People Problems – The Great Turkish Migration (Istanbul & Everything After #6)

On our first full day in Istanbul, my best friend and I walked down to the Golden Horn. With a name like that, and a history to match, this natural estuary which has acted as a harbor for the city since late antiquity, was a must see. Setting out from our hotel on the third hill of Istanbul we began our descent to the water. By the time we got within a few hundred meters of the Golden Horn, both of us were so distracted by the great masses of people that our destination became an afterthought.

It would be a dramatic understatement to say the streets of Istanbul were packed. Some of that had to do with the narrowness of the streets which had been laid out long before the city became a modern metropolis. The smell of sweat and the hot breath of humans on the back of my neck was constant. Everyone shuffled along shoulder to shoulder. Jockeying for position was normal. Personal distance shrunk to mere inches. There was nothing to do except follow the wisdom of crowds. There were no lines to speak of, only herds of people. If someone had asked me where we were headed, I would have replied, “forward.” There was no other choice in this matter.

Elbow Room - The Way It Used To Be

Anyone visiting Istanbul in the 21st century cannot help but notice just how many people are packed into the city. It is easy to assume that modern Istanbul has always been bursting at the seams with humanity. I thought the same as I traded elbows with others struggling to find enough space. The worst was soon to come in an underpass near the Galata Bridge. A massive amount of people pushed their way in either direction. There must have been five hundred people wandering forward at a snail’s pace. I suddenly understood why Istanbul has long been a haven for pickpockets. There was no way to guard one’s belongings. The only time I had been this close to anyone in my life was during romantic encounters.

There was nothing romantic about the underpass. It was sultry in the extreme from a combination of body heat and high humidity. Voices of this great mass coalesced into an unsettling murmur. Distinguishing any kind of conversation in the fetid environment was impossible. This was not the Istanbul I had imagined. My frame of reference for the city was skewed because it went back over fifty years. Those initial ideas of Istanbul were formed by the second James Bond film, From Russia With Love. Released in 1963, a sizable portion of the film was shot on location in Istanbul. The city plays a supporting role in the plot.

Bond travels to Istanbul in the hope of obtaining a Lektor decoding machine from Tatiana, a mysterious and beautiful Russian cipher clerk who has developed a romantic interest in him despite the fact they have never met. From the beginning of Bond’s time in Istanbul as he lands at Yeşilköy Airport (later renamed Ataturk Airport), there are relatively few people around. The airport is spacious, airy, and calm. I found the opposite when I arrived there. Bond tracks the girl and meets with her at several of Istanbul’s most iconic locations such as Hagia Sophia, a boat ride on the Bosphorus, the Grand Bazaar, and the Basilica Cistern. Dramatic, exotic, and romantic, Istanbul offers a magnificent setting.

Crowded Out - A Massive Influx

One reason for the relative lack of people was because access to specific areas would have been controlled during filming. Just as important were demographics. At that time, the city’s population was nowhere the size it would soon become. When From Russia With Love was filmed in Istanbul it had a mere ten percent of the population that it does today. In 1963, approximately 1.5 million people were living in the city. A population explosion had already begun by then, but it was nowhere near current levels. The film shows a city that only vaguely resembles the one I would experience.

The sheer masses of people are as much a part of Istanbul as any of its iconic buildings and settings. People hardly ever get in the way of Bond or Tatiana in the film. When I was there, people were always getting in the way. They were impossible to avoid. Privacy in public areas throughout the city is in short supply. I never once felt alone. People were the most prominent scenery. Istanbul’s historic increase in population is a product of mass migration. The scale on which this has occurred is hard to fathom. Only about a third of the city's inhabitants are originally from Istanbul. The rest are products of a migration that has reshaped the city and will continue to do so for decades to come.

The majority of migrants have come from other areas of Turkey. In particular, the Anatolian heartland, the Black Sea coastal region, and eastern Turkey have been the sources for millions of migrants. Another large group of migrants is more surprising. Istanbul is home to over 800,000 migrants from abroad. The city is home to many international businesses and universities which attract foreigners.

Expansive Tendencies – Managing The Masses

All the migration, coupled with a high birth rate by European standards, has led to Istanbul’s explosion in population. It is one of the ten biggest cities in the world with over 15 million inhabitants. Two-thirds of these live on the European side of the Bosphorus. No wonder the streets, sidewalks, and shopping areas were packed with people during my time there. Istanbul has always been a major city with a large population, but the ongoing population boom is unprecedented.

During my visit, I found the number of people in the city daunting. Add in a constant influx of tourists and the city becomes suffocating. That the city’s authorities have somehow managed to bring some order to this amount of human chaos is admirable. Istanbul continues its expansion in any direction where space is available. There is no stopping the flow of human traffic into Turkey’s largest city. I had trouble even trying to sidestep it.