Pendik

Pendik is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 190 km2, and its population is 750,435 (2022). It is on the Asian side between Kartal and Tuzla, on the Marmara Sea. It also neighbours Sultanbeyli, Sancaktepe and Çekmeköy from northwest, Şile from north and Gebze from northeast. The district is home to the Sabiha Gökçen International Airport.

During the Roman, Byzantine and Latin Empire periods, the coastal town was known as Pantichium.

Composition
There are 36 neighbourhoods in Pendik District:


 * Ahmet Yesevi
 * Bahçelievler
 * Ballıca
 * Batı
 * Çamçeşme
 * Çamlık
 * Çınardere
 * Doğu
 * Dumlupınar
 * Emirli
 * Ertuğrul Gazi
 * Esenler
 * Esenyalı
 * Fatih
 * Fevzi Çakmak
 * Göçbeyli
 * Güllü Bağlar
 * Güzelyalı
 * Harmandere
 * Kavakpınar
 * Kaynarca
 * Kurna
 * Kurtdoğmuş
 * Kurtköy
 * Orhangazi
 * Orta
 * Ramazanoğlu
 * Sanayi
 * Sapan Bağları
 * Şeyhli
 * Sülüntepe
 * Velibaba
 * Yayalar
 * Yeni
 * Yenişehir
 * Yeşilbağlar

Pendik today
Until the 1970s Pendik was a rural area, far from the city. Today Pendik is a crowded mix of working class housing (especially further towards the E5 motorway) with more expensive apartments with sea views along the coast. There is a busy shopping district (with a large street market on Saturdays), restaurants and movie theaters. Pendik is far from downtown Istanbul. It is served by Marmaray suburban trains. Since 25 July 2014, high-speed services to Ankara start from this station, pending termination of the upgrades on the line to Istanbul proper. In 2016, an extension of the M4 line of the Istanbul Metro was completed. The Pendik metro station is located about 1 km north of the railway station. The coastal road is fast but does not carry public transport, except for the bus 16A which only runs until 8 pm and the Kadikoy-Bostanci-Pendik dolmus. There is road construction going on in the Pendik/Tuzla/Gebze region, which has seen industrial development in the 1990s. Over the centuries, Bosniaks have migrated to Turkey, with a large number arriving after the Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878. Many settled in the Pendik boroughs of Sapanbağları, Yeşilbağlar and Bahçelievler. Apart from naming their streets and shops after their village in Bosnia, these people have blended into the Istanbul working-class lifestyle of the rest of Pendik. In the late 1990s two private educational institutions were built inland from Pendik, Koç Özel Lisesi and Sabancı University. The area has a Formula One racetrack. There is a high-speed boat across the Marmara Sea to Yalova for people travelling out of the city to Bursa and the Aegean. Sabiha Gökçen airport is near. The current mayor is Ahmet Cin from AK Parti.

Climate
Pendik experiences a Mediterranean climate (Csa/Cs) according to both Köppen and Trewartha climate classifications, with cool winters and warm to hot summers. A warm district, it is in USDA hardiness zone 9a and AHS heat zone 4, allowing the cultivation of certain cold-hardy subtropical plants. While in southern Istanbul, it is still affected by Foehn winds, because of its position north of the highlands in Yalova.

Sport
The women's football team Pendik Çamlık Spor play in the Turkish Super League.

Twin cities

 * 🇲🇩 Comrat, Moldova
 * 🇷🇸 Novi Pazar, Serbia
 * 🇷🇴 Targu-Jiu, Romania