Levantines in Turkey or Turkish Levantines, refers to the descendants of Europeans who settled in the coastal cities of the Ottoman Empire to trade, especially after the Tanzimat era. Their estimated population today is around 1,000.[2] They mainly reside in Istanbul, İzmir and Mersin. Anatolian Muslims called Levantines Frenk (first used for French, then for all non-Orthodox Europeans) and tatlısu Frengi (lit. 'freshwater Frank'; due to their high-standard lifestyle) in addition to Levanten. Turkish Levantines are mostly Latin Catholics.[3]