Güngören

Güngören (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈɟynɟøɾen]) is a small industrial and working class residential district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is located near the district of Bakırköy. The mayor is Şakir Yücel Karaman (AKP).

History

Güngören is hard to distinguish from its neighbouring districts in the industrial area north of the E5 highway, districts such as Merter or the poorer parts of Bahçelievler. Like them it has seen a rapid and uncontrolled influx of migrants from Anatolia since the 1950s. In 1955 this was an open space with a small village named Vidos on it. Then a main road out of the city to the west was put through here and people began to build houses near the road. Most were built illegally. Today there are 237,000 crammed into a tight mass of cheap apartment blocks. The district was the site of the 2008 Istanbul bombings.

Güngören today

The housing districts of Güngören are slightly older and better established than other districts of 1980s migrants to the city, such as Esenler or Bağcılar, but still consist of narrow streets lined with six or seven-storey apartment buildings with no space between them. The difference is that the buildings are slightly better-maintained and there are more shops in the streets. But still standards of living are low.

Güngören (disambiguation)

Güngören is a Turkish word and may refer to:

Places

Other uses