In 2008 the district Sultangazi was created from parts of the districts Gaziosmanpaşa, Eyüpsultan and Esenler.[4][5] The name of "Sultangazi" comes from "Sultan" word part of Sultançiftliği (meaning farm of the Sultan) and the neighbourhood of Gazi, with "gazi" the Turkish for a venerated veteran of war.
This district's population comprises many ethnic minorities, including immigrants from Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia, the Black Sea region of Turkey, Kurds and Alevis, as well as Turks. Kurdish minority and Alevi people are mostly found in the Gazi neighbourhood, which has become infamous in Turkey after the 1995 riots.[6]