KADIKOY

Kadikoy ( known as Chalcedon in antiquity), is a large cosmopolitan district on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, Turkey. It has several churches and synagogues (Greek, Armenian, Serbian and some Protestant) but also the oldest Mosque in Istanbul (built before the conquest of Constantinople).

Kadikoy is an older settlement than the city of Istanbul. Relics have been found going back to 3000BC, and articles of stone, bone, ceramic, jewelry and bronze prove a continuous settlement from prehistoric times, through the period when this was the Greek city of Chalcedon and then forever since.

Chalcedon became known as the city of the blind, the story being that Byzantium wsa founded following a prophecy that a great capital would be built 'opposite the city of the blind' (meaning that the people of Chalcedon must have been blind not to see the obvious value of the peninsula on the Golden Horn as a natural defensive harbour.

And true enough Chalcedon changed hands time and time again as Persians, Bithynians, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Byzantines and Turks passed through the area, being badly damaged in the riotous fourth crusade and eventually passing into Ottoman hands in 1353, a full hundred years before Istanbul was eventually conquered. Following the conquest Chalcedon was put under the jurisdiction of the Istanbul courts, hence the name Kadikoy, 'village of the judge'.

The centre of Kadikoy today is the hub of traffic for people travelling from the Asian side of the city to the European and back the other way. It also has the main train terminus for trains to Anatolia and nearby Harem has coach services to Anatolia.

The centre of the district itself is generally old and working class and home to many students as well as a small number of Westeners. While the streets are filled with street vendors the side streets are filled with bars and the sea front with cafes selling everything from tea to kebabs and grilled fish.

Further down the coast away from the city, there are many expensive shops and the area goes more up market, some of the most expensive houses in Istanbul can be found in areas such as Moda and Fenerbahce which are both in Kadikoy. Beyond this is the huge shopping avenue of Bagdat Caddesi and the plush neighbourhoods around it, all of which have sprung up since the Bosphorus Bridge was built. Until the 1950s these areas, such as Goztepe, Erenkoy, Suadiye and Bostanci, were summer houses for the city's wealthy and middle class.

Now that it is possible to commute from here to the European side most of these summer houses have been pulled down and replaced with apartment buildings, still some of the nicest residential areas of the city. The new development of Atasehir is the best known of the new luxury housing developments now going up close to Kadikoy.

Kadikoy's neighbouring district is the more conservative Uskudar. The centre left Republican People's Party (CHP) is usually successful in Kadikoy in both local and national elections. The area is also home to the popular football team Fenerbahce SK.

From Wikipedia

See Also for Turkey