Altındağ is a municipality and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Ankara Province Ankara Province (, ) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey with the capital city Ankara. Its area is 25,632 km2, and its population is 5,782,285 (2022). History The site of the modern city has been home to settlements ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its area is 123 km², and its population is 413,994 (2022). It covers the northeastern part of the city of

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. Its elevation is .

Demographics

Neighbourhoods

There are 26

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Altındağ District: * Atıfbey * Aydıncık * Aydınlıkevler * Baraj * Başpınar * Battalgazi * Beşikkaya * Doğantepe * Feridun Çelik * Gicik * Gültepe * Güneşevler * Hacettepe * Hacı Bayram * Kale * Karacaören * Karapürçek * Kavaklı * Önder * Örnek * Peçenek * Solfasol * Tatlar * Ulubey * Yıldıztepe * Zübeyde Hanım

Geography

Located just outside the city centre, (beyond the district of Ulus as far as the large Altınpark), this hillside has long been home to the workers in the city of Ankara but Altındağ remains one of the poorer quarters of the capital. The hillside is covered with illegally built

gecekondu , meaning 'put up overnight' (plural ), is a Turkish language, Turkish word meaning a house put up quickly illegal building, without proper permissions, a Squatting, squatter's house, and by extension, a shanty or shack. is a neighborhood made o ...

housing, home to low-income families. Among the housing there are some municipal buildings, public housing, state housing for civil servants and many car-repair workshops. The ancient Ankara Castle is in Altındağ and there has recently been investment in restoration work. With this architectural heritage, Altındağ is a member of the

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

-based European Association of Historic Towns and Regions.

History

Altındağ includes parts of the historic city of Ankara, as well as the first National Assembly in which Republic of Turkey was founded is in Ulus. Altındağ was the location of one of the first

developments in Turkey, when in the 1950s and 1960s people illegally built small, one-bedroom houses on small plots of land; then in the 1970s and 1980s these plots of land were made legal through amnesty legislation, and eventually sold to developers who replaced these shacks with larger, multi-story apartment buildings.

Prominent neighbourhoods

* Aydınlıkevler - a quiet residential neighbourhood of civil servants and other members of Ankara's middle class; centred on an avenue of schools, banks and shops; contains the SSK teaching hospital, a military officers housing compound, the headquarters of Türk Telekom,

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

's faculty of agriculture and Altınpark. * Hacı Bayram - home to one of the oldest mosques in Ankara, the mosque and tomb of the 14th-century Ankara-born mystic Haci Bayram Veli, famous for prophesying the conquest of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, and then founding his own Sufi sect. The district has recently been renovated by urban planner Raci Bademli.

Places of interest

Altınpark Altınpark (literally Golden Park) is a public park in Ankara, Turkey Geography Altınpark is in Altındağ district of Ankara, situated on the way connecting Ankara to Ankara airport. The park area is History Up to 1977, the park area was ...

- A large park, formerly a golf course, noted for its statue of a loaf of bread at the entrance; contains a fairground, go-karting, ice-skating, large pools for boating and fishing, the

Feza Gürsey Science Center Feza Gürsey Science Center () is a science museum in Ankara, Turkey. It is named after Feza Gürsey (1921 - 1992), the renowned Turkish mathematician and physicist. The center was founded by the Metropolitan municipality of Ankara. It was open ...

, and much more. * Çamlık - view of the city from the hill *

Ankara Castle Ankara Castle () is a historic fortification in the city of Ankara, Turkey, constructed in or after the 7th century. The earliest fortification on the site was constructed in the 8th century BC by the Phrygians and rebuilt in 278 BC by the Gala ...

(''kale'') - the hilltop heart of the old city of Ankara, built by the

Galatia Galatia (; , ''Galatía'') was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (cf. Tylis), who settled here ...

ns and the Byzantines, now surrounded with

antique shop An antique shop (or antiques shop) is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops generally have a physical presence in a shop where the wares are stored and displayed, but some antique shops are online, with no phy ...

s, coffee houses and bar/restaurants in restored Ottoman-period wooden houses, where traditional Turkish music (

fasıl The ''fasıl'' is a suite in Ottoman classical music. It is similar to the Arabic '' nawba'' and '' waslah''. A classical ''fasıl'' generally includes movements such as '' taksim'', '' peşrev'', '' kâr'', '' beste'', ''ağır semâ'î'', '' ...

) is played late into the evening. One of Ankara's few historical sites. * Karapürçek - location of Ankara's annual

oil-wrestling Oil wrestling (), also called Turkish oil wrestling, is the national sport of Turkey. Oil wrestling includes oil and traditional dress, and its rules are comparable to karakucak. In Assyria, ancient Egypt, and Babylonia, oil wrestling was perf ...

tournament. *

Ulucanlar Prison Museum The Ulucanlar Prison Museum () is a former state prison in Ankara, Turkey, that was converted into a Prison Museum, prison museum following restoration by Altındağ Municipality. The museum was opened in 2011. It is the first museum of its kind ...

References

External links

Altındağ Haberleri
* * * Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey Populated places in Ankara Province Districts of Ankara Province {{turkey-geo-stub