Lâleli

Lâleli (from the Turkish word for "tulip") is a district in the center of Istanbul . The district owes its name - like other quarters of the city - to the mosque standing here: the Tulip Mosque (Turkish Laleli Camii ). Laleli is known as a sales center for leather and fur goods and for its cheap hotels. In recent years it has been known in the press because of hotel fires.

The neighborhood has a bad reputation among the population because it is considered a red light district. In the 1990s, after the opening of Eastern Europe, there was a brisk tourism to Eastern European women. This was called "suitcase tourism" (bavul turizm) because the women came to Laleli to buy cheap textiles for export. This development has ebbed for years now, as parts of the Turkish textile industry migrated there because of the lower wage costs in the Balkans. In addition, retailers have recently been complaining of lost sales.

Coordinates: 41 ° 1 '  N , 28 ° 57'  E