Istanbul's Historic Districts, Neighborhoods, Quarters
Kasımpaşa, İstanbul
(Kasimpasa, Istanbul)

Istanbul, Turkey How Kasımpaşa (Kasimpasa) got its name... These days, Kasımpaşa (the Istanbul semt; district that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Singer Seda Sayan call home), is also home to a substantial community of gypsies. But it wasn't always so... In Ottoman history there are 4 famous Ottoman 'Generals' who are remembered by the name Kasım Paşa (Kasim Pasa); General November: The first was Rumeli Beylerbeyi Kasım Paşa (died 1443, Istanbul) The second (who died 1485 in Edirne [Adrianopolis]) was Evliya Kasım Paşa. The third, who was not only a soldier but also a respected administrator, was Güzelce Kasım Paşa (died 1543 in Gallipoli). The fourth, a highly-regarded soldier-surgeon of the 17th Century, bore the name Cerrah Kasım Paşa. The Kasımpaşa district of Istanbul (Constantinople) was actually meant to honor the third of these esteemed personages, Güzelce ('Modestly-beautiful') Kasım Paşa -- who served as one of Süleyman the Magnificent's minor viziers during the Sultan's nearly successful campaign to capture Vienna in 1529. Then, during the Hapsburg Siege of Buda in 1530, when the 'Modestly-beautiful' General supervised the successful defense of the city against King Ferdinand's Austrian forces (led by General Wilhelm von Roggendorf -- who had been one of the heroic Austrian defenders at Vienna the previous year) -- Güzelce Kasım Paşa really caught the Sultan's eye. Süleyman promoted the Genaral to Second Vizier, and, upon their triumphant return to Istanbul, the Sultan honored Güzelce Kasım Paşa with the position of Sadaret Kaymakamı -- responsible for representing the Grand Vizier at the head of the Ottoman Army when it went out on war campaign. In Turkey - Türkiye'de Tüm kitap fırsatları için tıklayın ! The Sultan also tasked the General with establishing a new settlement along the banks of the Haliç; Golden Horn that still bears the name of its founder. And for many years during the Ottoman Age, the Kasımpaşa settlement remained one of the most esteemed districts of the great city -- with its convenient seaside location, its stately mansions, and decorative kiosks. But the statue that stands today in Kasımpaşa's public square isn't of Güzelce Kasım Paşa -- it's of Sadrazam Cezayirli Gazi Palabıyık Hasan Paşa, the High Admiral of the Ottoman Fleet who began the rejuvenation of the flagging Ottoman Navy from the shipyards of Kasımpaşa in the 1770's... Just one mystery remains about Kasımpaşa, which is that...no one seems to know how it came to be the source of Turkey's well-known off-color idiom, 'Sikimden Asağa, Kasımpaşa' -- the translation of which you may find under the 'Very Bold' section of our Off Color Dictionary...