A group of a ...

, the first military compound of the Nizam-ı Cedid (New Order) Army was built in Levent; which was then known as the ''Levend(Levent) Çiftliği'' (Levend Farmlands), eventually becoming known as the ''Levend(Levent) Kışlası'' (Levend Barracks). In 1868, during the first territorial organization of the Istanbul Municipality, Levend (Levent) was placed within the district of

(which was designated as the ''7th Area'' of the Istanbul Municipality), having remained within this district ever since. The modern neighbourhood of Levent was formed in 1947, when Emlak Kredi Bankası (a Turkish bank which was established to finance housing projects) chose the Levent area for constructing a well-planned residential compound, formed mostly of

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

type houses with gardens. After the completion of the first phase of the Levent project in 1960, numerous other residential compounds were constructed in the area, eventually extending towards nearby Etiler. Starting from the late 1980s and early 1990s, with initial projects such as the Sabancı Center, Yapı Kredi Towers, TAT Towers, Metrocity Towers and İş Bankası Towers, Levent became a popular location for constructing new

s, mostly owned by Turkish

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s and conglomerates. One of the city's major

skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...

clusters (together with those of Maslak and

Şişli Şişli () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 10 km2, and its population is 276,528 (2022). Located on the European side of the city, it is bordered by Beşiktaş ...

on the European side; and

and Kozyatağı on the Asian side of Istanbul) is located in Levent. At present, Levent hosts the tallest skyscraper of Istanbul and Turkey, the 54-floor Istanbul Sapphire; while the construction of numerous new mixed-use skyscraper projects and

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

s are ongoing in the neighbourhood, which has evolved into a

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

Image gallery

File:Sapphire_building_9010.jpg, Istanbul Sapphire is currently the tallest skyscraper in Levent File:Sapphire building 9017 PANORAMA2B.jpg, Rear facade of Istanbul Sapphire in Levent File:QNB Finansbank Kristal Kule.jpg, Finansbank Tower and Istanbul Sapphire on Büyükdere Avenue File:QNB Finansbank Kristal Kule 2.jpg, Finansbank Tower on Büyükdere Avenue File:Sapphire Building 2652.jpg, Sabancı Center, İşbank and Finansbank towers viewed from the roof of Istanbul Sapphire File:Kanyon Shopping Mall, Istanbul (3 July 2007).jpg, Kanyon Mall on Büyükdere Avenue File:EAA_Zorlu_Center.jpg, Zorlu Center on Büyükdere Avenue File:Zorlu center01.jpg, Zorlu Center on Büyükdere Avenue File:Istanbul_Levent_skyline.jpg, View of Levent from Kanlıca Hekimler Sitesi across the

Bosporus 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 ...

Panoramic View

References and notes

External links