Recent reports claiming a newly discovered “underground city” in Turkey are mostly referring to ongoing archaeological findings rather than a brand new lost city. In particular, researchers working around Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia uncovered a network of ancient underground tunnels and chambers dating back roughly 1,600 years to the Byzantine era.
These structures are believed to have been used for practical purposes such as water management, storage, or supporting the larger building complex, and they were revealed during restoration work carried out in 2025–2026.
It’s important to note that Turkey is already home to well-known underground cities, especially in the Cappadocia region (like Derinkuyu), and what is being “discovered” today is usually additional tunnels, extensions, or newly mapped sections of already known systems, rather than a completely unknown underground city.
In short, the headlines are based on real archaeological findings, but they are often exaggerated there is no newly uncovered massive hidden city, just new layers being added to ancient, existing underground networks.
