Tuzla is a comparatively quiet district of Istanbul located at the south-eastern border. Known as a popular destination for summertime tourism in the past, Tuzla now became the home of biggest shipyards of Turkey. As being along the Sea of Marmara bordering commercial and industrial city Kocaeli Province, Tuzla takes the advantage of its location.
Once, Tuzla was a fishing town along the sea where Greeks used to live. Pursuant to Lausanne Peace Treaty, Greek minority left their houses and moved back to Greece and after that Turks from Thessaloniki, Kavala and Drama settled in this district. In time, people from rural areas migrated to Tuzla in order to find work in the factories and shipyards. They built their houses far from seaside where many wealthy families, artists and writers have summer house.
Buses and dolmush (dolmuş) buses are the only way of transportation to get to Tuzla. From Kadıköy centre, you can easily predict that journey will take around 1 hour by bus. Soon the renovation of train lines will be finished and this district will be connected to the city hopefully.
As mentioned above, you can find the biggest shipyards of Turkey, in Tuzla. These shipyards’ contribution is very essential for the economy. Here around 30.000 people work. This number equals to the 1/6 of the total population of Tuzla. With the recently constructed marina, more people will be working in maritime sector.
Tuzla houses many educational institutions. Tuzla Naval Academy, Tuzla Infantry School, Sabancı University, Okan University, Istanbul Technical University Maritime Faculty, Gedik University, Medeniyet University, Süleyman Şah University Tuzla Campus and Piri Reis University are couple of them. Not as much as shipyard industry, these universities has contribution to the life in Tuzla for sure. Many restaurants, cafes, patisseries are opened but still, Tuzla really doesn’t have a lot to offer too many students.
These facilities, located mostly along the coastline, are meeting places for the residents. Fish restaurants offer delicious seafood. If you’re vegetarian, you can try mezes since it is very famous and delicious in this part of the city. On Sundays, public bazaar is being set up in the centre of the district where you can find a lot of organic vegetable.
Being on the coast line Tuzla offers clean water and beaches to enjoy summer. Public beach is generally overcrowded so it is not really possible to find a calm place to enjoy but you can try private beaches as they offer a lot of attractions compared to the public one. You can find couple of them in famous Mercan Cove. Not being discovered by many people, Mercan Cove is the best area to spend peaceful time. In Mercan tea garden, you can also bring your own food and get your drink served by them. This part of Tuzla is also being visited by many photographers for the view it offers.
Social and Cultural Life
Tuzla provides a high-quality social life for people of all ages. With rich libraries, stadiums, youth centers, women’s clubs, and more, Tuzla provides an excellent social experience for its residents. As this district is filled with people all around different cities of Anatolia, cultural diversity is rich and makes up for a great interaction between different cultures. Tuzla also holds many exhibitions, including special ship exhibitions that everyone could pay a visit to.
Transportation
Transportation in Tuzla is smooth with its broad highways and wide roads. Some parts of the renowned E-5 highway pass through Tuzla and even the Marmaray train line, which provides access to the furthest points of Istanbul. There are many bus stations found in Tuzla, which enables an easy way of transportation to various parts of Istanbul.
Demographic Structure
Despite its size, Tuzla has a low population of 267,400. There are only 2,122 people for every km2 in Tuzla. This significant amount of empty space creates a better-quality life for people who live in Tuzla. Adults and middle age make up most of the population in Tuzla by 52,91%, while the older people are recorded to be only 7,89%. The young people made up 39,20% of the population as of 2021. While 47,87% of the population is married, 21,30% is single. The education level of Tuzla is mainly made out of people that graduated from primary, middle, or secondary education. 21,10% of the population has a university or higher level of education. The Social Economic Status of the population in Tuzla is classified as being in the A and B group by 62,14%.
Property Prices
Even though Tuzla is located in the outer parts of Istanbul, it manages to attract many investors and families who wish to invest or reside in Tuzla. With its powerful industry and rich harbors, Tuzla gained an immense amount of investment over the years. Despite being a new district, square meter prices of properties in Tuzla increased by 34,14% over four years. The average price of 100 m2 of property in Tuzla is 374,800 Turkish Liras. Rental prices in Tuzla saw constant growth over the years as well. With a 17,59% growth between 2017 and 2021, rental prices in Tuzla averages 1,237 Turkish liras for a 100 m2 property. With such great value and a promising future, real estate investment in Tuzla is an opportunity to catch since it only takes 26 years for the properties to pay back their cost. Compared to many other real estate investments, this number is encouraging.
