They faced each other, eyes locked, he stiff as a soldier in a double-breasted suit, she statuesque in a sequined gown. The music began, with strings swelling into a classic tango ballad of nostalgic passion.

She draped an arm behind his neck, he planted a hand on her back and the Turkish dancers, Ozan and Tugce Buyukakincioglu, stepped in sync across the floor of an Istanbul music hall.

Around them, similarly decked-out couples embraced, glided and spun to catch the eyes of the judges of an international dance competition, one of many recent events animating Istanbul’s booming tango scene.

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, may be best known for its scenic waterways and historic architecture, but dance aficionados increasingly recognize the metropolis as a global capital of tango.

Tango schools dot both the European and the Asian sides of the city. Most nights, dancers can choose from a broader array of social dances, or milongas, than in almost any other city outside of Argentina. Tango clubs are popular at Turkish universities, initiating young dancers. Turkish cobblers and tailors cater to the demand for specialized shoes and gowns.

The passion among Turkish dancers recalled that of his native Argentina, said Sebastian Jimenez, a former world tango champion who has danced all over the world.

“Leaders and followers, they live tango as a lifestyle,” he said of Turkish male and female dancers. “There is a respect for tango culture.”

Asked to rank international tango destinations, Mr. Jimenez put Istanbul in the top five, behind Buenos Aires and in competition with Rome, Moscow and Seoul.

He was in Istanbul this month for La Turca Tango Marathon and Championship, a three-day festival organized with the city of Buenos Aires as a way to expand tango’s global reach.

In addition to social dances and workshops, the event’s main draw was the competition, in which 54 dancers from Turkey, Britain, Italy, Belgium, Russia and elsewhere vied for prizes in six categories.

Two couples would win the ultimate prize: a trip to Buenos Aires to compete in the Tango World Cup, which begins in August.

That prospect drew Mr. and Ms. Buyukakincioglu to the contest, they said. During their honeymoon five years ago, they were so enchanted by a couple dancing tango by a swimming pool that they took up the dance.

Now, between social dancing, practicing, teaching and taking classes, they spend about 30 hours a week on tango, on top of his job as an I.T. manger and hers as an art teacher.

“We want to surpass ourselves,” Ms. Buyukakincioglu, 31, said before the competition.

“We want to go to Argentina,” her husband, 33, said.

They performed spiritedly through the preliminary round, dancing close with their eyes closed during a slower number and accelerating their steps and kicks to match an up-tempo song.

Afterward, they worried that their nerves had hindered their flow.

“We were a bit tense, a bit excited,” Mr. Buyukakincioglu said.

“But we have hope,” his wife added as they waited to see if they had reached the semifinals.

The story of tango in Turkey is entwined with the country’s history.

After the creation of modern Turkey in 1923, its founder and first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, sought to pull Turks away from their Ottoman past and toward what he considered superior European culture.

As part of his quest to model Western sophistication, he took up ballroom dancing and developed a taste for tango. Photos of him nattily dressed on the dance floor hang in many Istanbul tango schools.

Tango music played on Turkish radio stations throughout the 20th century, and local composers wrote their own tango ballads with Turkish lyrics. A South American classic, “La Cumparsita,” was commonly played for the first dance at Turkish weddings.

Turkey’s current tango wave began in the 1990s and has grown since as clubs and schools have proliferated. Most are in neighborhoods associated with Mr. Ataturk’s vision of a secular Turkey, not those aligned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic outlook.

Seasoned dancers and teachers offered a number of reasons for the Turkish affinity for tango.

Turks dance a lot, at weddings and in folk dances, giving people an innate musicality, said Selcuk Atalay, an Istanbul tango teacher who competes internationally.

Much of Turkey’s own music overflows with nostalgia and longing, similar to the deeply emotional tango.

And Turkish men who may balk at the gyrations of salsa and other, steamier dances appreciate the decorum of tango.

“They find tango to be more macho and more in harmony with Turkish music,” Mr. Atalay said. “So they dance a lot.”

Internationally, Turkish male dancers are known for the strength of their “abrazo,” literally the “hug” that holds the partners together, said Maria Tsiatsiani, a dancer, choreographer and teacher in London.

She was a judge at the Istanbul competition and said she and her colleagues valued a warm abrazo.

“We are looking for something that feels good,” she said. “I want to see a couple that makes me think, ‘I want to dance with that guy.’”

Mr. and Ms. Buyukakincioglu made the semifinals in three categories: solo, in which participants showcase their ability to dance with random partners; stage tango, a choreographed couples’ performance; and salon tango, an improvised couples’ dance.

They qualified for the finals, held in a glamorous opera hall in central Istanbul.

At the finals, they appeared comfortable dancing with strangers during the solo contest. During the salon dance, their bodies seemed to meld, the tips of their noses grazed and they exploded with swift side steps and kicks when the music accelerated.

The stage performances were the most dramatic, with complex choreography, lifts and twirls.

An Argentine tango band played as they awaited the results, and Ms. Buyukakincioglu said she had flubbed a part of their routine when her husband was supposed to lift her. Still, she was proud of their performance.

“It is an amazing thing to be in the finals and to be on such a stage,” she said.

Mr. Buyukakincioglu scored second for male solo dancing, winning a trophy. But the trips to Buenos Aires went to other couples, from Russia and Britain.

Mr. Buyukakincioglu said he wished that he and his wife had won something together.

“We want to succeed as a couple,” he said.

Like many of the Turkish dancers, his wife was disappointed that the top prizes had not gone to Turks.

“Which means we should work harder,” she said.