To determine the prevalence of Beijing genotype Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Istanbul, 4069 strains were subjected to DNA fingerprinting. This is the first study to reveal the presence of the Beijing genotype in Istanbul. The prevalence rate was estimated as 1.13%, and it was shown that these strains were carried over from countries of the former Soviet Union. The study also showed that the prevalence of the Beijing genotype among at least rifampicin (RMP) resistant strains was significantly higher (2.7%) than among RMP-susceptible strains (0.9%).