Güngören

Güngören (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈɟynɟœɾæn]) is a small industrial and working class residential district of Istanbul, Turkey.[3] It is located near the district of Bakırköy. The mayor is Bünyamin Demir (AKP).

For other uses, see Güngören (disambiguation).
Güngören
Güngören
Coordinates: 41°02′06″N 28°51′27″E
CountryTurkey
Provinceİstanbul
Government
 • MayorBünyamin Demir (AKP)
 • KaymakamSeyfettin Azizoğlu
Area
 • District7.55 km2 (2.92 sq mi)
Population
 (2012)[2]
 • District
307,573
 • District density41,000/km2 (110,000/sq mi)
Websitewww.gungoren.bel.tr

History

Güngören is hard to distinguish from its neighbouring districts in the industrial area north of the E5 highway, districts such as Merter or the poorer parts of Bahçelievler. Like them it has seen a rapid and uncontrolled influx of migrants from Anatolia since the 1950s. In 1955 this was an open space with a small village named Vidos on it. Then a main road out of the city to the west was put through here and people began to build houses near the road. Most were built illegally. Today there are 237,000 crammed into a tight mass of cheap apartment blocks. The district was the site of the 2008 Istanbul bombings.[4]

Güngören today

The housing districts of Güngören are slightly older and better established than other districts of 1980s migrants to the city, such as Esenler or Bağcılar, but still consist of narrow streets lined with six or seven-storey apartment buildings with no space between them. The difference is that the buildings are slightly better-maintained and there are more shops in the streets. But still standards of living are low.

Other parts of Güngören are faceless, nameless poorly lit muddy roads lined with factories. Crime is a problem. Certainly the industrial estates are not welcoming after dark.

Lately, the municipality has started to improve the infrastructure, and has extended the tram from Zeytinburnu to improve the transportation in and out of the district.

Sports

The Tozkoparan Olympic Swimming Pool is one of the four Olympic-size swimming pools in Istanbul.[5]

Reaction to Recep İvedik

We are uneasy that our district is being mentioned by a character like İvedik, proclaimed Abdullah Yılmaz, president of the Youth Council for Güngören District, in response to the release of the film Recep İvedik 3 featuring a "red neck" comedy character portrayed as residing in the district, Güngören is a district where educated and intellectual people live. It is not right to associate Güngören with an impolite character who does not know any manners, he continued before stating that the council would take action to prevent the district from being mentioned in a fourth film in the series.[6]

References
  1. "Area of regions (including lakes), km²". Regional Statistics Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. 2002. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
  2. "Population of province/district centers and towns/villages by districts - 2012". Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS) Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
  3. "İstanbul'un yeni 'İlçe' haritası çizildi" (in Turkish). Municipality of Istanbul. 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  4. "Deadly blasts hit Istanbul street". BBC. 2008-07-28. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  5. "İstanbul'da 4 olimpik yüzme havuzu" (in Turkish). Listemis. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  6. "No redneck townsman of mine". Habertürk. 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
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