Avcılar is a district of Istanbul, Turkey, out of town on the European side of the city, just to the west of the Küçükçekmece inlet of the Sea of Marmara.

The Marmara coast road bridges the mouth of the inlet, always an important route in wartime. Therefore when preparing the conquest of Istanbul the Ottoman forces were keen to populate the Küçükçekmece area with the Turks, the Turkish presence in the area dates from this period.

The road from Istanbul to Europe has become increasingly important ever since and by the time of the population exchange with Greece at the founding of the Turkish Republic there were 50 Greek families in the village, the property they vacated was then used as a military depot. Little is left of this history; the church had long been converted to a mosque and was pulled down in 1977 for a new mosque to be built; fountains and ruins have disappeared. There is some remaining Ottoman architecture including a hunting lodge belonging to the sultans, (the name Avcılar means 'hunters' in Turkish), and some traditional farm houses.

Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964 in Istanbul) is a Turkish pop music singer and also a cross-over soprano with a vocal range that extends to high F. She is one of the most successful female Turkish pop singers in her homeland, and is considered one of the divas of Turkish pop music. In Europe, she is best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with her hit song "Every Way That I Can", although she has had many other achievements outside Turkey.

A native of Istanbul, Erener studied history of music in a university in the city before beginning her musical career working with Turkish music icon Sezen Aksu.

She released her first album, Sakin Ol, in 1992, and followed it with four more Turkish-language albums over the next decade. Her album Lâ'l was included by Sony Music in its "Soundtrack For A Century" collection.

After competing unsuccessfully in two national Eurovision Song Contest finals in 1989 and 1990, she was internally selected in 2003 and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, representing Turkey with the song "Every Way That I Can", co-written by Demir Demirkan. The song went on to top charts in countries all over Europe, including Sweden and Greece.