ABSTRACT
The elections witnessed the defeat of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) for the first time and the Islamists lost majority in the parliament. The shady relations that had immensely contributed to the Islamization of the social realm and the state bureaucracy through top-down and bottom-up dynamics inevitably generated corruption. Increasing terrorist activity in major cities by diverse groups such as the Kurdish PKK and the jihadist ISIS further deepened social unrest. Paradoxically, the dependence on power required the termination of democratic processes, which also eradicated the AKP as a political organization. The most important aspect of the transformations brought by the AKP's new Islamism has been their urban character. From the quantity of housing production to megaprojects drastically changing the cityscapes, Turkey has experienced a thorough urban transformation.
