Fatih - Fatih Today

Fatih Today

At present, Fatih contains areas including Aksaray, Fındıkzade, Çapa, and Vatan Caddesi that are more cosmopolitan than the extreme conservative image which the district has in the eyes of many people (because of the religious community of the Çarşamba quarter within the district.) With Eminönü, which was officially an area of the Fatih district until 1928, and with its historical Byzantine walls, conquered by Mehmed II, Fatih is the "real" Istanbul of the old times, before the recent enlargement of the city that began in the 19th century.

The area has become more and more crowded from the 1960s onwards, and a large portion of the middle class residents moved to the Anatolian side and other parts of the city. Fatih today is largely a working class district, but being a previously wealthy area, is well-resourced, with a more thoroughly established community than the relatively poorer residents of the newly-built areas such as Bağcılar or Esenler to the west, which are almost entirely inhabited by post-1980s immigrants who came to the city in desperate circumstances. Fatih, at least, was built with some degree of central planning by the municipality.

Besides the Haliç University and the Kadir Has University, two different Faculty of Medicine campuses of Istanbul University (Çapa Faculty of Medicine and Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine) are in Fatih.

Moreover, since 1586, the Orthodox Christian Patriarchate of Constantinople has its headquarters in the relatively modest Church of St. George in the Fener district of Fatih.

Fatih has many theatres, including the famous Reşat Nuri Sahnesi. The area is well-served with a number of schools, hospitals and public amenities in general. As Fatih is next to Eminönü, there is a smaller choice of shopping than in other areas, but there are still boutiques on the main thoroughfares, many of which still carry a fair number of trees. A number of Istanbul's longest-established hospitals are in Fatih, including the Istanbul University teaching hospitals of Çapa and Cerrahpaşa, the Haseki Public Hospital, the Samatya Public Hospital, and the Vakıf Gureba Public Hospital. A tramway runs from the docks at Sirkeci, through Sultanahmet, and finally to Aksaray, which is a part of Fatih.

Also, the headquarters of some of the main units of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, including the Fire Authority of the city, are based in Fatih.

Fatih has many historical and modern libraries, including the Edirnekapı Halk Kütüphanesi, Fener Rum Patrikhanesi Kütüphanesi (the Library of the Patriarchate), Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa Halk Kütüphanesi, İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi Kütüphanesi, İstanbul Üniversitesi Kardiyoloji Ensitütüsü Kütüphanesi, İstanbul Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Hulusi Behçet Kitaplığı, İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kadın Eserleri Kütüphanesi, Millet Kütüphanesi, Mizah Kütüphanesi, Murat Molla Halk Kütüphanesi, Ragıppaşa Kütüphanesi, and Yusufpaşa Halk Kütüphanesi.

On the other hand, today Fatih is known as one of the most conservative areas of Istanbul because of the religious residents of the Çarşamba quarter which is essentially a very minor part of this historical district. Çarşamba is famous with bearded men in heavy coats, the traditional baggy 'shalwar' trousers and Islamic turban; while women dressed in full black gowns are a common sight as this area is popular with members of the Naqshbandi Sufi order affiliated to a Sheikh. Conservative parties always do well in this area.