I loved seeing all the cats walking around Istanbul. They were all pretty much well-fed and content.

It does seem that way. After 9/11, the country's optimism was shaken to its core. Then the financial crisis of 2007/2008 hit the public like a brick in the face, of which the economy only partially recovered from. The country's politics got more and more extreme and polarized, culminating to Trump's election win. And then covid came along....

That 90s optimism is long gone.