Ankara | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

(1997 pop. 3.7 million). Ankara (formerly Angora) is the capital and second-largest city of the Republic of Turkey. Located on the Central Anatolian plateau, Ankara is approximately 355 kilometers southeast of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city.

Ankara has been the site of continuous settlement since at least the Neolithic era (c. 10,300/10,000–3500 BCE) and was a sizable town throughout most of antiquity. Its situation along major caravan routes and its ample supplies of freshwater and easily defensible position were ideal for a trading town. Ankara was incorporated into the Roman empire in 25 BCE and was controlled at various times by the Persians, Arabs, Seljuks, and Byzantines.

The city was conquered in 1354 (some sources say 1356) by the second Ottoman sultan, Orhan I (c. 1281–1360). Orhan's son Murad I (1326–1389) incorporated Ankara into the Ottoman empire in 1360 or 1361. In 1402 the Mongols under Timur (Tamerlane, Timur-Lang; c. 1360–1403) defeated the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I (c. 1360–1403) in a battle just outside Ankara. Despite the ensuing civil war, Ankara remained under Ottoman control and served for some time as the regional capital of the province of Anatolia (Anadolu). Kuthaya eventually replaced it as regional capital, but Ankara was restored as a provincial center in the nineteenth century.

Throughout this period Ankara was a center of grain production. During the nineteenth century a luxury trade based on mohair, a particularly warm and soft fabric made from the hair of the local Angora goats, increased in importance, as did carpet production for the European market. A railway between Ankara and Izmit, financed by the Deutsche Bank and begun in 1889, increased Ankara's commercial importance as well as its ties to broader economic trends.

Ankara's significance increased markedly during the Turkish War for Independence from 1919 to 1923. The British occupied the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, and Sivas, the initial center of nationalist resistance, was too far from the front. Consequently the nationalist forces chose Ankara as a new base of operations. On 27 December 1919 the nationalist government, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) (1881–1938), arrived in Ankara and began the workings of government in the town's agricultural school. The nationalist parliament (Buyuk Millet Meclisi) convened on 23 April 1920.

Such was the power and prestige of Istanbul, however, that the decision to make Ankara the capital in October 1923 was met with considerable surprise and not a little dismay. Compared to cosmopolitan Istanbul, Ankara was distinctly unglamorous, a sleepy town, dusty in summer and muddy in winter. However, this shift involved important symbolism. The move to Ankara underlined the republic's break from its Ottoman legacy and the foundation of a distinctly Turkish and Anatolian nation.

Ankara's new status as the Turkish Republic's capital brought dramatic growth and development to the city. In the first years of the republic a large number of important buildings were constructed in or near what is referred to as the Old City, principally around the Ulus district. After 1930 a broader plan for the city developed, and major institutions were constructed in districts southeast of the original town center. Planning could not control the effects of explosive population growth, however, and many districts were made up of unlicensed housing of varying quality, locally called gecekondu (literally, constructed at night). Although Ankara developed no actual "downtown," the district of Kizilay generally has been considered the city's hub. The wealthier district of Cankaya also has been an important center of trade and government.

Ankara houses the parliament, presidential palace, and governmental ministries, and the city has become a cultural center of Turkey. Ankara University, Haceteppe University, Middle East Technical University, and Bilkent University, a private university, are important institutions for learning and research. Ankara is also home to the Ethnographic Museum and a world-class archaeological museum called the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. The Haci Bayram Mosque (1429), dedicated to an important Muslim saint, is a point of local pilgrimage, and the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Anit Kabir), designed by Emin Onat and Orhan Arda, is an example of republican-era architecture and a testament to Ataturk's place in the republic's national consciousness.

Despite its role as the seat of government, Ankara remains, culturally, economically, and demographically, Turkey's "second city" after Istanbul. Nevertheless, while Istanbul's palaces and mosques are a constant reminder of an Ottoman past, Ankara embodies the future, both as the capital of the Turkish Republic and as the urban embodiment of the republic's modernizing mission.

Cross, Toni M., and Gary Leiser (2000) A Brief History of Ankara. Vacaville, CA: Indian Ford Press.

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