Çankaya, Ankara

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For other uses, see Çankaya.
Çankaya
Atakule Tower in Çankaya
Atakule Tower in Çankaya
Location of Çankaya, Ankara within Turkey.
Location of Çankaya, Ankara within Turkey.
Coordinates: 39°55′N 32°53′E / 39.917, 32.883
Country Flag of Turkey Turkey
Region Central Anatolia
Province Ankara
Government
 - Governor M. Hulusi Arat
 - Mayor Muzaffer Eryılmaz
Area
 - District 268 km² (103.5 sq mi)
Elevation 986 m (3,235 ft)
Population (2000)[1]
 - District 769,331
 - Density 2,870.64/km² (7,434.9/sq mi)
 - Urban 758,490
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 - Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code 06xxx
Area code(s) 0312
Licence plate 06
Website: www.cankayakaymakamligi.gov.tr

Çankaya is the central metropolitan district of the city of Ankara, capital of Turkey, and an administrative district of Ankara Province. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 769,331 of which 758,490 live in the urban center of Çankaya (which swells up to 2 million or more during the day).[1][2] The district covers an area of 268 km² (103 sq mi),[3] and the urban center lies at an average elevation of 986 m (3,235 ft).

The President of the Republic of Turkey resides here in the presidential palace "Çankaya Köşkü". The area is also home to many of the capital's embassies, government departments and best-known landmarks. Most of the city described in the article Ankara lies within the district of Çankaya, the heart of the city, a fashionable business and cultural centre as well as the centre of government.

Contents

[edit] History

Until the founding of the Republic Çankaya was a hillside of orchards and gardens to the south of the city, which had grown up surrounding Ankara Castle (Kale) on the opposite hill. Everything changed in the 1920s when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk came to stay in one of the garden houses. Atatürk selected Ankara as capital of the new republic and in the 20s and 30s the city quickly grew, especially in the direction of Çankaya. In 1934 the writer Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu was able to describe the area as (my translation) a wooden bridge, a dirt road, and when you come round the hill you see a hillside, green in gentle contours. That's Çankaya. Not any more it isn't.

[edit] Culture

The early buildings of the republic were in grand Ottoman style, but today Çankaya contains a number of impressive modern buildings also. The district is home a great number of museums, theatres, cinemas, cultural associations, booksellers, publishers and libraries including the National Library in a new building. Many of the streets in the district are named after poets, writers and thinkers.

Most of Ankara's best-known high schools and a great number of university buildings are in the district including the large campuses of ODTU, Bilkent University and (most of) Hacettepe. Çankaya University, a private institution owned by businessman Sıtkı Alp which was opened in a number of former school buildings in 1997.

[edit] Prominent neighbourhoods

  • Anıttepe - a quiet, attractive city centre residential neighbourhood with parks and sports facilities, next to Atatürk's hilltop mausoleum, the Anıtkabir. The neighbourhood contains a number of public buildings including retired military officers housing, and an increasing number of shops and offices. The main avenue is Akdeniz Caddesi which means Mediterranean Avenue; this may seem strange in a city so far inland, in fact the name comes from Atatürk's Turkish War of Independence order Armies, your first destination is the Mediterranean (Ordular ilk hedefiniz Akdenizdir - and the streets are named in order Ordular Sokak, Ilk Sokak, Hedef Sokak and Akdeniz Caddesi).
  • Ayrancı - A residential district of modest apartment buildings (maximum 5 storeys) on a steep hillside. Until the 1960s this was still orchards and gardens.
  • Bağcılar - Another new district, a valley of apartment buildings that until the 1970s was orchards.
  • Bahçelievler - the names means garden-houses, today there are mainly apartment buildings in this pleasant, green, residential district centred on 7 nci Cadde, the crowded shopping and strolling avenue of coffee shops and burger restaurants. The district is popular with students as there are many cafes, bars, fast food outlets, and easy transport to Hacettepe, Bilkent and Başkent University. Important buildings include the Turkish National Library and the Ankara Ice Palace. The streets in the district mainly have numbers rather than names and one number has unfortunately gone down in history. 15 nci Sokak, number 56, apartment 2 was the location of the code-name 56/2 Bahçelievler massacre in October 1978, in which seven students, members of the Turkish Workers' Party were strangled by right-wing assassins associated with gang-leader Haluk Kırcı.
View of Ankara from the botanical garden.
View of Ankara from the botanical garden.
  • Balgat - large city-centre district of low-price apartment buildings, behind ODTU. Home to many politicians including one of the ex-premiers Necmettin Erbakan and many of his Saadet party. Prominent buildings include the large headquarters of the commission that overseas government spending (Sayıştay), the training and doctrine HQ of the Turkish Armed Forces, the Energy Commission (Energy Market Regulatory Authority) (EPDK) and the headquarters of many political parties including the governing AKP, the centre-right DYP and the nationalist MHP. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Directore of Civil Aviation, Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Treasury and other key public offices are nearby. Balgat was the subject of a 1950s study by anthropologist Daniel Lerner (The Passing of Traditional Society).
  • Cebeci - Named for the Ottoman armoury that was located here, Cebeci is a residential district of narrow streets, popular with students; the faculties of political sciences, law and education of Ankara University are here. The Cebeci Asri cemetery was the first modern burial ground in Ankara and is the final resting place of many prominent figures including assassinated journalists Uğur Mumcu, Bahriye Üçok and Çetin Emeç.
  • Çukurambar - Former gecekondu (illegally built) district, now the original workers cottages (with their little gardens) are being replaced with modern apartment buildings. The Foreign Ministry is located here and there is still open land belonging to the municipal farm/forest park Atatürk Orman Çiftliği.
  • Emek - attractive area of two-storey houses, centred on 8nci Caddesi, a busy avenue of kebab houses.
  • Gazi Osman Paşa - one of Ankara's smartest neighbourhoods, luxury housing overlooking the city centre from on high. GOP was formerly known as 14th May after the date of the first secret ballot in Turkey (in 1950) as the new housing built here was popular with MPs of the Demokrat Parti, who won that election. After the party was brought down by a military coup in 1960 the area was named after Ottoman general Gazi Osman Pasha
  • Harbiye - home of the Army War Academy (Kara Harp Okulu)
  • Ilker - a windswept neighbourhood on the eastern side of the hill, one of Ankara's highest points.
  • Incesu - the valley of the Incesu stream, which now runs in channels underground.
Middle East Technical University.
Middle East Technical University.
  • Karakusunlar - the odd name has a story to it; when Atatürk arrived with his troops during the Turkish War of Independence Ankara was under snow and they were unable to find a dry place to camp. Atatürk's order let them camp on the snow (kara kursunlar) has become the name of this district where the scene took place. The village is now a busy district of apartment buildings on a steep slope, behind the ODTU campus. Yalçın Küçük, writer and political scientist noted for his opposition to American influence in Turkey, lives here.
  • Kavaklıdere, Ankara - A smart neighbourhood of tree-lined streets, centred on Ankara's busiest shopping avenue Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi, with its array of cinemas, bookshops, bars, cafes, patisseries, fast-food outlets and Ankara landmarks including the luxury shopping centre Karum, the old-established Kavaklidere Cinema and the pretty Kuğulu Park (kuğu means swan in Turkish, although in truth most of the bird in the pond here are ducks). Until the 1970s this area was all vineyards and the Kavaklıdere Winery was here in the district, where the Sheraton Hotel now stands. The name means stream with poplars in Turkish, but the stream runs underground today and there are few poplars.
  • Keklikpınarı - steep hilltop district with chilly weather and a view of the whole city; the point where Atatürk entered Ankara on January 27, 1919, as commemorated by Ilkadim (first steps) Park. Until the 1960s this was a tiny village outside the city.
  • Kırkkonaklar - gecekondu district (now apartment buildings) overlooking the highway, far from the city centre, behind the posh Gazi Osman Paşa district.
  • Kızılay - the heart of the city, an attractive mess of bustling streets tightly packed with people swarming in and out of schools and evening classes, cafes, and shops (especially bookshops); with many more rushing to and from work in the many shops and offices in the district. Millions of people come into the district each day for work, school and shopping (watch out for pickpockets). The pavements are crowded with hawkers and buskers and are decorated with life-size figures in bronze, sitting, reading, mining coal (!!). The main avenue has long been the venue for most of Ankara's protest marches and demonstrations, especially by government workers and civil servants.
    • Bakanlıklar - smart area, location of the parliament and many government ministries, (although most are moving to new premises on the Eskişehir road) as well as thousands of shops including Ankara's second-hand and pirated book market.
    • Kumrular Sokak - lovely tree-lined street of cafes
    • Sakarya Caddesi - a street of bars and fish restaurants, Ankara's drinking capital.
    • Kızılırmak Sokak - with its cinemas, cafes and evening classes for young people cramming for the university entrance exam.
  • Kocatepe - A hill crowned with Ankara's largest mosque. Also known for a high-quality brand of Turkish coffee.
  • Küçükesat - a quiet neighbourhood of residential streets, lined with trees, little groceries and kebab sellers and thus popular with retired civil servants (although recently more bars have opened and the main avenue is now paraded by Ankara's transvestites). It is also slightly confusing that the majority of the street-names begin with the letter b.
  • Maltepe - an old neighbourhood, once full of workers housing and little workshops, now in decline and best known for its seedy nightclubs, and a large open market for cheap manufactured goods from the former Soviet Union and pirated films and software.
  • Mebusevleri - pleasant, quiet area of little houses and gardens, (although many are now being replaced by apartment buildings), near the Anıtkabir.
  • Oran Sitesi - Luxury housing complex with forest behind, home to many of Turkey's leading politicians including Alparslan Türkeş, Deniz Baykal and Bülent Ecevit. Prominent buildings include the parliament residences, army accommodation, the headquarters of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation and a number of quality restaurants.
  • Öveçler - Residential area, 4 uncu Cadde is home to a number of IT companies, IT and language training institutes and also the HQ of the Informatics Associations of Turkey TBD, founded by academic Aydın Köksal.
  • Soğutözü - the area on the Eskişehir road where all the inter-city bus terminals are. Also the big Bayındır hospital, the Gazi military officer's club, and now a number of new buildings housing government ministries and the headquarters of the opposition party CHP.
  • 100. Yıl Sitesi - rundown area of low-quality public housing, patrolled by packs of wild dogs. the blocks were built as workers housing but they are near the ODTU campus and not far from Kızılay so very popular with students. Built in 1981, the centenary of Atatürk's birth, hence the name.

[edit] Places of interest

[edit] Image gallery

Kocatepe Mosque
Presidential Palace
Armada shopping center
Kızılay square
Chandelier of Kocatepe Mosque
Ruins of the Roman bath
Anıtkabir, Atatürk's mausoleum
Anıtkabir

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Turkish Statistical Institute. Census 2000, Key statistics for urban areas of Turkey (XLS) (Turkish). Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
  2. ^ GeoHive. Statistical information on Turkey's administrative units (English). Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
  3. ^ Statoids. Statistical information on districts of Turkey (English). Retrieved on 2008-04-23.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 39°55′28″N, 32°53′08″E

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