Zeytinburnu City in Istabul

Zeytinburnu is a county of Istanbul attained the status of a county on September, 1957. It is located as a region on the slopes of the Çatalca peninsula overlooking the Marmara Sea. Zeytinburnu is also located in a short distance from Atatürk International Airport, almost 15 20 minutes. Therefore, the county has reached the position of a door opening to outwards of Istanbul. Also, the south of the county is bordered by the Marmara Sea.

The name of the county based on the ancient times. It is suggested that a part of the coastline looked like a cape and olives were grown in the part so Zeytinburnu (olive cape) has been named. A church is located in the county and this church’s name is Balıklı which remains from the Byzantine Era.

The first settlement in Zeytinburnu began to occur in years just after the conquest of Istanbul. The priests of Jerusalem who lived in Kazlıçeşme and around of it were settled in this region. According to the historical sources it is also indicated that the priests who live in this region are more religious than the priests living in inner parts of Istanbul.

Zeytinburnu was a district of Bakırköy and Fatih until 1953. Later periods, the area showed a tendency to increase in population rapidly and many problems were occurred because of increasing population. Economic, social and cultural problems are some of them but the region continued to grow with the problems. Especially between the years of 1940 and 1960, population increased very large. That’s why is that people migrated from Anatolian. As a result of increasing population, Zeytinburnu has gained status of a county on September 1, 1957.

Many historical values are located in the county because Zeytinburnu has an old history. These values stand proudly today with their old grandeur. Few of them are Merzifonlu Mustafa Pasha Convent, Mahmut Haji Aga Convent, Yenikapı Mavlawi, Abdülbaki Fatih Pasha Library and Kazılıçeşme Fatih Mosque but we can say the most important one is the Kazılıçeşme Fatih Mosque. Although the exact date of construction of this mosque is not known, it is claimed that the mosque is the first Turkish Mosque built in Istanbul.