Top 10 Interesting Facts about Ankara

Millet câmii beştepe in Ankara. Photo by inlovew photography- Unsplash

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Ankara

Ask any visitor about Türkiye or Turkey, and they’ll tell you about kebabs, rugs, Turkish coffee, baths, historical sites, mosques, and the Mediterranean sun.

Ankara, Turkey’s capital city, has a population of approximately 5.2 million people, making it the country’s second-largest city after Istanbul. Initially envisioned to house only around 500,000 people, the urban centre has seen growth in population.

Between 2014 and 2015, the city’s population increased by 6.7 percent, with a total population increase of 290,000 since 2015.

As more people moved to the city for better job prospects and a better standard of living, accommodation became an area of concern, particularly during the 1950s’ significant expansion.

The population growth has increased property development. This problem eventually led to the construction of illegal houses, public housing, and compounds, as well as an increase in poverty.

1. The origin of the name Ankara

The name Ankara’s orthography has changed over time. It has been linked to the Hittite cult centre Ankuwa, although that is debatable. The city was known as nkyra, (lit “anchor”) in Greek and Ancyra in Latin in ancient history and the medieval period; the Galatian Celtic name was probably a similar variation.

Just after its territorial expansion by the Seljuk Turks in 1073, the city became known as Angora in many European languages; it was also known as Engürü in Ottoman Turkish. The form “Angora” is retained in the names of several kinds of animals, as well as in the names of several locations in the United States.

2. Early history of Ankara and its developments

The earliest residential areas in and around Ankara’s city center belonged to the Hattic civilization, which occurred during the Bronze Age and was slowly taken in by the Indo-European Hittites between 2000 and 1700 BC.

Beginning around 1000 BC, the city expanded considerably in size and significance under the Phrygians, and encountered a significant expansion following a mass migration from Gordion, (the capital of Phrygia), following an earthquake that severely damaged that city around that time.

King Midas was revered as the founder of Ancyra in Phrygian tradition, but Pausanias mentions that the city was actually much older, which agrees with current archeological understanding.

3. More developments to the city under Persian rule

People walking on the pedestrian lane during daytime. Photo by Çağlar Oskay- Unsplash

Although Lydian and later Persian rule succeeded Phrygian rule, the firmly Phrygian personality of the lower classes stayed, as demonstrated by tombstones from the much later Roman period. Persian rule lasted until the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great, who conquered the city in 333 BC.

Alexander travelled from Gordion to Ankara and stayed for a short time. Following his death in Babylon in 323 BC and the subsequent division of his empire among his generals, Ankara and its environs fell under Antigonus’ control.

4. Important expansion took place under the Greeks of Pontos

Furthermore, another significant expansion occurred under the Greeks of Pontos, who arrived around 300 BC and established the city as a centre of trade for commercial advancements and  business among 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 had also acquired its name (Ánkyra meaning anchor in Greek), which has been following modifications to provide the modern name of Ankara.

5. Ankara was once occupied by a Celtic group

Man in black jacket and pants holding the red umbrella statue. Photo by SELİM ARDA ERYILMAZ- Unsplash

In 278 BC, the city was populated by the Galatians, a Celtic community were the first to make Ankara one of their primary tribal hubs, the head office of the Tectosages tribe. Other Trocmi tribe centres included Pessinus, today’s Ballhisar, and Tavium, east of Ankara, for the Tolistobogii tribe.

Ancyra was the name of the city at the time. The Celtic component was most likely small in number, consisting of a warrior aristocracy that ruled over Phrygian-speaking peasants.

Nevertheless, the Celtic language was still spoken in Galatia for centuries. St. Jerome, a Dalmatian, witnessed at the end of the fourth century that the language spoken around Ankara was very similar to that spoken in the northwest of the Roman world near Trier.

The Dying Galatian was a famous statue endorsed by King Attalos I of Pergamon between 230 and 220 BC to commemorate his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia. At the Capitoline Museums in Rome, a Roman marble replica of a Hellenistic work from the late third century BC.

6. Why Ankara is the industrial city in Turkey

Ankara’s biggest industry city in Turkey, but it is also Turkey’s second most powerful industrial powerhouse after Istanbul. There are well-established factories producing wine and beer, flour, sugar, macaroni products, biscuits, milk, cement, terrazzo (mosaic paving), construction materials, and tractors. The business and tourism industries are quickly increasing.

7. Important road routes that pass through Ankara

Ankara is an important trading intersection and a main junction in Turkey’s road system. The city is located on Anatolia’s main east-west rail line. Major airlines are available at Esenboa Airport, located to the northeast.

8. Some of the universities and significant buildings are here

The city is home to the University of Ankara (founded in 1946), Hacettepe University (founded in 1967), and the Middle East Technical University (1956). The National Library, the State Theatre, and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra are also situated there.

Numerous museums in Ankara, which display an overview of Anatolian history, are located in recently remodelled Ottoman structures. The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (with its world-renowned Hittite collection) and the Ethnographic Museum are by far the most relevant of these (with its holdings related to Turkish history, folklore, and art).

The Atatürk Mausoleum houses the Atatürk Museum, which houses many of Atatürk’s personal belongings.

9. Lovely places to go shopping

nternational travelers to Ankara frequently visit the old shops on krkçlar Yokuşu (Weavers’ Road) near Ulus, where they can find a variety of items at low prices, including traditional fabrics, hand-woven carpets, and leather products.

Bakrclar arşs (Bazaar of Coppersmiths) is especially popular, and many interesting items, other than copper, can be found here, such as jewelry, carpets, costumes, antiques, and embroidery.

Several shops sell a large and fresh selection of spices, dried fruits, nuts, and other produce up the hill to the castle gate. Modern shopping areas are often found in Kzlay or on Tunal Hilmi Avenue, such as the new mall of Karum (named after the ancient Assyrian merchant colonies called Kârum that were founded in central Anatolia at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC) at the Avenue’s end; and in ankaya, the city’s highest elevation quarter.

The Atakule Tower in Ankaya, next to the Atrium Mall, has views of Ankara and a revolving restaurant at the top. The Armada Shopping Mall’s logo is an anchor, and there is a large anchor monument at its entrance as a reference to the city’s ancient Greek name, (Ankyra), which means anchor. 

Similarly, the anchor monument is linked to the mall’s Spanish name, Armada, which means naval fleet. As Ankara starts to expand westward in the 1970s, numerous newer, suburban-style advancements and mini-cities sprouted up along the western highway, also known as the Eskişehir Road.

The Armada, CEPA, and Kentpark malls on the highway, the Galleria, Arcadium, and Gordion in Ümitköy, and a massive mall, Real in Bilkent Center, all offer North American and European-style shopping (accessible via the Eskişehir Highway).

There is also the recently established ANKAmall on the Istanbul Highway on the outskirts, which features the majority of the well-known global companies. This is the biggest mall in the Ankara area.

Ankara saw the opening of a few more shopping malls in 2014. On Mevlana Boulevard, they are Next Level and Taurus (which is also known as Konya Road).

10. Financially investing in Ankara

People walking on the pedestrian lane during daytime. Photo by Çağlar Oskay- Unsplash

In 2018, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan implemented a number of policies, such as tax reforms and a raise in the state’s Credit Guarantee Fund, which supports small business loans.

Erdogan, who calls himself a “enemy of interest rates,”  wants the central bank to cut interest rates. He has stated that he intends to take better economic control in order to improve and accelerate economic growth.

As Ankara and Turkey as a whole debate and seek solutions to eliminate poverty and grow the economy, one such idea remains at the forefront. Erdogan announced Turkey’s 2023 vision during his presidential campaign in 2014.