Koca Sinan Pasha
The founder of the town Koca Sinan Pasha called the town "Kaçaniku". In 1660, the Turkish writer and traveler, Evliya Çelebi, visited Kosovo and wrote that the town's name derived from the Turkish word "Kaçanlar" in reference to a group of Albanian bandits that operated in Üsküb and used the region of Kaçanik as a hideout. As the Kaçanik area was used as a hideout for the Kachaks, Koca Sinan Pasha built the town fortress to keep out the Kachaks.