I recently flw TK for the first time, from FRA-IST-ICN....but the difference is that I was on a paid business class ticket.

But I found the airline very good overall- I did not encounter any rude people and had a very good connection experience in IST- they had a separate bus for busines class passengers and escroted us through a very busy security area as our flight had arrived a little late.

I hope the OPs expererience is an outlier, but it will be interesting to hear other stories of passengers on award tix.

Plumber