Though sometimes referred to as Turkey\u2019s \u201csecond\u201d city, the capital Ankara has plenty of charm and sites that make it anything but second rate.<\/p>\n
The name Ankara originates from the Celtic word Ancyra which means anchor\u2014perhaps a strange name for a land-locked city. But, according to myth, King Midas\u2014whose touch turned everything into gold\u2014is buried in the ancient site of Godrion, part of suburban Ankara. With provenance like this, it should be no surprise that there is evidence of human settlement at or near Ankara since at least the Stone Age.<\/p>\n
Ankara officially became the capital of Turkey in October of 1923 when the title was taken from Istanbul following the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Because Ankara is home to the Grand National Assembly\u2014Turkey\u2019s parliament\u2014the government sector is the main employer. Industrial production is also a large economic driver on account of Ankara\u2019s central location and easy access to transportation infrastructure.<\/p>\n
One of the city\u2019s most popular exports and symbols are Angora rabbits, Angora cats and Angora goats in particular, which are the source of mohair. Ankara and the surrounding region is also renowned for producing Muscat grapes for wine.<\/p>\n
Originally designed to accommodate around 500,000 citizens, Ankara grew quickly and somewhat haphazardly and is now home to around 4.5 million people.<\/p>\n
From a tourism perspective, Ankara isn\u2019t as outwardly appealing as other destinations like Istanbul or Cappadocia, but that\u2019s not to say there isn\u2019t lots to see\u2014you just might have to look a little deeper.<\/p>\n
Architecturally, the city reflects its varied history with Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman era buildings standing brick to brick with more modern structures. The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Amt Kabir\u2014a tribute to Atat\u00fcrk, modern Turkey\u2019s founder\u2014are both highly renowned sites located in Ankara. There are also numerous other galleries, smaller museums, and historic ruins to see.<\/p>\n
But Ankara\u2019s real significance is not in its past, but rather in what it means for the future. Ankara holds a great deal of significance for secular Turks\u2014it\u2019s the place where a new era for Turkish citizens started after the Turkish War of Independence and is a symbol for independence, development, and progressive values.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Though sometimes referred to as Turkey\u2019s \u201csecond\u201d city, the capital Ankara has plenty of charm and sites that make it anything but second rate. The name Ankara originates from the Celtic word Ancyra which means anchor\u2014perhaps a strange name for a land-locked city. But, according to myth, King Midas\u2014whose touch turned everything into gold\u2014is buried […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[219],"tags":[269,270],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.migrateworld.co\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}