Young Master Smeet wrote: 

Yes Istanbul is AKP. What's happened since they came into power in govt about a decade ago is that there has been a gradual 'transfer' for personal interest of politicians, certainly in local politics, into the AK party, even including going on the Haj (very publicly). Money has been thrown to localities to buy votes – ask rural and urban Turks – there is much cynicism about this but the most oft-heard phrase is 'Burası Türkiye' – 'This is Turkey' and long-suffering acceptance. It's great to see so many waking up and deciding they don't want to take it any more. But where it could go from here, who knows? The population is predominantly young and the problems of unemployment are large, similar to many other countries graduates can't find suitable employment. There are so many contributing factors, but the biggest one seems to be the general feeling of lack of democracy.