Anyone live in Gokturk? How do you like it? (Istanbul)

We are looking for an apartment to buy and somehow we stumbled our way out to Gokturk on the advice of a relative. I am American and my fiancee is Turkish.

The area looked perfect to me albeit a bit far from "Istanbul." It seemed to have lots of restaurants, shops, Starbucks!!, etc. Does anyone live in this area? I am looking to get peoples take on it. Would it be easy to make friends, expat or otherwise? My biggest concern is how long it would take my fiancee to get to Istanbul/Maslak areas with morning and evening traffic, how easy it would be for me to get to metro by using public transportation and if I could sustain a fun, happy life with new friends and my husband when we marry.

We are thinking to possibly rent an apartment for a year or so in the area to see how we like it before buying but the only thing holding me back is fear that its too far away.