Narlıdere was founded as a village by semi-nomadic Tahtacı–Alevi Turkmens in the 18th century, whose descendants still constitute the backbone of the population, preserving their particular popular culture and folklore, and maintaining their recently restored seminary, called Cemevi. During the Greek Uprising, Greek pirates from Samos kidnapped these Tahtacı Türkmens for ransom from their relatives day and night and also stole animals and other property as there were no troops in the coast between İzmir and Urla.
An Ottoman Archival document from the Porte in February 1825 to Hasan Pasha, Castellan of Izmir, make the distinction and use the word "Türkmen" instead of Türk" The economy is still largely based on agriculture (especially citrus fruit and flowers), although new housing projects putting Narlıdere's advantageous location to benefit and generally aimed at high-income residents started to be built in recent years, and there is a five-star hotel. As such, Narlıdere became in recent years one of İzmir's metropolitan districts where the economy grew the fastest.