Levent

Levent is a neighbourhood and one of the main business districts of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European side of the city. It is a part of the municipality of Beşiktaş which is situated to the north of the Golden Horn, at the western shore of the Bosphorus strait.

Levent is in direct competition with the nearby Maslak business district for new skyscraper projects. One of the major skyscraper clusters of the city is located here, well hidden behind the hills of the Bosphorus, and not disturbing the atmosphere of the historical peninsula of Istanbul, which is at quite a distance.

Levent hosts the tallest completed skyscraper of Turkey, the 54-floor Sapphire, which has a roof height of 238 metres (261 metres including its spire).

The stations Gayrettepe, Levent and 4. Levent along the M2 line of the Istanbul Metro serve the Levent business district and its surrounding neighbourhoods.

Levent is also a name for men in Turkey (cf. Levent) that derives from the Levend, a type of soldier (naval infantry) of the Ottoman Navy.Levend itself has derived from Levantino (Levantine) which means Person from the Levant (East Mediterranean) in Italian. This was how the Italians (the Genoese and Venetians) used to call the Ottoman sailors, a name which was also adopted by the Ottoman Turks. The use of the word levend for describing seamen first appeared in the Ottoman Turkish language during the 16th century. These marine soldiers had the reputation of possessing strong, muscular physiques and daring, fearless characters; which is the reason why the Turkish word levent, its Greek cognate levénti (λεβέντη) and its Bulgarian cognate levént (левент) are still popularly used for defining "athletic, gallant, brave" men.

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