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 and is situated to the north of the Golden Horn, at the western shore of the Bosphorus strait. Levent, together with nearby Maslak, is one of the main business districts on the European side of the city, where numerous skyscraper projects are currently under construction or in the planning phase. One of the modern skyline clusters of the city is located here, hidden behind the hills of the Bosphorus and not disturbing the atmosphere of the historical peninsula of Istanbul, which is at quite a distance. The tallest skyscraper in Levent is the 54-floor Istanbul Sapphire, which has a roof height of 238 metres (261 metres including its spire). It was Istanbul's and Turkey's tallest skyscraper between 2010 and 2016 — as of 2020, it is the 4th tallest skyscraper in Istanbul and Turkey, behind Metropol Istanbul Tower 1 (70 floors / 301 metres including its twin spires) in the Ataşehir district on the Asian side of the city; and Skyland Istanbul Towers 1 and 2 (2 x 70 floors / 293 metres), located adjacent to Türk Telekom Stadium in the Seyrantepe quarter of the Sarıyer district, on the European side. The stations Levent and 4. Levent along the M2 line of the Istanbul Metro serve the Levent business district and its surrounding neighbourhoods. Etymology 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. The name Levent (Levend) came to be applied to the neighbourhood because in 1780 the Ottoman Fleet Admiral Cezayirli Gazi Hasan