Hi Chris. According to “Istanbul.com” the population is 15 million. According to the official population guide there were just a little over 9 million in 1997. With 9 million, 12 million, or 15 million it doesn’t matter much. It’s still a whole lot of people.

In recent years, significant numbers of Turks have immigrated to the city from Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germany, and the Turkic republics of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. There are also very small percentages of Jews, Greek and Armenian Christians. This may account for the huge increase in population. Take Care…Don in creepy town

• Istanbul