Largest city in Turkey and headquarters of the British Secret Service’s Station T–Turkey in From Russia with Love. It is in this city on the Bosphorus strait that SPECTRE initiates its plan to steal a Russian Lektor decoding machine and humiliate and murder James Bond (Sean Connery).

In The World Is Not Enough it’s also the target of the plot by Renard (Robert Carlyle) and Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) to detonate a nuclear device aboard a ditched submarine. With Istanbul devastated and the Bosphorus tanker route closed to the sea, Elektra’s oil pipeline will triumph over its three Russian competitors. M (Dame Judi Dench), 007 (Pierce Brosnan), and Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) are all held captive in the middle of the strait, on a tiny island known as the Maiden’s Tower.

In Skyfall, Bond (Daniel Craig) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) are in Istanbul to pursue the mercenary Patrice (Ola Rapace), who has stolen a hard drive containing information on friendly agents all over the world. Their pursuit leads to a desperate fight on the roof of a train, during which Moneypenny accidentally shoots Bond, allowing Patrice to escape. Like Tilly in Goldfinger, Moneypenny is a lousy shot.