Current Time in Sultanbeyli, Turkey

Sultanbeyli is a district of Istanbul on the Asian side of the city, lying inland from the Sea of Marmara in the southeastern part of the metropolitan area. It occupies rolling ground on the edge of the Aydos forest, and the highest point in Istanbul, the wooded summit of Aydos hill at over five hundred metres, rises on its boundary crowned by the ruins of a Byzantine castle. The climate is transitional Mediterranean, with warm dry summers and cool damp winters, and the district's elevation makes it noticeably cooler than the shoreline quarters.

Around three hundred and thirty thousand people live in Sultanbeyli, an extraordinary figure for a place that was still a village of a few thousand inhabitants in the early 1980s. Its story is one of the clearest illustrations of Istanbul's explosive growth in the late twentieth century, as families arrived from central and eastern Anatolia in search of work and built homes on the hillsides, often initially without permits. Over time the settlement was regularised, given municipal status in 1989 and equipped with roads, schools, hospitals and water supply, and it has since been substantially rebuilt with modern apartment blocks under urban renewal programmes.

The district's character is shaped by its origins. It is a family oriented and socially conservative place, with a strong sense of community rooted in the home regions of its residents, and it has one of the youngest populations of any Istanbul district. In more recent years Sultanbeyli has also become home to a large community of Syrian refugees, and local organisations have become well known for their work in integration and social support.

The economy rests on small and medium sized manufacturing and trade, particularly in furniture, textiles, construction materials, metalworking and automotive parts, together with the commerce generated by a large resident population. Markets and shopping streets are busy, and an industrial estate provides employment close to home.

The main attraction for visitors is the natural setting. Aydos forest offers walking and cycling trails, picnic grounds and views that stretch across the whole city to the Bosphorus and the Princes Islands, while the castle ruins on the summit date from the Byzantine period and are associated with legends of the early Ottoman conquest. The district also has large municipal parks, sports facilities and a modern cultural centre, and the Sultanbeyli central mosque is one of the biggest on the Asian side.

Transport has improved markedly. The trans European motorway passes directly through the district, giving fast road access to both bridges over the Bosphorus and to the Sabiha Gökçen airport nearby, and the extension of the metro network towards Sultanbeyli has connected it to the wider rail system. Buses and minibuses serve the neighbourhoods intensively.

Schools and vocational institutions are numerous, and several Istanbul universities are within commuting distance.

Sultanbeyli is significant as a district built almost entirely within living memory, and it offers visitors a view of contemporary Istanbul life away from the tourist quarters, together with the finest forest and hilltop scenery in the city.