Rüdiger Dorn's Istanbul won the Kennerspiel des Jahres, an award to honor games aimed at connoisseurs and gaming experts that was introduced in 2011 to replace the SdJ jury's habit of intermittent special awards for games too complex for the SdJ, yet still deserving of recognition. Dorn, who competes with Stefan Feld for the title of Germany's tallest game designer, was incredibly excited at the award ceremony and exploded with "thank you"s for everyone when asked for comment. The game's publisher, Pegasus Spiele, picked up its second award for the day.
For an overview of Istanbul, I'll offer my write-up of the game on BGG News, which includes a video preview recorded at Spielwarenmesse in February 2014.
Congratulations to the winners!