Sultanbeyli (pronounced [sulˈtanbejli]) is a working class suburb of Istanbul, Turkey on the Asian side, inland from Kartal and Pendik. It has a population of 272,758 (2007 census), more than triple the 1990 figure of 82,298. The mayor is Hüseyin Keskin (AKP).

Until recently Sultanbeyli was farmland. During 1940s and 1950s large land holdings of the Ottoman period were parcelized for the settlement fot the settlement Turkishs migrants from Bulgaria. A village was built in the 1950s on one of the main highways connecting Istanbul to hinterland.

Pir Sultan Abdal (ca. 1480–1550) was a legendary Turkish Alevi poet, whose direct and clear language as well as the richness of his imagination and the beauty of his verses led him to become loved among the Turkish people. Pir Sultan Abdal reflected the social, cultural and religious life of the people; he was a humanist, and wrote about resistance, love, peace, death and God. He was also rebellious against authoritarian rule which led him into problems with the Ottoman establishment.

Pir Sultan Abdal's ethnic origin is Turkish, his poetry was in the Turkish language and he originated from Sivas, which is mostly populated by ethnic Turks. Although Some researchers believe "Pir Sultan" wasn't just the one in Sivas, who has rebelled against the state and hanged for his religious convictions by Hızır Paşa's orders. Most of the information about him and his era we find in his verses, which reveal him as cultivated well educated and intellectual. Pir Sultan Abdal, was an Alevi, his early work is dedicated to lyrical and pastoral themes and to the gnostic approach he had adopted. He criticized some Ottoman governors, Hizir Pasha in particular who ruled the region and his unjust officers.

Tipu Sultan (November 1750, Devanahalli – 4 May 1799, Seringapatam), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa. He was given a number of honorific titles, and was referred to as Sultan Fateh Ali Khan Shahab, Tipu Saheb, Bahadur Khan Tipu Sultan or Fatih Ali Khan Tipu Sultan Bahadur.

During Tipu's childhood, his father rose to take power in Mysore, and Tipu took over rule of the kingdom upon his father's death. In addition to his role as ruler, he was a scholar, soldier, and poet. He was a devout Muslim but the majority of his subjects were Hindus. At the request of the French, he built a church, the first in Mysore. He was proficient in many languages. In alliance with the French in their struggle with the British, and in Mysore's struggles with other surrounding powers, both Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali used their French trained army against the Marathas, Sira, rulers of Malabar, Coorg, Bednur, Carnatic, and Travancore. He won important victories against the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War, and negotiated the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore with them after his father died the previous year.