[1] It is a working-class area on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the shore of the Marmara Sea just outside the walls of the ancient city, beyond the fortress of Yedikule.

embankments, alluvium and former stream beds lay while in north districts (Beştelsiz, Telsiz, Maltepe etc.)

The tree cover of Zeytinburnu has been mostly limited to its graveyards recently, so this district presents the appearance of a concrete jungle.

[8] The fortress was built in Late Antiquity as part of a series of strongholds that guarded the coastal road leading to Constantinople.

[8] In the early 8th century, the iconodule Saint Hilarion was kept prisoner in the local monastery on the orders of Emperor Leo V the Armenian (r.

[8] After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the name Kyklobion was transferred to the Yedikule Fortress by the local Greeks, and the original site was abandoned.

[10] [11] The leather industry has largely moved out to Tuzla now but the rows of six-storey blocks of housing and textiles remain.

Although some improvements have been made to the streets and drainage, the area still has a stereotypical reputation for being the home of tough men and uncontrollable youths who drive around in cars blasting out pop music at high-volume.

[13] There are large minority groups of Kazakhs and Turkmens,[14] who generally work in the textile industry, contributing to the Turkish economy.

[29] The Turkish-run English language BGNNews news agency reported that the Turkish Meydan newspaper discovered that Uyghur fighters joining the Islamist terrorist organization ISIL were being helped by businessman Nurali T., who led a network based in Zeytinburnu, which produced counterfeit Turkish passports numbering up to 100,000 distributed to Uyghurs from China to help them go to Turkey form where they would enter Iraq and Syria to join ISIL.

The information was revealed by AG who participates in the network, who noted that even though Turkish authorities are able to detect the fake passports they do not deport the Uyghurs and allow them into Turkey.

The authorities first confiscate the passports but then release the individuals.”[30] Seven Uyghur restaurant workers, who provided money to the perpetrator of the 2017 Istanbul nightclub attack for his taxi fare, were arrested in Zeytinburnu.

[33][34] As a result, Zeytinburnu became the site of over 50 police sweeps against "East Turkistanis" (Uyghurs), Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks.

[37][38] Erdoğan's government has deliberately facilitated the travel of Jihadist Uyghurs through Zeytinburnu, with Turkish intelligence involved and the nightclub massacre at Reina is a result of this.

[41] Zeytinburnu, among other districts such as Küçükçekmece, Başakşehir, Bağcılar, Gaziosmanpaşa, Esenler, Bayrampaşa, and Fatih, is home to many refugees of Syrian origin.