Bozcaada

 city  Add category

Historically the Turkish mahalle (quarter) has been located to the south and the Greek one to the north. Each quarter has its own religious institutions, mosques on the Turkish side and churches on the Greek side. The Greek quarter was burned to the ground in the fire of 1874 and rebuilt, while the Turkish quarter has a more ancient design. The houses are architecturally different in the two districts. The grid-planned Greek district has businesses, galleries and hotels. This district is dominated by the bell tower of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God. On July 26 every year, the Greeks gather here to eat, dance and celebrate the feast day of St. Paraskevi.
By 2000, the official count of ethnic Greeks permanently residing on the island had dropped to 22.

The Turkish quarter has largely houses. The district, in its present version, dates to 1702, and contains the grave of a grand vizier, Halil Hamid Pasha. Pasha was executed on Tenedos after being exiled for scheming to replace sultan Abdülhamid I, with the "șehzade" (crown prince) Selim, the future Sultan. The grave is in the courtyard of the Alaybey Mosque, a historical monument. Another mosque, Köprülü Mehmet Paşa Mosque (also called Yali Mosque), is also a monument. The Turkish district, Alaybey, also has hammams and the Namazgah fountain.

The island has native islanders from families who have lived on the island for centuries, new wealthy immigrants from Istanbul, and wage labor immigrants from mainland Anatolia, especially from Bayramiç. An Ottoman Census in 1921 showed a population of 1,632.
The 2011 Turkish Statistical Institute gives the island a population of 2,472.