it was an illusion. yes i am from istanbul.

I am from Istanbul too and I agree on this. Only 3-4 of the larger cities look like they're more modern.

Istanbul is modern? Sorry but Istanbul is a shithole when compared to some of the other Turkish western coast cities. What makes it interesting in the global scale is the level of its diversity.

An ex Istanbul resident.

I did say it was "more modern". I lived there for 22 years as a minority and have been treated like an animal in the zoo, and don't think I'll ever live in Turkey again.

I guess you should define your key objectives to reach your goal and start to measure them in daily basis..