The first time I visited Istanbul, after only seeing Europe, I was shocked at how "other worldly" and Arab it seemed. When I went back to live there (after having seen a few more Arab countries,) I was shocked at how European it seemed.

A new teacher who was moving there emailed me to ask what it was like, what she should bring, etc. She'd never been there, but kept talking about how cosmopolitan it was and how she shouldn't need to worry about it being Muslim. She finally came, but didn't last very long when she found out that it apparently wasn't nearly as cosmopolitan of a city as she'd envisioned. I laughed very hard.

All in all, though, Turkey in general is awesome and remains my all-time favorite country to visit. I definitely hope you're able to go some day.