Fatih
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fatih is a district of Istanbul, Turkey, in the heart of the city. Fatih sits within the Roman walls, is home to Fatih Camii, the first prominent Ottoman mosque in Istanbul and thus contains some of the most important historical monuments in the city. Fatih is a cosmopolitan area that in recent years has acquired the exaggerated image of being Istanbul's centre of Islamic extremism.
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[edit] History
The main road which cuts through Fatih is Fevzi Pasa Caddesi, which leads from the Beyazit area up to the walls of the city, for a long time this was a main artery of the city. To the right (as you come out of the city) is the equally important old Valens aqueduct from the Byzantine era. Add to this the fact that the area is high up and has a commanding view of both the Sea of Marmara and of the Golden Horn, and it is easy to see why the Byzantines built a number of palaces here. And then a crowded city neighbourhood grew around it.
Futhermore, the hilltops of Istanbul have been crowned with religious architecture ever since the city was founded, and the area known as Fatih contains some of these hills; Constantine's memorial was on one, then a church of Justinian, a major church dedicated to the 12 disciples of Jesus, which was destroyed in the Fourth Crusade. Finally, following the Fatih mosque complex, built on the fourth hill, came many tombs and mosques built in memory of the Ottoman hierarchy.
[edit] Ottoman Fatih
The name "Fatih" comes from the emperor Fatih Sultan Mehmet, and means in Arabic the 'conqueror'. The Fatih Mosque built by Mehmet II is here in the district, his resting place is next to the Mosque and is much visited. It was on the ruins of a church, destroyed by earthquake and years of war, that the Fatih mosque was built, and around the mosque a large prayer school.
Immediately after the conquest groups of Islamic schoolars had occupied the major churches of Aya Sofya and the Pantocrator Zeyrek Cami today) but the Fatih complex was the first purpose built Islamic seminary within the city walls. The building of the mosque complex ensured that the area continued to thrive beyond the conquest; markets grew up to support the thousands of workers involved in the building and to supply them with materials, and then to service the students in the seminary. The area quickly became a Turkish neighbourhood with a particularly pious character due to the seminary. Some of this piety has endured until today.
Also after the conquest the Edirnekapı gate in the city walls became the major exit to Thrace and this gave a whole new lease of life to the neighbourhoods overlooking the Golden Horn. The Fatih mosque was on the road to Edirnekapı and the Fatih district became the most populous area of the city in early Ottoman times and in the 16th century more mosques and markets were built including: Iskender Pasha Mosque, once famous as a centre for the Naqshbandi order in Turkey); Hirka-l-Sharif Mosque, which houses the cloak of the Prophet Muhammad (The Mosque is in common use but the cloak is only on show during the month of Ramadan; the Jerrahi Tekke; The Sunbul Effendi Tekke and the Ramazan Effendi Tekke both in the Kocamustafapaşa district and Vefa Mosque. The last 4 were named after the founders of various Sufi orders, and Sheik Ebü’l Vefa in particular was of major importance in the city and was very fond of Fatih. Many other mosques, schools, baths and fountains in the area were built by military leaders and officials in the Ottoman court.
From the 18th century onwards Istanbul began to grow outside the walls, and then began the transformation of Fatih into the mass of concrete apartment buidings that we have today. This process has been accelerated over the years by fire which destroyed whole neighbourhoods of wooden houses, and a major earthquake in 1766, which destroyed the Fatih mosque and many of the surrounding buildings, (which were subsequently rebuilt). Fires continued to ravage the old city and the wide roads that run through the area today are a legacy of all that burning. There are few wooden buildings left in Fatih today, although right up until the 1960's the area was covered with narrow streets of wooden buildings. Now it is narrow streets of tightly packed 5- or 6-floor apartment buildings.
[edit] Fatih today
Today Fatih is known as one of the most (Islamic) conservative areas of Istanbul. In the Çarşamba area of Fatih bearded men in heavy coats, the traditional baggy 'shalwar' trousers and Islamic turban and women dressed in full black gowns are a common sight as this area is popular with members of the Naqshbandi Sufi order affiliated to a Sheikh, who is known as 'Mahmud Hoca'. Conservative parties always do well in this area.
But Fatih is a much larger area than just Çarşamba and contains neighbourhoods that are more cosmpolitan than the extreme image Fatih has in the eyes of many Istanbul people (because of the Çarşamba community).
Admittedly the area has become more and more crowded and from the 1960's onwards the more middle class residents moved to the Anatolian side and other parts of the city. Fatih is now very working class but being a previously wealthy area is better-resourced, with a better established community than the desperate poverty of the newly built areas like Bağcılar or Esenler, which are inhabited entirely by 1980's migrants in desperate circumstances. Fatih at least was mostly built to some sort of plan. The cosmopolitan nature is further enhanced as Istanbul University is near here and parts of Fatih are popular with IU students, who stroll around with their long-hair and their girlfriend on their arm just as they would anywhere else in the city.
Fatih does not have theatres or much else in the way of culture, but it is near to the city centre so these amenities are quite accessible in Beyoğlu or Eminönü. The area is quite well-served for schools, hospitals and public amenties in general. As Fatih is next to Eminönü there is a smaller choice of shopping than in other areas, but there are still boutiques on the main thoroughfares, many of which still carry a fair number of trees. A number of Istanbul's longest-established hospitals are in Fatih, including the Istanbul University teaching hospitals of Çapa and Cerrahpaşa. A tramway runs from the docks at Sirkeci, through Sultanahmet and Aksaray into Fatih.
[edit] Some neighbourhoods of Fatih
- Fatih - the central district around the mosque itself.
- Horhor - a steeply climbing street from Akasaray up to Fatih. Has some university buildings, and some well-known kebab restaurants.
- Çarşamba - Istanbul's 'Little Riyadh'
- Karagumruk - a working class neighbourhood famour for its hoodlums, and the aggressive supporters of its lower-league football team.
- Fistikagacı - lies roughly between Fatih proper and the crowded residential area of Koca Mustafa Pasa(near the Marmara shore), very popular with Istanbul University students.
- Vatan Caddesi - a major road out of the old city to the bus station at Esenler and on to the motorways to Europe. Home to Istanbul's central police HQ, (which also issues foreign nationals resident permits).
- Balat - Fatih's neighbourhood on the banks of the Golden Horn, once grand, now narrow impoverished streets. Formerly a centre of Istanbul's Greek population.
- Sulukule - area inhabited by gypsies, near Vatan Caddesi, famous for buskers and belly dancers.
- Samatya - One of the most pictoresque fish markets of Istanbul is placed here.
[edit] Things to see
Today, there are still remnants of the sea walls along the Golden Horn and along the Marmara shore, to give a sense of the shape of old walled city and there are a number of important pieces of architecture in the Fatih district including; the acqueduct across Ataturk Bulvari, the fortress on the city walls at Yedikule, The Byzantine palace of Blahernai, the Roman column of Marcianus, Fethiye Cami, Kariye Camii (the Byzantine church of the Chora) and the Fatih mosque itself.
There is no doubt much, much more history buried under the concrete.
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Districts of Istanbul |
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Adalar | Avcılar | Bağcılar | Bahçelievler | Bakırköy | Bayrampaşa | Beşiktaş | Beykoz | Beyoğlu | Büyükçekmece | Çatalca | Eminönü | Esenler | Eyüp | Fatih | Gaziosmanpaşa | Güngören | Kadıköy | Kağıthane | Kartal | Küçükçekmece | Maltepe | Pendik | Sarıyer | Silivri | Sultanbeyli | Şile | Şişli | Tuzla | Ümraniye | Üsküdar | Zeytinburnu |
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