Levent is a neighbourhood and one of the main business districts of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European side of the city. It is a part of the municipality of Beşiktaş which is situated to the north of the Golden Horn, at the western shore of the Bosporus strait.
Levent is in direct competition with the nearby Maslak business district for new skyscraper projects. One of the major skyscraper clusters of the city is located here, well hidden behind the hills of the Bosporus, and not disturbing the atmosphere of the historical peninsula of Istanbul, which is at quite a distance.
Levent[1] hosts the tallest completed skyscraper of Turkey, the 54-floor Sapphire,[2] which has a roof height of 238 metres (261 metres including its spire).[2]
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Levent is also a name for men in Turkey; see Levent (name). The name derives from Levend (Marine Soldier) of the Ottoman Navy.[3] Levend itself has derived from Levantino (Levantine) which means Person from the Levant (East Mediterranean) in Italian.[3] This was how the Italians (the Genoese and Venetians) used to call the Ottoman sailors, a name which was also embraced by the Ottoman Turks themselves.[3] The use of the word levend for describing seamen first appeared in the Ottoman Turkish language during the 16th century.[4] This name came to be applied to the neighbourhood because in the 18th century the Ottoman Kapudan Pasha Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha had a farm here and in the 19th century a compound of naval barracks were built in the area of this farm.[5]