Polatlı (formerly Ancient Greek: Γόρδιον, Górdion and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

: Gordium) is a city and a district in Ankara Province in the

Central Anatolia The Central Anatolia Region ( tr, İç Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Ankara. Other big cities are Konya, Kayseri, Eskişehir, Sivas, and Aksaray. Located in Central Turkey, it is bordere ...

region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, 80 km west of the Turkish capital

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...

, on the road to

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

. According to 2019 census, population of the district is 125,075 of which 98,605 live in the city of Polatlı. The district covers an area of 3,789 km², and the average elevation is 850 m.

Geography

Polatlı is situated at the heart of the high

Anatolian Plateau The Anatolian Plateau () is a plateau that occupies most of Turkey's surface area. The elevation of the plateau ranges from 600 to 1,200 meters (2,000 to 4,000 ft). Mount Erciyes near Kayseri is the peak at 3,917 m (12,851 ft). ...

, a large

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grassla ...

covered with grass. Far from the coast, it has a typical steppe climate. The winters are generally cold, the summers dry and dusty. The springs are the most humid times of the year. Polatlı is one of the most productive agricultural districts in Turkey and is best known for its

cereal A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food e ...

production, especially

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley ...

and

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologica ...

. Polatlı is one of Turkey's largest grain stores.

Sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together w ...

melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a " pepo". The ...

and

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the oni ...

are also grown.

History

Ancient settlement

The ancient Phrygian capital

Gordion Gordion ( Phrygian: ; el, Γόρδιον, translit=Górdion; tr, Gordion or ; la, Gordium) was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıhüyük, about southwest of Ankara (capital of Turkey), in the ...

is 10 km from the city of Polatlı. On the outskirts of Polatli there is an archaeological mound of the same name, the remains of a multi-layered settlement of the Bronze Age (3rd-2nd millennium BC). Since the mound was being used by local people as a quarry, rescue excavations of its southern and central parts were carried out in 1949 by the Anglo-Turkish expedition led by Seton Lloyd, and Nuri Gökçe, then the director of the ‘Hittite Museum in Ankara’.Lloyd, S., Gökçe, N. (1951); “Excavations at Polatlı. A New Investigation of Second and Third Millennium Stratigraphy in Anatolia", Anatolian Studies I, 21–75.

Classical antiquity

On his expedition to the east,

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to t ...

cut the famous

Gordian Knot The Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend of Phrygian Gordium associated with Alexander the Great who is said to have cut the knot in 333 BC. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem (untying an impossibly tangled knot) so ...

, an omen of his coming rule over the whole Asia.

Pessinus Pessinus ( el, Πεσσινούς or Πισσινούς) was an Ancient city and archbishopric in Asia Minor, a geographical area roughly covering modern Anatolia (Asian Turkey). The site of the city is now the modern Turkish village of Ballıhisa ...

, an ancient city on the upper river Sangarios (modern day

Sakarya River The Sakarya (Sakara River, tr, Sakarya Irmağı; gr, Σαγγάριος, translit=Sangarios; Latin: ''Sangarius'') is the third longest river in Turkey. It runs through the region known in ancient times as Phrygia. It was considered one of th ...

), is also within the borders of Polatlı. The mythological Phrygian

King Midas Midas (; grc-gre, Μίδας) was the name of a king in Phrygia with whom several myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house. The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ...

is said to have ruled from Pessinus and to be buried here. Polatlı also occupied an important place in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 as the

Battle of Sakarya The Battle of the Sakarya ( tr, Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi, lit=Sakarya Field Battle), also known as the Battle of the Sangarios ( el, Μάχη του Σαγγαρίου, Máchi tou Sangaríou), was an important engagement in the Greco-Turkish Wa ...

(August 23-September 13, 1921) was fought here, the utmost eastern point reached by the advancing Greek Army in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. There are two memorial burial grounds of those lost in the battle. There is also a monument named Mehmetçik Monument about the battle just west of Polatlı.

Hacitugrul mound

Since the 1970s, excavations by Turkish archaeologists have been carried out near the modern town and train station of Yenidoğan, Polatlı, 15 km northeast of Polatli and 20 km from Gordion. This site, near Hacıtuğrul, Polatlı, is now known as :tr:Hacıtuğrul Höyüğü. The remains of monumental fortifications and other buildings of the city of the Phrygian time, which exceeded Gordion in size, were found here. Five burial mounds were found in the vicinity.

Villages in the district

* Adatoprakpınar * Avdanlı * Avşar * Babayakup * Basri * Beyceğiz * Beylikköprü * Beşköprü * Çanakçı * Çekirdeksiz * Çimenceğiz * Eskikarsak * Eskiköseler * Eskipolatlı * Gedikli * Gençali * Gülpınar * Gümüşyaka * Gündoğan * Güreş * Hacımusa * Hacımuslu * Hacıosmanoğlu * Hacıtuğrul * Hıdırşeyh * Ilıca * İğciler * Kabakköy * Karaahmet * Karabenli * Karacaahmet * Karahamzalı * Karailyas * Karakaya * Karakuyu * Karapınar * Karayavşan * Kargalı * Kayabaşı * Kocahacılı * Kuşçu * Kıranharmanı * Kızılcakışla * Macun * Müslüm * Olukpınar * Oğuzlar * Ömerler * Ördekgölü * Özyurt * Poyraz * Sabanca * Sakarya * Sarıhalil * Sarıoba * Sazlar * Sinanlı * Sincik * Sivri * Şabanözü * Şeyhahmetli * Şeyhali * Tatlıkuyu * Taşpınar * Toydemir * Tüfekçioğlu * Türkkarsak * Türktaciri * Uzunbeyli * Üçpınar * Yaralı * Yassıhüyük * Yağcıoğlu * Yağmurbaba * Yenice * Yenidoğan * Yeniköseler * Yenimehmetli * Yeşilöz * Yüzükbaşı * Yıldızlı

Polatlı today

Today, Polatlı is an important district of Ankara on the main road which connects the capital to the west of Turkey. The city has a good range of restaurants, bars, schools and other important amenities but still a quiet rural feel to it, and little social life except cafes, patisseries and window shopping on a Sunday afternoon. There are car repair workshops but otherwise little industry. Polatlı is trying to become an independent province from Ankara and "we want to be a city" graffiti can be seen in the town. There is a military base here and the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...

Artillery School was established in Polatlı in the early 1940s and is still an important institution in the town. Polatlıspor is a minor league football club that once climbed into the second league. There is a large statue of a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gr ...

on the main road into city.

Longwave transmitter

Near Polatli, there is a longwave broadcasting transmitter, which works on 180 kHz with a transmitter output power of 1200 kW. It uses as antenna a single 250 metres tall mast situated at 39°45'22"N 32°25'5"E. The station is known as "Polatlı Vericisi."

Notes

References

* *

External links

District governor's official website

District municipality's official website

Everyday images of Polatlı
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polatli Populated places in Ankara Province Cities in Turkey Districts of Ankara Province