Your entry as a visitor to the Esenyurt neighborhood or area in Istanbul may save you many trips and long travel distances to reach the destinations in this place.

It may occur to your mind to taste the delicious falafel tablets from the famous "Falafel Gaza" restaurant, then you can eat Arabic ice cream with pistachios from "Umayya ice cream" or a piece of kunafa from Nablusi from "Shahbandar" sweets.

The smell of grilled chicken on the Levantine way emanating from the "Allfahim" restaurant attracts the visitors of the neighborhood (Al-Jazeera)

While you are in the same place, you may be attracted by the smell of grilled chicken emanating from the adjacent “Alef Fahim” restaurant, or you might think that you go further than that, ie to the other street to eat couscous from the newly opened “Al Maghreb Al Arabi” restaurant, and if you have time, you may take a Moroccan bath as well. In the same area.

Couscous is available at the newly opened "Al Maghreb Al Arabi" restaurant (Al Jazeera)

All this atmosphere is accompanied by listening to Arabic songs from here or there, and welcoming phrases in Arabic, "Welcome, go ahead" that catches you whenever you turn around.

During your short tour that you enjoy on foot, you will go by the "Haram" money transfer shop and pass in front of the "Al-Safa Medical Center" to reach the "Gold Street" in which the Syrian and Arab goldsmiths' shops are spread, displaying their distinctive handicrafts on its facades.

And after satisfying your eyes and stomach with all that is delicious, and extinguishing your desire, even a little, to see an environment similar to the one in which you lived, you will not find a better opportunity to buy your needs of milk, cheese, spices and Arabic dates before you leave the neighborhood.

Arabic names for commercial complexes (Al-Jazeera)

One for ten

The previous round is all within two or three streets of the perimeter of the main square in Esenyurt, whose center is not much different from any popular neighborhood in Damascus, Cairo or Rabat, as you find in each of the streets surrounding the square one Turkish shop out of every 10 Arab shops.

According to one of the Turkish researchers, Esenyurt, which is located in the European part of Istanbul, has become called the Arab neighborhood, the largest immigrant in the world, as it now includes more than a quarter of a million Syrian and Arab refugees who gathered in it during the past ten years and formed their own and unique community.

An Arabic flavor prevails in the shops of the main square in Esenyurt (the island)

Daily festival

"I used to feel that the region is sad, but today it is more joyful, as if it is witnessing a daily festival .. constant movement from early morning until late in the evening." This is how Turkish citizen Sardar Guskin described the situation of the Esenyurt neighborhood 10 years ago and today.

Guskin says that Esenyurt is a popular and old neighborhood in Istanbul, but it is completely different today than it was 10 years ago, as it now includes different nationalities, and its population almost doubled during that period, and it also witnessed a great economic boom as new shops were opened and the region is required to live and work after it Most of its residents were working in other areas.

Sweets are available in the neighborhood where many Arabs live (the island)

Between yesterday and today

In turn, said Muhammad Abu Abdullah, director of the "Abu Abdo" fast food restaurant for Al-Jazeera Net, "We opened the restaurant more than 6 years ago, and there were a few Syrian and Arab restaurants and restaurants in the vicinity of Esenyurt Square. Today, most of the shops are owners of Syrians and Arabs, and it is increasing. Day after day".

As for the Syrian young man, Muhammad Rabi`, he said, "When I came to Esenyurt in 2012, I was suffering from alienation far from my country, but I became familiar with the place year after year. The area has changed until today it is not much different from the old Al-Midan or Salihiya area in Damascus."

For his part, the Egyptian young man Ahmed Ghoneim talked to Al-Jazeera Net about his experience. He said, “I came 4 years ago due to the political and economic conditions there. Thriving in Syrian and Arab stores, it feels vibrant and vibrant. "

Esenyurt has become one of the most populated districts in Istanbul, and all services are available (the island)

Greater than 56 cities

Kemal Deniz Bozkurt, mayor of Esenyurt, said that this district has become one of the most populated districts, not only in Istanbul, but throughout Turkey.

Bozkurt said in recent statements that the population of Esenyurt of 1.2 million people now exceeds 56 cities in Turkey, each of which has less than this number.

He pointed out that the number of Syrians and refugees in the province reached more than 200,000 people.

No one has accurate figures about the number of Syrians who brought their own flavors (Al-Jazeera)

While Nizar al-Kharrat, head of the Syrian community in Istanbul, said that the real number of Syrians in Senyurt is greater than the number mentioned, but no one has accurate figures because a large number of Syrians are registered under the temporary protection clause in other states, and they live in Istanbul because job opportunities are greater than the rest of the states. .

He pointed out in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the number of Syrians in Istanbul alone is about 700 thousand people (out of 3.5 million in all of Turkey), and a large part of them live in Esenyurt.

He pointed out that the Syrians in Esenyurt have succeeded in changing the image of the region from a suburb relatively far from central Istanbul to a desirable place for investment and residence, even by the children of other Arab communities.

An Arab restaurant in Esenyurt deserves the title of the largest Arab immigrant gathering in the world (Al-Jazeera)

The largest Arab immigrant gathering

Turkish researcher Majid Kadir, who specializes in Arab affairs, says that Esenyurt deserves the title of the largest Arab immigrant community in the world, as it includes more than a quarter of a million refugees and migrants at least.

He added to Al-Jazeera Net that this number is much higher, for example, than the population of the popular neighborhood of Molenbeek in the Belgian capital, Brussels, which does not exceed 100,000, most of whom are immigrants of Arab origins, especially the Maghreb.

Arab foods and foods that distinguish Esenyurt from the rest of the "migratory neighborhoods" (Al-Jazeera)

The researcher pointed out that the advantage of this neighborhood over the rest of the "immigrant neighborhoods" in the world is that it includes refugees and immigrants from their countries due to political or economic conditions or wars, and they do not hold the nationality of the host country until now, unlike similar neighborhoods in Europe or abroad in which immigrants for decades have become citizens. In the host country.