Kadıköy Stadium

The liberal cultural centre of the Anatolian side of Istanbul.

via Wikipedia: Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium · see source

Kadıköy is a municipality and district in Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 25 km², and its population is 467,919 (2023). It is a large and populous area on the Asian side of Istanbul, on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara. It partially faces the historic city centre of Constantinople (modern Fatih) on the European side of the Bosporus. It is bordered by the districts of Üsküdar, to the northwest, Ataşehir, to the northeast, and Maltepe, to the southeast.

Quick Facts

Location: Kadıköy district of Istanbul, Turkey
Affiliation: Fenerbahçe S.K.
Opened current version: 2006

Lore & Background

Kadıköy was known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon. Chalcedon was known as the 'city of the blind'. The settlement has been under control of many empires, finally being taken by the Ottomans before the fall of Constantinople. At first, Chalcedon was rural, but with time it urbanized. Kadıköy separated from the Üsküdar district in 1928.

Reader's Guide

One of the most expensive places in Istanbul, Kadıköy is a residential and commercial area that, with its numerous bars, cinemas and bookshops, is the liberal cultural centre of the Anatolian side of Istanbul. Kadıköy contains the Bağdat Avenue, which is one of the most significant shopping streets in Turkey and it spans through the entirety of the district. Some main transportation routes connecting various districts of Istanbul pass through Kadıköy.

While the borders of the district extend from Bostancı to Koşuyolu, the central town which gives its name to the district encompasses only the limited area made up of the Rasimpaşa, Osmanağa, and Caferağa neighbourhoods. Outside of the centre, it is possible to see calmer, highly developed seaside settlements such as Caddebostan and Fenerbahçe. The most populated neighbourhoods of the district apart from the core of Kadıköy are Göztepe and Kozyatağı. Kadıköy ranked 1st place in Human Development Index out of the 188 most populated districts in Turkey.

Did You Know?

Chalcedon was the first settlement that the Greeks from Megara established on the Bosphorus, in 685 BC, a few years before they established Byzantium on the other side of the strait in 667 BC.
Kadıköy has the oldest mosque in Istanbul, built almost a century before the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
The fourth ecumenical church council, Council of Chalcedon, was held there in 451 AD.