Kadıköy

Sister cities

• Petah Tikva
• Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg

History

Kadıköy is an older settlement than most of those on the Anatolian side of the city of Istanbul. Relics dating to 5500–3500 BC (Chalcolithic period) have been found at the Fikirtepe Mound, and articles of stone, bone, ceramic, jewelry and bronze show that there has been a continuous settlement since prehistoric times. A port settlement dating from the Phoenicians has also been discovered. 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. Towns such as Rouphinianai and Poleatikon were located in Chalcedon. Chalcedon became known as the 'city of the blind', the story being that Byzantium was 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). The fourth ecumenical church council, Council of Chalcedon, was held there in 451 AD. Chalcedon changed hands time and time again, as Persians, Bithynians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, and Turks passed through the area, which was badly damaged during the Fourth Crusade and came into Ottoman hands in 1353, a full century before Constantinople. Thus, Kadıköy has the oldest mosque in Istanbul, built almost a century before the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. At the time of the conquest, Chalcedon was a rural settlement outside the protection of the city. It was soon put under the jurisdiction of the Constantinople courts, hence the name Kadıköy, which means Village of the Judge. In the Ottoman period, Kadıköy became a market for agricultural goods and in time developed into a…

Geography

There are 21 neighbourhoods in Kadıköy District: * 19 Mayıs * Acıbadem * Bostancı * Caddebostan * Caferağa * Dumlupınar * Eğitim * Erenköy * Fenerbahçe * Feneryolu * Fikirtepe * Göztepe * Hasanpaşa * Koşuyolu * Kozyatağı * Merdivenköy * Osmanağa * Rasimpaşa * Sahraycıedit * Suadiye * Zühtüpaşa The major Haydarpaşa Terminal of the Turkish State Railways is located close to Kadıköy's centre and was opened in 1908 as the terminus of the Istanbul-Baghdad and Istanbul-Damascus-Medina railways. The terminal closed due to infrastructure works in 2013 and reopened in 2018, serving east- and south-bound international, domestic and regional trains. The Söğütlüçeşme railway station, the next station after Haydarpaşa Terminal, is the terminus of the Metrobus line to European side of Istanbul. The M4 line of the Istanbul Metro runs from Kadıköy to Tavşantepe daily between 6:00 and 23:57. The centre of Kadıköy today is the transportation hub for people commuting between the Asian side of the city and the European side across the Bosphorus. There is a large bus and minibus terminal next to the ferry quay. Ferries are the most dominantly visible form of transport in Kadıköy, and the central market area is adjacent to the ferry quay. Public transportation with terminus in Kadıköy: ;Bus system For more lines, visit: http://www.iett.istanbul/en/main/hatlar ;Metro *M4 Kadıköy-Sabiha Gökçen (Sabiha Gökçen International Airport) *M8 *Marmaray ;Nostalgic tram *T3 (Ring) Mühürdar-Bahariye-Moda (in centrum) ;Ferryboats Traditional ferries, *Eminönü *Karaköy *Kabataş *Beşiktaş *Princes' Islands Sea buses, *Bostancı-Kadıköy-Yenikapı-Bakırköy *Kabataş

Most-observed species

• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  9,733
• Yellow-legged Gull

  Larus michahellis J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  9,339
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,389
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,842
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  5,585
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,854
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,811
• Rose-ringed Parakeet

  Psittacula krameri (Scopoli, 1769) · Aves
  4,608

Most recent

• M 5 — 2025-10-02
  22 km S of Marmara Ereğlisi, Turkey
• M 3.8 — 2025-07-05
  30 km SSW of Kumburgaz, Turkey
• M 4.2 — 2025-07-02
  4 km NE of Gemlik, Turkey
• M 4 — 2025-07-01
  3 km S of Umurbey, Turkey
• M 3.7 — 2025-05-03
  27 km SE of Marmara Ereğlisi, Turkey
• M 4.3 — 2025-04-25
  19 km SSW of Kumburgaz, Turkey