The ten largest cities in Turkey by population are Istanbul (about 15.8 million), Ankara (5.7 million), Izmir (4.4 million), Bursa (3.1 million), Antalya (2.6 million), Adana (2.3 million), Konya (2.3 million), Gaziantep (2.1 million), Mersin (1.9 million) and Kayseri (1.4 million). Together these urban centres hold a large share of Turkey's roughly 85 million people, reflecting one of the most rapidly urbanised societies in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Ten Largest Turkish Cities
Turkey's population is heavily concentrated in a handful of provinces, and the figures below count each city's wider metropolitan province rather than just its historic core. Ranked from largest to smallest:
- Istanbul — approximately 15.8 million
- Ankara — approximately 5.7 million
- Izmir — approximately 4.4 million
- Bursa — approximately 3.1 million
- Antalya — approximately 2.6 million
- Adana — approximately 2.3 million
- Konya — approximately 2.3 million
- Gaziantep — approximately 2.1 million
- Mersin — approximately 1.9 million
- Kayseri — approximately 1.4 million
The gap between first and second place is striking: Istanbul alone is nearly three times the size of Ankara, the capital, and holds close to one in five Turkish residents.
Istanbul: The Transcontinental Giant
With around 15.8 million people, Istanbul is by far Turkey's largest city and one of the biggest in Europe and the Middle East. It is famously the only major city in the world to straddle two continents, split by the Bosphorus strait into a European side and an Asian side. Formerly known as Byzantium and then Constantinople, it served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires before the modern republic moved its seat of government inland. Today it is Turkey's commercial and cultural engine, generating a disproportionate share of national economic output and hosting landmarks such as the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar.
Ankara and the Capital Question
Many people assume Istanbul is the capital, but that title belongs to Ankara, home to roughly 5.7 million people. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk chose this central Anatolian city as the capital in 1923 precisely because of its defensible inland location, away from the contested coasts. Ankara is the centre of government, diplomacy and higher education, with embassies, ministries and major universities clustered there. Though less touristed than the coast, it anchors the dry Anatolian plateau and acts as a transport hub linking eastern and western Turkey.
Coastal and Aegean Powerhouses
Several of the largest cities owe their growth to ports and tourism. Izmir, with about 4.4 million people, is Turkey's third city and its leading Aegean port, prized for a temperate climate and a long Greek and Ottoman trading heritage. Antalya, around 2.6 million, is the heart of the Mediterranean "Turkish Riviera" and a global beach-tourism destination that swells further with summer visitors. Mersin and Adana, both in the south, drive the Cukurova region's agriculture, shipping and industry, while Bursa, near the Sea of Marmara, was the first Ottoman capital and is now a major automotive and textile manufacturing centre.
The Anatolian Heartland
Inland cities round out the top ten. Konya (about 2.3 million) is a deeply historic religious and agricultural centre, associated with the poet Rumi and the whirling dervishes, and sits at the edge of Turkey's grain-producing steppe. Gaziantep (around 2.1 million), close to the Syrian border, is renowned for its cuisine, pistachios and a fast-growing manufacturing economy. Kayseri (around 1.4 million), beneath the snow-capped Mount Erciyes, is a long-standing trading town that has become a model of Anatolian industrial enterprise. These cities show that Turkey's urban story extends well beyond the famous coastline.
Istanbul Sits on Two Continents
Istanbul is the only large city in the world built across two continents, divided by the Bosphorus strait with roughly two thirds of its population on the European side and a third in Asia. Ferries, three suspension bridges and a rail tunnel under the seabed connect them.
The Marmaray tunnel, opened in 2013, runs beneath the strait and carries commuter rail between the continents. Construction was repeatedly delayed by archaeology: excavation at Yenikapi uncovered the Theodosian harbour with dozens of Byzantine shipwrecks and evidence of settlement going back some 8,000 years.
The strait itself is one of the most strategically significant waterways in the world, the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and its passage is governed by the Montreux Convention of 1936.
The City Was the Capital of Two Empires
Founded as Byzantion, refounded by Constantine in 330 as the capital of the Roman Empire, and taken by Mehmed II in 1453 to become the Ottoman capital, Istanbul was a seat of imperial government continuously for sixteen centuries.
The Hagia Sophia was built as a cathedral in 537, held the record for the largest enclosed space in the world for nearly a thousand years, became a mosque in 1453, a museum in 1935 and a mosque again in 2020. Its dome remains one of the defining achievements of late antique engineering.
The historic areas of the city are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, taking in the Sultanahmet district, the Topkapi Palace, the Suleymaniye Mosque and the Theodosian land walls that held off besieging armies for a millennium.
Ankara Was Chosen Precisely Because It Was Not Istanbul
Ataturk moved the capital to Ankara in 1923, and the decision was ideological as much as practical. Istanbul was the Ottoman and imperial city, occupied by Allied forces after the First World War and associated with the order the republic was replacing.
Ankara sat on the Anatolian plateau, was defensible, central, and at the time a provincial town of a few tens of thousands. It was rebuilt as a modern administrative capital with a planned government district, and it now holds several million people.
The split has persisted in the national imagination: Ankara does the governing and Istanbul does everything else, holding the finance, media, universities and industry as well as the great majority of foreign visitors.
Earthquakes Define Where and How Turkey Builds
The North Anatolian Fault runs east to west across the country, passing close to Istanbul beneath the Sea of Marmara, and Turkey sits where the Anatolian, Eurasian, Arabian and African plates interact.
The Izmit earthquake of August 1999 killed more than 17,000 people in the industrial belt east of Istanbul. The February 2023 earthquakes in the south-east killed more than 50,000 across Turkey and Syria and destroyed much of Antakya, Kahramanmaras and parts of Gaziantep.
Building code enforcement rather than the code itself has been the repeated failure, and the amnesties periodically granted to unpermitted construction have been widely blamed. A major earthquake beneath the Marmara close to Istanbul is considered likely within decades, and retrofitting the city's housing stock is among the largest open questions in Turkish public policy.
The Cities Absorbed a Country Moving Off the Land
Turkey urbanised extremely fast. In 1950 roughly a quarter of the population lived in towns; the figure is now above three quarters, and the shift happened within two generations.
The housing that absorbed it was largely self-built. The gecekondu, meaning built overnight, were informal houses erected on the edges of cities under an old legal convention that a dwelling completed between dusk and dawn could not readily be demolished. Whole districts of Istanbul and Ankara began that way and were later regularised and rebuilt as apartment blocks.
Since 2011 Turkey has also taken in more refugees than any other country, several million of them from Syria, and Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Istanbul have absorbed the largest numbers. That movement has reshaped the populations of the south-eastern cities on this list within a decade.
Common Questions About Turkish Cities
What is the largest city in Turkey?
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, with a population of roughly 15.8 million. It is also one of the most populous cities in all of Europe.
Is Istanbul the capital of Turkey?
No. Although Istanbul is the largest city, the capital is Ankara, which has been the seat of government since the Turkish Republic was founded in 1923.
How many people live in Turkey?
Turkey has a total population of approximately 85 million people, making it one of the most populous countries in the region.
Why is Istanbul so much bigger than other Turkish cities?
Istanbul's size reflects its history as an imperial capital and its position controlling the Bosphorus, a vital trade route between Europe and Asia. It remains the country's economic and cultural centre, drawing migration from across Turkey.
To explore where these cities sit on the map and learn more about the country, see our turkey country guide.
Is Istanbul the capital of Turkey?
No. Ankara has been the capital since 1923. Istanbul is far larger and better known internationally, which is why the mistake is so common, but the government, parliament and embassies are all in Ankara.
Which part of Istanbul is in Europe?
The western side of the Bosphorus, including the historic Sultanahmet district, Beyoglu and Taksim, holds roughly two thirds of the population. The Asian side, with Kadikoy and Uskudar, is largely residential and is connected by ferry, bridge and the Marmaray rail tunnel.
Why is Izmir important?
It is Turkey's third city and its main Aegean port, known historically as Smyrna. It has long been the most outward-facing Turkish city commercially, and it retains a reputation as the most secular and liberal of the large urban centres.