AP PHOTOS: Voters to turn a new page in the history of Istanbul, guardian of the Bosphorus

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A couple kiss at Karakoy ferry terminal at the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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Ferry boats cross the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, March 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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Backdropped with Suleymaniye mosque, top left, pedestrians walk along Halic bridge metro station on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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A man walks along a popular neighbourhood in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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Ferry boats sail the Bosphorus connecting the European side, up and bottom, with the Asian side, top right, of Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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A woman buys bread in a local bakery in Balat neighbourhood, in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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People look at the Bosphorus from Suleymaniye mosque courtyard in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, March 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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Muslim worshippers offer a pray at Suleymaniye mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, March 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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A ferry arrives to Karakoy port terminal after crossing the Bosphorus on a rainy day in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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Commuters take a ride crossing the Bosphorus in a ferry boat in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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People walk along Sirkeci railway station, in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. The station was the ending terminal of the Orient Express that operated between Paris and Istanbul from 1883 until 2009. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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Backdropped by the Camlica mosque, top left, and Camlica tower, cars cross July 15 Martyrs’ bridge, right, that connects European and Asian sides of Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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People walk along an alley next to Yeni mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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Muslim worshippers pray during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan at Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, March 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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Two Muslim clerics walk along a cobblestone street nearby Sultan Ahmet mosque in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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A full moon rises behind the Camlica mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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People sit near the Maiden’s Tower as the sun sets at the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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People walk in the Eminonu commercial district, in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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A man has his beard shaved in a barber shop in the Balat neighborhood in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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A man walks along a public park near cargo ships anchored at the Marmara sea, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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A cat walks along a sea promenade in Karakoy ferry terminal in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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A garbage collector pulls a trolley full of cardboards at Kadikoy ferry terminal, in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, March 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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A slow camera shutter blurs the lights of passing commuter cars, in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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People have dinner and drink Turkish popular alcoholic aniseed beverage “raki” in a seafood restaurant at Karakoy district, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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Backdropped by the Camlica mosque, top left, and Camlica tower, cars cross July 15 Martyrs’ bridge, center, that connects European and Asian sides of Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

By FRANCISCO SECO, KHALIL HAMRA and EMRAH GUREL

ISTANBUL (AP) — Istanbul, the city nestled along the Bosphorus strait for more than 2,500 years, takes another small step on its journey through history this week as voters decide who will lead the metropolis for the next five years.

Local elections will be held across Turkey on Sunday but, as always, the focus will be on the battle to win Istanbul, the country’s largest city and its beating heart.

Associated Press photographers set out in the run-up to polling day to capture the spirit of a city that through the ages has captured the imagination of the world, from the Prophet Muhammad to Napoleon Bonaparte.

For many, images of the continent-spanning home to 16 million people focus on two themes: its minaret-punctured skyline and the waterways bustling with oil tankers, ferries and fishing boats.

Mosques dominate the horizon everywhere in Istanbul, especially in the old city where the Suleymaniye Mosque is perhaps the defining pinnacle of 16th-century architect Sinan’s work. Down the hill from his masterpiece lies the Hagia Sophia, or Aya Sofya in its Turkish incarnation, a former Byzantine cathedral that echoes Istanbul’s Christian past.

Across the Bosphorus, the channel that splits Europe and Asia, more modern edifices gaze down — the Camlica Mosque, completed five years ago to house 63,000 worshippers, and a nearby 369-meter (1,211-foot) telecommunications tower.

Not PARSE.LY: Istanbul

Republican People's Party, or CHP, candidate for Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu addresses supporters at his party headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, file)

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Firefighters work at the scene after a fire broke out at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in the Bolu province, northwest Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Mert Gokhan Koc/dia Photo via AP)

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The strait below, which links the Marmara and Black Seas, is synonymous with the city and a daily part of the lives of many residents.

Hundreds of ferry services shuttle back and forth along the Bosphorus competing for space with huge tankers and cargo ships as well as luxury yachts and wooden boats manned by lone fishermen.

The backstreets of Istanbul, however, are where most people live out their daily lives and many tourists fall in love with the city.

Be it the alleyways surrounding the Grand Bazaar or the cobblestones leading to Galata Tower, Istanbul’s streets are punctuated by the smell of fresh bread and spices, the chatter of drinkers nursing glasses of the local spirit raki, and the attention of stray cats.

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Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks in Istanbul contributed to this report.