Konak is a municipality and district of ðzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 24 km<sup>2</sup>, and its population is 332,277 (2022). It is the most densely populated of the thirty districts of ðzmir, and has historically acted as the administrative and economic core of the city. Situated in an area that roughly corresponds to the geographic center of ðzmir, Konak extends for along the southern coastline of the Gulf of ðzmir. Konak district area neighbors the district areas of Bornova to the east, Balçova to the west and Buca and KarabaÃÂlar to the south. Konak center is connected to other districts of ðzmir and beyond by a dense network of roads and railroads, as well as by a subway line currently being largely extended and by ferry services to Karà Âñyaka. Konak is a very active hub of industry, trade, commerce and services, with the number of companies exceeding sixty thousand and its exports nearing two billion US dollars in 2006.
The name "Konak" was previously used for ðzmir's historic core neighborhood, as well as for its key central square (Konak Square â Konak Meydanñ). For example, Karà Âñyaka along the opposing northern shore did not always consider itself as an integral part of ðzmir, or in any case, had marking specificities and points of rivalry.
Administrative history of Konak started in 1983âÂÂ1984 when the steps towards the constitution of a Metropolitan Municipality of ðzmir, itself divided into districts, were taken. In 1987, the territory of former district of central ðzmir of was renamed the district of Konak (with the exception of its former dependency of Buca, which was turned into a separate district), and the name ðzmir implies the entire metropolitan area since then. The municipality of Konak came into effect in full terms in July 1988. The district of KarabaÃÂlar was created in 2008 from part of the district of Konak.
Konak district area starts at the tip of the Gulf of ðzmir and follows the southern shoreline, covering such prominent neighborhoods of ðzmir as, respectively from east to west, Alsancak with its international freight and passenger port, Konak Square proper and Kemeraltñ and ÃÂankaya bazaar areas and Kültürpark, where ðzmir International Fair is held, immediately behind it, Karataà Â, the former Jewish neighborhood marked by Asansör building, and Göztepe, famous for its football team, among others, further along the coast towards the west, as well as the hillside zone behind these, notably the quarters of Eà Ârefpaà Âa and Hatay.
For both the metropolitan area and ðzmir Province in general, Konak still represents the administrative nerve center, with the governorship, the offices of ðzmir Metropolitan Municipality, the commercial areas, and other important administrative and private headquarters being situated within the boundaries of Konak.
The name konak itself means, inter alia, government house or official residence in Turkish and refers in the case of Konak, ðzmir, to the residence built for the governor between 1869âÂÂ1972 at the spot and as a replacement of the mansion of Katipzade, a family of notables who controlled the city and the region between 1750âÂÂ1820. The new building was intended to emphasize the prestige acquired by a growing international trade center and its design and furnishings were consequently luxurious. The building marked the move for the seat of the vilayet of Aydñn to ðzmir, initiated in 1865.
In recent years, there is a move toward decentralization and shift also to other districts of ðzmir by official and private headquarters, notably with the building of a new and huge Hall of Justice in Bornova.
The core areas of Konak Square and Kemeraltñ were formed with the filling in due course during the 17th century of the shallow inner bay of ðzmir and immediate outer coastal reaches. Kemeraltñ bazaar came into existence with the filling between 1650âÂÂ1670 of the shallowest parts of the bay and the process of gaining ground from the sea bay was pursued progressively. The shoreline took its present form by the end of the 18th century in approximate terms, although some of the land along the berth remained unused till the mid-19th century. In 1829, Sarñ Kñà Âla, the Yellow Casern, the principal Ottoman casern of the city, gigantic for its time, was built at immediate sea-side, and a private residence (konak) situated slightly diagonally behind the casern was extended and converted into the governor's mansion, demarcating Konak Square that holds its name from the mansion, and which in its turn gave the name to the central metropolitan district of ðzmir (Konak), and at the level of which Kemeraltñ is considered to start.
The Yellow Casern was demolished in 1955 under express instructions from the then Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, who wanted to see Konak Square re-shaped, to the continuing regret of many Smyrniots who had come to adopt the oversize building as one of the main landmarks of their city. Konak Square is still where the best symbols of ðzmir are found.
The number of companies registered in Konak district was 58,199 in 2006. Exports realized by the district's companies reached 1,824,101,418 the same year. 26 banks are present across Konak district area and they provide services through 209 branches. Roughly 304,000 residential buildings make up Konak's settlement. It is notable to observe that, according to the figures provided by the prefecture, residential areas make up only around 10âÂÂ15 per cent of Konak's urban zone, while a huge proportion of 75âÂÂ80 per cent is classified as land being used for commercial and/or industrial purposes.
The literacy rate is close to hundred per cent, a minimal two per cent ratio of illiteracy accounted for principally by new immigrants to the district. There are 23 students for each teacher, and 2,085 patients for each doctor in Konak. While ðzmir's universities mostly have their campuses in other districts of the metropolitan area, these preserve an important presence in Konak through their administrative buildings and depending educational institutions, and some among the higher education establishments of fresher date chose Konak as initial base. Konak is also home to a number of deep-rooted high schools well known across Turkey.
The district is the home of some large business centers including Heris Tower, Birsel Plaza, Kavala Plaza and Arkas Building. Of ðzmir largest business plazas, Heris Tower is the largest as of 2004 with 600 people working there. Heris Tower was one of the tallest building of ðzmir and as of 2014 it was still one of only 9 high-rise buildings in ðzmir. And as of mid 2021 was still the 15th tallest building in ðzmir. Heris Tower () is a tall office skyscraper in ðzmir, Turkey. in the commercial Akdeniz neighborhood on à Âehit Fethi Bey Avenue, the building is the seventh tallest building in ðzmir and the 99th tallest building in Turkey. Heris Tower was completed in 2001 and was the second tallest building in the city on completion. With a blue pyramid at the tip, Heris Tower shares a resemblance with the Mellon Bank Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
There are 113 neighbourhoods in Konak District:
Kadifekale, originally built at the end of the 4th century BC, is the millenary "Pagos" of ancient Greek and Byzantine times and "Pagus" of Roman and Genoese periods of ðzmir. The Turkish name Kadifekale literally means "the velvet castle" and is used both for the castle and for the hill on whose summit the castle is situated. The summit is located at a distance of about from the shoreline and commands a general view of a large part of the city of ðzmir, as well as of the Gulf of ðzmir.
As is the case with Pagos hilltop castle at Kadifekale, the foundation of the second city of Smyrna to replace its Archaic Period predecessor at what is Bayraklñ district today, is associated and contemporaneous with Alexander the Great, although the present-day remains date from later periods. In the case of ancient Smyrna, the ruins are centered around the Roman period Agora of the city, rebuilt after a 178 AD earthquake, although much evidence leads to the conclusion that further research could bring many other vestiges of the antique city to daylight. A new drive in the last decade, once the excavations were placed under the authority of ðzmir's Metropolitan Municipal Administration, led to new acquisitions of land around the site of the Agora, incurring considerable expenses and with the objective of enlarging the area to explore.
First scientific explorations at the Agora of Smyrna were conducted by Charles Texier in late-1830s and the present state of the site as accessible to visitors is the consequence of the work accomplished between 1931 and 1942 by the archaeologists Rudolf Naumann and Selâhattin Kantar.
Konak Square is the central point where the structure that became ðzmir city's symbol, ðzmir Clock Tower, built upon decision of the city council by the Levantine French architect Raymond Charles Père on the occasion of Sultan Abdülhamid II's silver jubilee (1901), is found.
The tower is in front of ðzmir Governor's official residence (Konak), an almost identical replica of the original building built between 1869 and 1872, which itself was lost to a fire in 1970. Between the two structures, the tower and the "konak", is a very small mosque, a curiosity today and which was formerly annexed by a medrese, which also dates from the time of the Katipzade, having been built around 1755.
The eastern end of Konak Square is marked by Konak Pier, a 19th-century construction whose steelworks are claimed to have been designed by Gustave Eiffel. The western end is the location of another 19th-century Levantine/European landmark of the city (see below), ðzmir Ethnography and Archaeology Museum, originally built as an orphanage. The central part of the square, just next to the Clock Tower and the Governor's Mansion, leads access to Kemeraltñ bazaar area and to the Agora of Smyrna beyond at the bazaar's land's end.
Covering the area between Konak Square and the Agora of Smyrna, Kemeraltñ Bazaar is a part of ðzmir where residential buildings are practically absent and which consists, not on only of hundreds of commercial establishments but also of numerous religious buildings (historic mosques and synagogues) concentrated in walking distance from each other. ðzmir center's two largest churches, a Catholic church dedicated to Polycarp and the Greek Orthodox church of "Aya Vukla", premises of the archaeological museum until recently and currently in phase of being restored, are also located slightly outside Kemeraltñ zone. The entire area corresponds to ðzmir's small inner bay which existed until the 18th century and is thus land gained from the sea. 1590-built Hisar Mosque and the 1744-built KñzlaraÃÂasñ led the pace for the establishment of a commercial zone here which is still marked by many buildings of ðzmir's Ottoman period.
Alsancak is a neighborhood of well-designed streets and modern apartment blocks and stores and also where ðzmir's trendiest and the most expensive and exclusive residences and commercial space are found here, as well as the busiest office buildings, including consulates. It extends along the First Kordon and the Second Kordon, the first having taken present-day look with the construction of ðzmir's new port installations between 1867âÂÂ1876. With the project, the wharf (Pasaport Quay), as well as a combination of a landing stage, of a street served by a tram line and of an esplanade (Kordon) came into existence, all built on land gained from the sea, and profoundly changing the city's look.
Many restaurants, bars, cafes, discothèques and other entertainment venues are concentrated in Alsancak, increasingly within the intact rows of older and more traditional one- or two-storied buildings found in the inner smaller streets and are often restored specifically for the purpose of the intended commercial activity.
Asansör (Turkish for "elevator") is a building in Konak's Karataà  neighborhood and it was built in 1907 as a work of public service by a wealthy Jewish banker and trader of that period, Nesim Levi BayraklñoÃÂlu, in order to ease passage for people and goods from the narrow coastline of Karataà  to the hillside along its steep cliff. The small street that led to the building was recently renamed DarÃÂo Moreno in memory of the singer who used to live there before attaining fame in Europe.
Kültürpark, behind Alsancak's coastal strait at a short distance, is considered the cradle of Turkey's fairs and expositions industry, and is notable for hosting a series of simultaneous festival activities.