Ankara is the capital of Turkey
and the
country's second
largest city after
Istanbul
. The
city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2007 the city had a
population of 4,751,360, which includes eight districts under the
city's administration.
Ankara also serves as the capital of Ankara Province
.
As with many ancient cities, Ankara has gone by several names over
the ages: The
Hittites gave it the name
Ankuwash before
1200 BC. The
Galatians and
Romans called it
Ancyra. In the
classical,
Hellenistic, and
Byzantine periods it was known as
(
Ánkyra, meaning
Anchor) in
Greek. The local
Armenians called it
Enkare. The city was
also known in the European languages as
Angora after its
conquest by the
Seljuk Turks in
1073, and continued to be internationally called with this name
until it was officially renamed
Ankara with the Turkish
Postal Service Law of 1930.
Centrally
located in Anatolia
, Ankara is
an important commercial and industrial city. It is the
center of the
Turkish Government,
and houses all foreign embassies. It is an important crossroads of
trade, strategically located at the centre of Turkey's highway and
railway networks, and serves as the marketing centre for the
surrounding agricultural area. The city was famous for its
long-haired
Angora goat and its prized
wool (
mohair), a unique breed of cat
(
Angora cat),
white rabbits and their prized wool (
Angora wool),
pears,
honey, and the region's
muscat grapes.
The historical center of Ankara is situated upon a steep and rocky
hill, which rises above the plain on the left bank of the
Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the
Sakarya (Sangarius) river. The city is located
at 39°52'30" North, 32°52' East ( ), about to the southeast of
Istanbul, the country's largest city. Although situated in one of
the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe
vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery,
Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per
inhabitant, which is 72 m
2 per head.
Ankara is a very old city with various
Hittite,
Phrygian,
Hellenistic,
Roman,
Byzantine, and
Ottoman archaeological sites. The hill which
overlooks the city is crowned by the ruins of the old castle, which
adds to the picturesqueness of the view, but only a few historic
structures surrounding the old citadel have survived to our date.
There are, however, many finely preserved remains of
Hellenistic,
Roman and
Byzantine architecture, the most
remarkable being the Temple of
Augustus and
Rome (
20 BC) which is also known as the
Monumentum
Ancyranum.
Climate
Ankara has a
continental
climate, with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers.
Rainfall occurs mostly during the spring and autumn. Under
Köppen's climate
classification Ankara features the rare
Continental Mediterranean
climate (Köppen Dsb) due to its elevation, the forementioned
cold, snowy winters and hot dry summers, peaks of precipitation
during the spring and autumn and the of average annual
precipitation. Due to Ankara's high altitude and dry climate,
nightly temperatures in the summer months are cool. Precipitation
levels are low, but precipitation can be observed throughout the
year.
History
The
region's history can be traced back to the Bronze Age Hatti
civilization, which was succeeded in the 2nd millennium BC by the Hittites, in the 10th
century BC by the Phrygians, and later
by the Lydians, Persia, Greeks,
Galatians, Romans, Byzantines, and Turks (the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.)
Ancient history
The oldest settlements in and around the city centre of Ankara
belong to the
Hatti civilization which
existed during the
Bronze Age.
The city
grew significantly in size and importance under the Phrygians starting around 1000 BC, and experienced a
large expansion following the mass migration from Gordion
, (the
capital of Phrygia), after an earthquake
which severely damaged that city around that time. In
Phrygian tradition, King
Midas was venerated
as the founder of Ancyra, but
Pausanias mentions that the city was
actually far older, which accords with present archaeological
knowledge.
Phrygian
rule was succeeded first by Lydian and later
by Persia
rule, though the strongly Phrygian character of the
peasantry remained, as evidenced by the gravestones of the much
later Roman period. Persian sovereignty lasted until the
Persians' defeat at the hands of
Alexander the Great who conquered the
city in
333 BC.
Alexander came from
Gordion to Ankara and stayed in the city for a short
period. After his death at Babylon
in 323 BC and the subsequent division of his empire
amongst his generals, Ankara and its environs fell into the share
of Antigonus.
Another
important expansion took place under the Greeks of Pontos who came there around 300
BC and developed the city as a trading centre for the commerce
of goods between the Black
Sea
ports and Crimea to the north; Assyria, Cyprus, and
Lebanon to the south; and Georgia, Armenia and Persia to the
east. By that time the city also took its name
Áγκυρα (
Ànkyra, meaning
Anchor in
Greek)
which in slightly modified form provides the modern name of
Ankara.
Celtic history
In
278 BC, the city, along with the rest of
central Anatolia, was occupied by the
Celt
race of
Galatians, who were the first to
make Ankara one of their main tribal centres, the headquarters of
the
Tectosages tribe.
Other centres were
Pessinos
, today's Balhisar, for the Trocmi tribe, and Tavium, to
the east of Ankara, for the Tolstibogii tribe. The
city was then known as
Ancyra. The Celtic element was
probably relatively small in numbers; a warrior aristocracy which
ruled over Phrygian-speaking peasants. However, the Celtic language
continued to be spoken in Galatia for many centuries.
At the end of the
4th century AD, St. Jerome, a native of Galatia, observed that the
language spoken around Ankara was very similar to that being spoken
in the northwest of the Roman world near Trier
.
Roman history
The city was subsequently conquered by
Augustus in
25 BC and passed
under the control of the
Roman Empire.
Now the capital city of the Roman province of Galatia, Ancyra
continued to be a center of great commercial importance. Ankara is
also famous for the
Monumentum
Ancyranum (
Temple of Augustus and Rome) which
contains the official record of the
Acts of Augustus,
known as the
Res Gestae Divi
Augusti, an inscription cut in marble on the walls of this
temple. The ruins of Ancyra still furnish today valuable
bas-relief, inscriptions and other architectural
fragments.
Augustus decided to make Ancyra one of three main administrative
centres in central Anatolia. The town was then populated by
Phrygians and Celts—the
Galatians who spoke a language
closely related to
Welsh and
Gaelic. Ancyra was the center of a tribe
known as the
Tectosages, and Augustus upgraded it into a
major provincial capital for his empire.
Two other Galatian
tribal centres, Tavium near Yozgat
, and
Pessinus
(Balhisar) to the west, near Sivrihisar, continued
to be reasonably important settlements in the Roman period, but it
was Ancyra that grew into a grand metropolis.
An estimated 200,000 people lived in Ancyra in good times during
the Roman Empire, a far greater number than was to be the case from
after the fall of the Roman Empire until the early twentieth
century. A small river, the
Ankara
Çayı, ran through the centre of the Roman town. It has now been
covered over and diverted, but it formed the northern boundary of
the old town during the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods.
Çankaya, the rim of the majestic hill to the south of the present
city center, stood well outside the Roman city, but may have been a
summer resort. In the 19th century, the remains of at least one
Roman villa or large house were still
standing not far from where the Çankaya Presidential Residence
stands today. To the west, the Roman city extended until the area
of the Gençlik Park and Railway Station, while on the southern side
of the hill, it may have extended downwards as far as the site
presently occupied by
Hacettepe
University. It was thus a sizeable city by any standards and
much larger than the Roman towns of
Gaul or
Britannia.
Ancyra's importance rested on the fact was that it was the junction
point where the roads in northern Anatolia running north-south and
east-west intersected. The great imperial road running east passed
through Ankara and a succession of emperors and their armies came
this way. They were not the only ones to use the Roman highway
network, which was equally convenient for invaders.
In the second half of
the 3rd century, Ancyra was invaded in
rapid succession by the Goths coming from the
west (who rode far into the heart of Cappadocia
, taking slaves and pillaging) and later by the
Arabs. For about a decade, the town was one of
the western outposts of one of the most brilliant queens of the
ancient world, the Arab empress Zenobia from
Palmyra
in the Syrian desert,
who took advantage of a period of weakness and disorder in the
Roman Empire to set up a short-lived state of her own.
The town was reincorporated into the Roman Empire under the Emperor
Aurelian in 272.
The tetrarchy, a system of multiple (up to four)
emperors introduced by Diocletian
(284-305), seems to have engaged in a substantial programme of
rebuilding and of road construction from Ankara westwards to Germe
and Dorylaeum
(now Eskişehir
).
In its heyday, Roman Ankara was a large market and trading center
but it also functioned as a major administrative capital, where a
high official ruled from the city's Praetorium, a large
administrative palace or office. During the 3rd century, life in
Ancyra, as in other Anatolian towns, seems to have become somewhat
militarised in response to the invasions and instability of the
town. In this period, like other cities of central Anatolia, Ankara
was also undergoing Christianisation.
Early martyrs, about whom little is known, included Proklos and
Hilarios who were natives of the otherwise unknown village of
Kallippi, near Ancyra, and suffered repression under the emperor
Trajan (98-117). In the 280s AD we hear of
Philumenos, a Christian corn merchant from southern Anatolia, being
captured and martyred in Ankara, and Eustathius.
As in other Roman towns, the reign of
Diocletian marked the culmination of the
persecution of the Christians. In 303, Ancyra was one of the towns
where the co-Emperors Diocletian and his deputy
Galerius launched their anti-Christian persecution.
In Ancyra, their first target was the 38-year-old Bishop of the
town, whose name was Clement. Clement's life describes how he was
taken to Rome, then sent back, and forced to undergo many
interrogations and hardship before he, and his brother, and various
companions were put to death. The remains of the church of
St. Clement can be found today in a building
just off Işıklar Caddesi in the Ulus district. Quite possibly this
marks the site where Clement was originally buried. Four years
later, a doctor of the town named Plato and his brother Antiochus
also became celebrated martyrs under Galerius.
Theodotus of Ancyra is also venerated as
a saint.
However, the persecution proved unsuccessful and in 314 Ancyra was
the center of an important council of the
early church; which considered
ecclesiastical policy for the reconstruction of the
Christian church after the persecutions,
and in particular the treatment of 'lapsi'—Christians who had given
in and conformed to
paganism during these
persecutions.
Three councils were held in the former capital of Galatia in Asia
Minor, during the 4th century. The first, an orthodox plenary
synod, was held in 314, and its 25 disciplinary canons constitute
one of the most important documents in the early history of the
administration of the
Sacrament of
Penance. Nine of them deal with conditions for the
reconciliation of the lapsi; the others, with marriage, alienations
of church property, etc.
Though paganism was probably tottering in Ancyra in Clement's day,
it may still have been the majority religion. Twenty years later,
Christianity and
monotheism had taken its
place. Ancyra quickly turned into a Christian city, with a life
dominated by monks and priests and theological disputes. The town
council or senate gave way to the bishop as the main local
figurehead. During the middle of the 4th century, Ancyra was
involved in the complex theological disputes over the nature of
Christ, and a form of
Arianism seems to
have originated there.
The synod of 358 was a Semi-Arian
conciliabulum, presided over by
Basil of Ancyra. It condemned the grosser
Arian blasphemies, but set forth an equally heretical doctrine in
the proposition that the Son was in all things similar to the
Father, but not identical in substance.In 362-363, the Emperor
Julian the Apostate passed
through Ancyra on his way to an ill-fated campaign against the
Persians, and according to Christian sources, engaged in a
persecution of various holy men. The stone base for a statue, with
an inscription describing Julian as
"Lord of the whole world
from the British Ocean to the barbarian nations", can still be
seen, built into the eastern side of the inner circuit of the walls
of Ankara Castle. The Column of Julian which was erected in honor
of the emperor's visit to the city in 362 still stands today. In
375, Arian bishops met at Ancyra and deposed several bishops, among
them
St. Gregory of Nyssa.
The
modern Ankara, also known in some Western texts as Angora,
remains a Roman Catholic titular see in
the former Roman province of Galatia in Asia Minor, suffragan of
Laodicea. Its episcopal list
is given in Gams, "Series episc. Eccl. cath."; also that of another
Ancyra in
Phrygia Pacatiana.
In the later 4th century Ancyra became something of an imperial
holiday resort.
After Constantinople
became the East
Roman capital, emperors in the 4th and 5th centuries would
retire from the humid summer weather on the Bosporus
to the drier mountain atmosphere of Ancyra.
Theodosius II (408-450) kept his court
in Ancyra in the summers. Laws issued in Ancyra testify to the time
they spent there. The city's military as well as logistical
significance lasted well into the long
Byzantine rule. Although Ancyra temporarily
fell into the hands of several Arab Muslim armies numerous times
after the seventh century, it remained an important crossroads
polis within the Byzantine Empire until the late 11th century. It
was also the capital of the powerful
Opsician Theme, and after ca. 750 of the
Bucellarian Theme.
Turkish history
In 1071,
the Turkish Seljuk Sultan Alparslan conquered much of eastern and central
Anatolia after his victory at the Battle of Manzikert
(Malazgirt
). He then annexed Ankara, an important
location for military transportation and
natural resources, to his territory in
1073. After
Battle of
Kösedağ in 1243 which
Mongols defeated
Seljuks, most of Anatolia became dominion of Mongols. Taking
advantage of Seljuk decline, a semi religious cast of craftsmen and
trade people named
Ahiler chose Ankara as their
independent city state in 1290.
Orhan I, the
second
Bey of the
Ottoman Empire, captured the city in 1356.
Timur defeated the Ottomans at the
Battle of Ankara in 1402 and took the city,
but in 1403 Ankara was again under Ottoman control.
Dikmen Valley Towers.
Following
the Ottoman defeat at World War I, the Ottoman capital Istanbul and much of Anatolia were occupied by the Allies, who planned to share
these lands between Armenia
, France
, Greece
, Italy
and the
United
Kingdom
, leaving for the Turks the core piece of land in
central Anatolia. In response, the leader of the Turkish
nationalist movement, Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk, established the headquarters of his resistance movement in Ankara in
1920 (see the Treaty of Sèvres
and the Turkish War of
Independence.) After the War of Independence was won and the
Treaty of Sèvres was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish
nationalists replaced the Ottoman Empire with the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. A few days earlier,
Ankara had officially replaced Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) as the new Turkish capital city, on 13 October
1923.
After Ankara became the capital of the newly founded Republic of
Turkey, new development divided the city into an old section,
called
Ulus, and a new section, called
Yenişehir.
Ancient buildings reflecting Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman history
and narrow winding streets mark the old section. The new section,
now centered around
Kızılay, has the trappings of a more
modern city: wide streets, hotels, theaters, shopping malls, and
high-rises. Government offices and foreign embassies are also
located in the new section.
Ankara has experienced a phenomenal growth since it was made
Turkey's capital. It was "a small town of no importance" when it
was made the capital of Turkey. In 1924, the year after the
government had moved there, Ankara had about 35,000 residents. By
1927 there were 44,553 residents and by 1950 the population had
grown to 286,781.
Population
Central Ankara has a population of 3,763,591 (2007) of which
1,870,831 are men and 1,892,760 are women. The metropolitan
municipality, containing the central part of the city and the
remaining balance of the 8 districts under its jurisdiction, had a
total population of 3,901,201 the same year.
| Population of Ankara |
| Year |
Population |
| 2007 |
3,901,201 |
| 2000 |
3,703,362 |
| 1990 |
2,583,963 |
| 1985 |
2,251,533 |
| 1970 |
1,209,000 |
| 1965 |
906,000 |
| 1960 |
646,000 |
| 1955 |
453,000 |
| 1950 |
287,000 |
| 1927 |
75,000 |
Attractions
Museums
- is located on an imposing hill, Anıttepe quarter of
the city, where the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of
the Republic of Turkey, stands. Completed in 1953, it is an
impressive fusion of ancient and modern architectural styles. An
adjacent museum houses a wax statue of Atatürk, his writings,
letters and personal items, as well as an exhibition of photographs
recording important moments in his life and during the
establishment of the Republic. Anıtkabir is open every day, while
the adjacent museum is open every day except Mondays.
- This museum is opposite the Opera House on Talat Paşa
Boulevard, in the Ulus district. There is a fine collection of
folkloric as well as Seljuk- and Ottoman-era artifacts.
- Situated at the entrance of Ankara Castle, it is an old
"bedesten" (covered bazaar) that has been beautifully restored and
now houses a unique collection of Paleolithic, Neolithic,
Hatti, Hittite,
Phrygian, Urartian,
and Roman works as well as a major
section dedicated to Lydian treasures.
- This museum is close to the Ethnography Museum and houses a
rich collection of Turkish art from the late 19th century to the
present day. There are also galleries which host guest
exhibitions.
- This building, located on Ulus Square, was originally the first
Parliament building (TBMM) of the Republic of Turkey. The War of
Independence was planned and directed here as recorded in various
photographs and items presently on exhibition. In another display,
wax figures of former presidents of the
Republic of Turkey are on exhibit.
- The museum is near the Istanbul Road in Etimesgut. It is home
to various missiles, avionics, aviation materials and aircraft that
have served in the Turkish Air
Force (e.g. combat aircraft such as the F-86 Sabre, F-100
Super Sabre, F-102 Delta
Dagger, F-104 Starfighter,
F-5 Freedom Fighter, F-4 Phantom; and cargo planes such as the
Transall C-160.) Also, a Hungarian
MiG-21, a Pakistani MiG-19, and a Bulgarian MiG-17 are on display in the
museum.
Archeological sites
Ankara Citadel
The foundations of the citadel or castle were laid by the Galatians
on a prominent
lava outcrop, and the rest was
completed by the Romans. The Byzantines and Seljuks further made
restorations and additions. The area around and inside the citadel,
being the oldest part of Ankara, contains many fine examples of
traditional architecture. There are also recreational areas to
relax. Many restored traditional Turkish houses inside the citadel
area have found new life as restaurants, serving local
cuisine.
The citadel was depicted in various Turkish banknotes during
1927-1952 and 1983-1989.
Roman Theatre
The remains, the stage, and the backstage can be seen outside the
castle. Roman statues that were found here are exhibited in the
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (see above). The seating area is
still under excavation.
Temple of Augustus and Rome
The temple, also known as the
Monumentum Ancyranum, was built between
25 BC - 20 BC following the conquest of Central Anatolia by the
Roman Empire and the formation of the
Roman province of
Galatia, with Ancyra
(modern Ankara) as its administrative capital. After the death of
Augustus in
14 AD, a copy of the text of
Res Gestae Divi Augusti was
inscribed on the interior of the
pronaos in Latin, whereas
a Greek translation is also present on an exterior wall of the
cella. The temple, on the ancient Acropolis of Ancyra, was
enlarged by the Romans in the
2nd
century. In the 5th century it was converted into a church by
the
Byzantines. It is located in
the Ulus quarter of the city.
Roman Bath
This bath has all the typical features of a classical
Roman bath: a
frigidarium (cold room),
tepidarium (warm room) and
caldarium (hot room).
The bath was built during the reign of Emperor
Caracalla in the 3rd century AD to honour
Asclepios, the God of Medicine. Today, only the
basement and first floors remain. It is situated in the Ulus
quarter.
Column of Julian
The column, popularly known among the locals as the
Belkıs
Minaresi (literally the "
Queen of
Sheba Column", for reasons unknown), was erected to commemorate
a visit to Ancyra by the
Roman emperor
Julian in A.D. 362. The
Corinthian capital dates to the 6th century; the stork's nest, a
permanent crowning feature, is of more recent vintage.
Mosques
- It has a carved walnut mimber, the inscription on which records
that the mosque was built in the 12th
century by the Seljuk ruler, Mesut.
- The mosque was founded in the Ulus quarter near the Ankara
Citadel and was constructed during the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The finely carved walnut mimber
(pulpit) is of particular interest.
- This mosque, in the Ulus quarter next to the Temple of Augustus, was built in the
early 15th century in Seljuk style by
an unknown architect. It was subsequently restored by architect
Sinan in the 16th century, with Kütahya
tiles being added in the 18th century. The
mosque was built in honor of Hacı Bayram Veli, whose tomb is next
to the mosque, two years before his death (1427-28). The usable
space inside this mosque is on the first floor and on the second
floor.
- Yeni (Cenab Ahmet) Mosque
- This the largest Ottoman mosque in Ankara and was built by the
famous architect Sinan in the 16th century. The mimber (pulpit) and
mihrap (prayer niche) are of white marble, and the mosque itself is
of Ankara stone (red porphyry), an example of very fine
workmanship. Yeni Cami is on Ulucanlar Avenue.
- This is the largest and most notable mosque in the city.
Located in the Kocatepe quarter, it was constructed between 1967
and 1987 in classical Ottoman style with four minarets. Its size
and prominent location have made it a landmark for the city.
Historic buildings
Modern monuments
Kızılay Square is the heart of
Ankara.
Victory Monument
Erected in 1927 on Zafer Square in the Sıhhiye quarter, it depicts
Atatürk in uniform.
Monument to a Secure, Confident Future
This monument, located in Güven Park near Kızılay Square, was
erected in 1935 and bears Atatürk's advice to his people: "Turk! Be
proud, work hard, and believe in yourself."
The monument was depicted on the
reverse of the Turkish 5
lira banknote of 1937-1952 and of the 1000 lira
banknotes of 1939-1946.
Hatti Monument
Built in the 1970s on Sıhhiye Square, this impressive monument
symbolizes the
Hatti gods and commemorates
Anatolia's earliest known civilization. The symbol derived from
this monument has been used as the logo of the city for a long
time.
Parks
Göksu Park in Eryaman.
Gençlik Park in central Ankara.
Ankara has many parks and open spaces mainly established in the
early years of the Republic and well maintained and expanded
thereafter.
The most important of these parks are:
Gençlik Park (houses an amusement
park with a large pond for rowing), the Botanical Garden, Seğmenler Park, Anayasa
Park, Kuğulu Park (famous for the swans received as a gift from the
Chinese
government), Abdi
İpekçi Park, Güven Park (see above for the monument), Kurtuluş
Park (has an ice-skating rink), Altınpark (also a prominent
exposition/fair area), Harikalar Diyarı (claimed to be Biggest Park
of Europe inside city borders) and Göksu Park.
Gençlik Park was depicted on the
reverse of the Turkish 100
lira banknotes of 1952-1976.
Atatürk Forest Farm and
Zoo (
Atatürk Orman Çiftliği) is an expansive
recreational farming area which houses a
zoo,
several small agricultural farms,
greenhouses, restaurants, a
dairy farm and a
brewery. It is a pleasant place to spend a day with
family, be it for having picnics, hiking, biking or simply enjoying
good food and nature.
There is also an exact replica of the house
where Atatürk was born in 1881, in Thessaloniki
, Greece.
Visitors to the "Çiftlik" (farm) as it is affectionately called by
Ankarans, can sample such famous products of the farm such as
old-fashioned beer and
ice cream, fresh
dairy products and meat rolls/kebaps
made on charcoal, at a traditional restaurant (
Merkez
Lokantası, Central Restaurant), cafés and other establishments
scattered around the farm.
Shopping
Interior view of Karum Shopping &
Business Center.
Foreign visitors to Ankara usually like to visit the old shops in
Çıkrıkçılar Yokuşu (Weavers' Road) near Ulus, where myriad
things ranging from traditional fabrics, hand-woven carpets and
leather products can be found at bargain prices.
Bakırcılar
Çarşısı (Bazaar of Coppersmiths) is particularly popular, and
many interesting items, not just of copper, can be found here like
jewelry, carpets, costumes, antiques and embroidery. Up the hill to
the castle gate, there are many shops selling a huge and fresh
collection of spices,
dried fruits,
nuts, and other produce.
Modern
shopping areas are mostly found in Kızılay, or on Tunalı Hilmi
Avenue, including the modern mall of Karum (named after the
ancient
Assyrian merchant colonies 
that were
established in central Anatolia at the beginning of the 2nd
millennium BC) which is located towards the end of the Avenue; and
in the Atakule
Tower
at Çankaya, the quarter with the highest elevation
in the city, which commands a magnificent view over the whole city
and also has a revolving
restaurant at the top where the complete panorama can be
enjoyed in a more leisurely fashion. The symbol of the
Armada Shopping Mall is an
anchor, and
there's a large anchor monument at its entrance, as a reference to
the ancient Greek name of the city, Ἄγκυρα (Ánkyra), which means
anchor. Likewise, the anchor is also related with the Spanish name
of the mall,
Armada, which means
naval fleet.
As Ankara
started expanding westward in the 1970s, several modern,
suburbia-style developments and mini-cities began to rise along the
western highway, also known as the Eskişehir Road. The
Armada and
CEPA
malls on the highway, the
Galleria in Ümitköy, and a huge
mall,
Real in Bilkent Center, offer North American and
European style shopping opportunities (these places can be reached
through the Eskişehir Highway.) There is also the newly expanded
Ankamall at the outskirts, on the Istanbul Highway, which
houses most of the well-known international brands. This mall is
the largest throughout the Ankara region.
Culture and education
Turkish State Opera and
Ballet, the national directorate of
opera
and
ballet companies of Turkey, has its
headquarters in Ankara, and serves the city with three
venues:
The
Turkish State Theatres
also has its head office in Ankara and runs the following stages in
the city:
In addition the city is served by several private theatre companies
among which
Ankara Sanat
Tiyatrosu who have their own stage in the city centre is a
notable example.
Ankara is host to five classical music orchestras:
There are four concert halls in the city:
The city has been host to several well-established, annual theatre,
music, film festivals:
Universities
Ankara is noted, within Turkey, for the multitude of universities
it is home to. These include the following, several of them being
among the most reputable in the country:
Transportation
Ankara rapid transit network.
Esenboğa
International Airport
, located in the north-east of the city, is the main
airport of Ankara.
Ankara Intercity
Bus Terminal ( ) is an important part of the
bus network which covers every neighbourhood in
the city.
The central
train station, "Ankara
Garı" of the
Turkish State
Railways ( ), is an important hub connecting the western and
eastern parts of the country.
High-speed rail services are to be
operated between Ankara and Istanbul, beginning in 2009.
The
Electricity, Gas, Bus General Directorate (EGO)
operates the
Ankara Metro and other
forms of
public transportation.
Ankara is currently served by
suburban
rail and two
subway lines with
about 300,000 total daily commuters, and three additional subway
lines are under construction.
Sports
As with all other cities of Turkey, football is the most popular
sport in Ankara. The city has four
football clubs currently competing in the
Turkcell Super League:
Ankaragücü founded in 1910 is the
oldest club in Ankara and associated with Ankara's military arsenal
manufacturing company MKE. They were the
Turkish Cup winners in 1972 and
1981. Their rival is
Gençlerbirliği founded in 1923
known as Ankara Wind or the Poppies because of their colours: red
and black. They were the Turkish Cup winners in 1987 and 2001.
Gençler's B team,
Hacettepe SK (formerly known
as Gençlerbirliği OFTAŞ) has been allowed to ascend to the Super
League along with its A team as long as they have 2 different
chairmen.
All these three teams have their home at the
Ankara 19
Mayıs Stadium
in Ulus
, which has
a capacity of 21,250 (all-seater). The fourth team is owned
by the Municipality,
Büyükşehir
Belediye Ankaraspor who are nicknamed the Leopards.
Their
home is the Yenikent Asaş Stadium
in the Sincan
district of
Yenikent, outside the city center.
Ankara has a large number of minor teams, playing at regional
levels:
Bugsaşspor in Sincan;
Etimesgut Şekerspor in
Etimesgut;
Türk Telekom owned by
the phone company in Yenimahalle; Demirspor in Çankaya;
Keçiörengücü, Keçiörenspor,
Pursaklarspor, Bağlumspor in Keçiören; and Petrol Ofisi Spor.
In the
Turkish Basketball League, Ankara is represented by Türk Telekom, whose home is the ASKI Sport
Hall
, and CASA TED
Kolejliler, whose home is the TOBB Sports Hall.
Ankara Buz Pateni Sarayı is where
the
ice skating and
ice hockey competitions take place in the
city.
There are many popular spots for
skateboarding which is active in the city
since the 1980s.
Skaters in Ankara usually meet in the park
near the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey
.
Fauna
Angora cat
Angora cat
Ankara is home to a world famous cat breed — the
Turkish Angora, called
Ankara kedisi
(Ankara cat) in Turkish. It is a
breed of
domestic
cat. Turkish Angoras are one of the
ancient, naturally-occurring cat breeds, having originated in
Ankara and its surrounding region in central Anatolia.
They mostly have a white, silky, medium to long length coat, no
undercoat and a fine bone structure. There seems to be a connection
between the Angora Cats and
Persians,
and the Turkish Angora is also a distant cousin of the
Turkish Van. Although they are known for their
shimmery white coat, currently there are more than twenty varieties
including black, blue and reddish fur. They come in
tabby and tabby-white, along with smoke varieties, and
are in every color other than pointed, lavender, and cinnamon (all
of which would indicate breeding to an outcross.)
Eyes may be blue, green, or amber, or even one blue and one amber
or green. The W gene which is responsible for the white coat and
blue eye is closely related to the hearing ability, and the
presence of a blue eye can indicate that the cat is deaf to the
side the blue eye is located. However, a great many blue and
odd-eyed white cats have normal
hearing, and even deaf cats lead a very normal life if kept
indoors.
Ears are pointed and large, eyes are almond shaped and the head is
massive with a two plane profile. Another characteristic is the
tail, which is often kept parallel to the back.
Angora rabbit
Angora rabbit
The
Angora rabbit ( ) is a variety of
domestic
rabbit bred for its long, soft hair.
The Angora is one of the oldest types of domestic rabbit,
originating in Ankara and its surrounding region in central
Anatolia, along with the
Angora cat and
Angora goat.
The rabbits were
popular pets with French royalty in
the mid 1700s, and spread to other parts of Europe by the end of the century. They first appeared
in the United
States
in the early 1900s. They are bred largely
for their long
Angora wool, which may be
removed by
shear, combing, or
pluck (gently pulling loose
wool.)
Angoras are bred mainly for their wool because it is silky and
soft. They have a humorous appearance, as they oddly resemble a fur
ball. Most are calm and docile but should be handled carefully.
Grooming is necessary to prevent the fiber from matting and felting
on the rabbit. A condition called "wool block" is common in Angora
rabbits and should be treated quickly. Sometimes they are shorn in
the summer as the long fur can cause the rabbits to overheat.
Angora goat
Angora goat
The
Angora goat ( ) is a breed of
domestic goat that originated in
Ankara and its surrounding region in central Anatolia.
This breed was first mentioned in the time of
Moses, roughly in 1500 BC. The first Angora goats were
brought to Europe by
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor,
about 1554, but, like later imports, were not very successful.
Angora goats were first introduced in the United States in 1849 by
Dr. James P. Davis. Seven adult goats were a gift from Sultan
Abdülmecid I in appreciation for
his services and advice on the raising of cotton.
The
fleece taken from an Angora goat is
called
mohair. A single goat produces between
five and eight
kilograms of hair per year.
Angoras are shorn twice a year, unlike
sheep,
which are shorn only once. Angoras have high
nutritional requirements due to their rapid hair
growth. A poor quality diet will curtail mohair development.
The
United
States, Turkey, and
South Africa are the top producers of
mohair.
For a long period of time, Angora goats were bred for their white
coat. In 1998, the Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association was set
up to promote breeding of colored Angoras. Now Angora goats produce
white, black (deep black to greys and silver), red (the color fades
significantly as the goat gets older), and brownish fiber.
Angora goats were depicted on the
reverse of the Turkish 50
lira banknotes of 1938-1952.
Central Bank of
the Republic of Turkey. Banknote Museum:
2. Emission Group - Fifty Turkish Lira -
I.
Series;3. Emission Group - Fifty Turkish Lira -
I.
Series &
II. Series. – Retrieved on 20 April 2009.
Ankara image gallery
File:Ankara Atakule Tower.jpg|View of the
Atakule
Tower
and central
Ankara.File:Ankara_City_Center.jpg|View of central Ankara
from the Atakule Tower.File:Ankara.jpg|View of central Ankara from
the Botanical Garden.File:Musem Of Anatolian Civilisations
Ankara.JPG|Museum of Anatolian
Civilizations
.File:067 Etnografya.05.2006
resize.JPG|State Art and Sculpture
Museum
.File:Esenboga_airport.jpg|Esenboğa
International Airport.File:Armada Mall Ankara 3.jpg|Armada Tower
& Shopping Center (2002).File:Akman Tower Ankara.jpg|Akman
Tower (1999).File:Sheraton Hotel & Convention Center
Ankara.jpg|Sheraton
Hotel & Convention Center
(1991).File:Atakule Ankara.jpg|Atakule Tower (1989).File:BDDK Building Ankara.jpg|BDDK
Building (1975), formerly the Türkiye İş Bankası
headquarters.File:Kizilay Business Center Ankara.jpg|Emek Business
Center (1962) on Kızılay Square.File:Kizilay Square.jpg|Buildings
on Kızılay Square.File:Sheraton and Beymen.jpg|Sheraton Hotel and
Beymen Building.File:Ankara Park Botanik.jpg|Botanik Park in
central Ankara.File:Ankara Park Cemre Demetevler.jpg|Cemre Park in
Demetevler.File:Ankara Park Kugulu.jpg|Kuğulu Park, famous for its
swans, geese and ducks.File:Ankara Park Kuğulu.jpg|Kuğulu Park,
famous for its swans, geese and ducks.File:Ankara Park Kurtuluş
Panorama.jpg|Kurtuluş Park in central Ankara.File:Ankara Park
Kurtuluş.jpg|Kurtuluş Park in central Ankara.File:Ankara Park
Segmenler.jpg|Seğmenler Park in central Ankara.File:Ankara Park
Seğmenler.jpg|Seğmenler Park in central Ankara.File:Ankara Park
Keçiören Evcil.jpg|Evcil Hayvanlar Park in Keçiören.File:Dikmen
Valley Ankara Turkey.jpg|Dikmen Valley Park.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Ankara is
twinned with: of Ankara are
listed below:
- Africa
- Americas
- Asia
- Ashgabat
, Turkmenistan
(1994)
- Astana
,
Kazakhstan
(2001)
- Beijing, China
(1990)
- Bishkek
, Kyrgyzstan
(1992)
- Dushanbe
, Tajikistan
(2002)
- Hanoi
,
Vietnam
(1998)
- Islamabad
, Pakistan
(1982)
- Shiraz
,
Iran
- Kabul
,
Afghanistan
(2003)
- Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia
(1984)
- Kuwait City
, Kuwait
(1994)
- Manama
,
Bahrain
(2000)
- Sana'a
,
Yemen
(2006)
- Seoul
,
South
Korea
(1971)
- Tashkent
, Uzbekistan
(2004)
- Ulan Bator
, Mongolia
(2003)
- Europe
- Baku
,
Azerbaijan
- Bucharest
, Romania
(1998)
- Budapest
, Hungary
(1992)
- Chişinău
, Moldova
(2001)
- Dipkarpaz
, Northern Cyprus
(1986)
- Kazan
,
Tatarstan, Russia
(2005)
- Kiev
,
Ukraine
(1993)
- Minsk
,
Belarus
(2007)
- Moscow
, Russia (1992)
- Pristina
, Kosovo
(2005)
- Sarajevo
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
(1994)
- Skopje
, Macedonia
(1995)
- Sofia
,
Bulgaria
(1992)
- Tbilisi
, Georgia
(1996)
- Tirana
, Albania
(1995)
- Ufa
,
Bashkortostan, Russia (1997)
Notable people from Ankara
- Filiz Akın, actress
- Mazhar Alanson, musician
- Huseyin Bahri Alptekin,
artist, writer, educator and curator
- Emre Araci, music historian,
composer, conductor
- Funda Arar, musician
- Bülent Atalay, author,
scientist and artist
- Bedri Baykam, artist
- Bülent Bezdüz,
tenor
- İdil Biret, concert pianist,
recording artist
- André Couteaux, writer and
scenarist
- Emin Çölaşan,
journalist
- Hande Dalkılıç,
musician
- Yasemin
Dalkılıç, free diver
- Vedat Dalokay, architect
- Ordal Demokan, physicist
- Can Dündar, journalist
- Moris Farhi, writer
- Gizem Girişmen, archer
- Erdal İnönü,
politician and physicist
- Nil Karaibrahimgil,
musician
- Vehbi Koç, pioneer
industrialist
- Yasemin Mori, musician
- Peter Murphy,
musician
- Aydın Örs, basketball
coach
- Zerrin Özer, musician
- Yağmur Sarıgül,
musician
- Fazil Say, concert pianist,
composer
- Joe Strummer, lead singer,
guitarist and lyricist of the English band The
Clash
- Özlem Tekin, musician
- Kartal Tibet, actor
- Buket Uzuner, writer
Religious figures
See also
References and notes
External links
Publications
(Opera Sahnesi, also known as Büyük
Tiyatro)
,
, Ethiopia
(2006)
,
Egypt
(2004)
, Sudan
(1992)
, Democratic
Republic of the Congo
(2005)
, Somalia
(2000)
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