Hamdi Gargin is responsible of the "Urban Observatory of Istanbul" in the French Institute of Anatolian Studies (http://www.ifea.istanbul.net). After a degree in Political Science (ULB-Brussels) and a Master in European Studies (Bilgi-Istanbul), he works on "municipal administrations and the AKP", as PhD candidate at "Centre d'étude de la vie politique" (http://dev.ulb.ac.be/cevipol/) at the University of Brussels.