2.2 million people left Istanbul

As Turks leave the megacity and return to their places of origin, the migration of foreigners to Istanbul does not decrease. Former Istanbul CHP MP Gürsel Tekin stated that he has been drawing attention to this immigration problem in Istanbul for 7 or 8 years and said: “Istanbul has become the homeland of foreigners.” Tekin claimed that Turks who left the city normally returned to their hometown.

According to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), 2.2 million people emigrated from Istanbul to other cities in the last 5 years. One of the main reasons for migration was “better living and housing conditions.” The number of Syrians and other foreign citizens in Istanbul increased. Gürsel Tekin said: “With these migration movements, there is a significant increase in the number of foreigners living in Istanbul. “Istanbul has become the hometown of foreigners,” he said.

For example, Tekin stated that those who had been there in Kadıköy Moda for 200 or 300 years could not withstand the crisis, rented their houses and left Istanbul, adding that the middle class settled in cities such as Çanakkale and Balıkesir.

RICH FOREIGNERS

Tekin noted that most people living in extreme poverty left for their towns and cities in Anatolia. Tekin said: “Who replaces them? “Citizens from countries like Egypt, Ukraine and Iran, who became rich in their own countries, acquired property and moved to the central areas of Istanbul,” he said.

The Turks leave, the foreigners come.

According to TUIK data, 2 million 182 thousand people emigrated from Istanbul in the last 5 years, covering the years 2018-2022. While this figure, which was 596 thousand in 2018, decreased to 378 thousand in 2019, it gradually increased again in the following years and exceeded 418 thousand in 2022. The most important reason why people left Istanbul was “better housing and living conditions”, with 22.1 percent.

In the same period, a total of 1 million 983 thousand people emigrated to Istanbul. While the population of Istanbul, including Syrians, is 16 million 440 thousand people, the number of people leaving the megacity, which continues to receive immigration, is 199 thousand more than those arriving. As of early October, 576,000 foreigners live in Istanbul with a residence permit.