Is Ankara or Istanbul the capital of Turkey? Capital of Turkey now. Ankara is the modern capital of Turkey. Turkish country and capital name.
Ankara
In 1923, when the first president of Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, moved the state's capital to Ankara, no one could even imagine that it would become a huge city, the second in Turkey after Istanbul. After all, at that time the population of this small cozy town numbered only 60 thousand people. But, despite such recent rapid development, the first entries in the book of the city’s history were made in ancient times. It is reliably known that back in 1200 BC. in the city fortress local residents took cover from enemies. Despite the fact that Ankara is located far from seaports, since the time Ancient Rome it earned the reputation of the largest trade and political center, as it was located at the intersection of busy trade routes between Europe and Asia.
In 278 BC. The territory of modern Ankara was captured by the Galatian tribe, who created their own state here, and then the city, as the capital of the Galatian state, received its ancient name “Ankyra”, which translates as “anchor”. Having fallen under the influence of the Roman Empire in 166 BC, Ankara received the status of a provincial center and city-police, and also became the summer residence of the Roman emperors and government.
Since Neolithic times, Ankara has been formed as a cultural center of ancient civilizations, because the culture, traditions and characteristics of the tribes that ruled in different periods of history were mixed here. Hittites and Phrygians, Galatians and Persians, Ottomans and Arabs, Byzantines and ancient Romans - these are just some of the civilizations that made an invaluable contribution to the formation of the infrastructure, history and cultural characteristics of the city. 
Already in the 19th century, being the center of the Ankara vilayet as part of the Ottoman Empire, the city was in decline and partially lost its role as a trade and craft center. The most important event that significantly influenced the further course of the city’s history and returned it to its former glory was the construction of the Anatolian railway, which connected Ankara with Istanbul, then Constantinople.
Every line in the history of Ankara is marked on the city map with cultural and religious monuments. Ankara is a vivid example of how harmoniously the ruins of ancient settlements and ultra-modern buildings can coexist shopping centers. And if in any other case, such a combination would carry the bitterness of bad taste, this only gives the Turkish capital an invisible charm.
The old and new quarters of Ankara, like yin and yang, complement each other with their contrast.
The old historical quarter of Ankara surprises with an intricacy of narrow streets with houses piled on top of each other, and next to it lies new center- this is the modern part of the city with wide highways, expensive hotels, fashion boutiques, libraries, government offices and infrastructure modern city. Old city was built around ancient fortress, of which only ruins now remain, the new urban project was carefully planned and signed in 1928. 
Among the main architectural monuments Ankara is the majestic mausoleum of the first president of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal, erected on one of the picturesque city hills. For his invaluable contribution to the development of self-awareness and unity of the Turkish people, Kemal became a folk hero of Turkey and received the name “Ataturk” or “father of the Turks.” The first president of Turkey is famous not only for moving the state's capital from Istanbul to Ankara, but for many cultural, political and economic transformations. Being a convinced democrat, Mustafa Kemal introduced the most important revolutionary reforms into the life of the Turks: a civil code was adopted, according to which equality was established between men and women, the development of culture and economy was aimed at alienating the sometimes harsh Islamic traditions and laws, which were replaced by more democratic European ones standards. During Kemal's presidency, the Gregorian calendar was introduced, and major changes were made in all cultural areas from the alphabet to clothing. In addition, Turkey acquired the status of a republic, the first constitution was adopted, and citizens of the state received such an important social attribute as surnames. Citizens of Turkey to this day remember Atatürk’s enormous contribution to the development of the Turkish state, so the tradition of visiting the Mausoleum for members of the newly elected government, paying tribute to Mustafa Kemal, is still observed today.
In the halls of the Mausoleum, built by skilled architects in 1953, there is Ataturk’s sarcophagus, around which, as if preserving the eternal memory of the achievements of the national hero, stones from all over the state are collected. Everyone can immerse themselves in the life of this great man by visiting the Attaturk Museum and seeing the collection of his personal belongings, the library and the cars of the first president of Turkey.
The spirit of the father of the Turkish people is present throughout the city, and the sights of Ankara associated with his name can be found in almost any quarter of the capital: a monument to Mustafa Kemal was erected on Ulus Square in 1928. Not far from the square, within the walls of the former Mejlis building, the Museum of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was founded. 
When in Ankara, you can’t help but visit old fortress, surrounded by a dense ring of stone walls representing different eras of the city's history. These walls have even more ancient history, since the stones for them were taken from the ruins of more ancient structures on the territory of Ankara.
The peoples living on the territory of modern Ankara differed in religion, lifestyle, cultural values and traditions. But Armenians, Muslims, and other peoples were united by one misfortune - endless attacks from enemies, so the inhabitants were forced to tirelessly build defensive citadels to defend themselves from the enemy.
Many fragments of these structures have been preserved and today represent a significant architectural and historical heritage: here you can find a cascade of pointed towers installed on the inner ring of defensive walls, and winding narrow alleys that have preserved the spirit of that era. In the very center of the fortress is the Ottoman Tower, the oldest religious monuments of Ankara amaze tourists - the Aladdin Mosque, the oldest Hacibayram Mosque in the city, the Temple of Augustine and Roma, which has preserved the imprint of Roman culture, the extraordinary beauty of the Arslanhane Mosque and many others. Diversity historical museums, demonstrating elements of the cultures of various nations, will satisfy the curiosity of not only tourists, but also people seriously interested in history.
In addition to educational excursions, in Ankara you can have fun by organizing an exciting shopping tour along the central Salman Street, which is otherwise called “Copper Alley”. Here, skilled artisans will offer tourists copper products for every taste and color, and you definitely won’t be able to return home without unusual souvenirs and useful purchases. 
Today, Ankara rightfully bears the title of the capital of the country “star and crescent”, because it is a multimillion-dollar administrative and political center of the state. Ministries, government institutions, including the presidential mansion and residential areas of Ankara are adjacent to industrial enterprises in various fields. In Ankara, such sectors of the economy as mechanical engineering, leather, cement, food and wood processing industries have developed. The world-famous Angora wool and Turkish carpets are produced here, and delicious juicy fruits are grown under the scorching eastern sun.
Having visited the capital of Turkey, you will never be able to forget the smell of the city, saturated with aromatic spices and the majestic spirit of history, and the variety of cultural attractions and interweaving of eras will not leave the most demanding tourist indifferent.
Tour operators who organize group cultural and historical tours consider Ankara as a “place for a passing overnight stop”, and then go on to explore other attractions of the country. For example, Bus tours which start from Istanbul and include visits to attractions inland (tours to Cappadocia or throughout Turkey), usually include a one-day visit to Ankara. For independent travelers, Ankara is also not the most popular destination, but in order to see the richness of the history and culture of Anatolia and Turkey, you must definitely visit the capital Ankara.
History of Ankara
It is difficult to determine the exact date of the founding of Ankara, but it is assumed that back in the Hetto period (1800 - 1180 BC) the city already existed under the name “Ankuvas”. The Phrygians who replaced the Hittites (in the 7th century BC) renamed the city “Ancyra”. Coming from Thrace, the Phrygians occupied Anatolia from the Sea of Marmara to the river. Today's Afyon, Ankara, Eskisehir and ancient Gordion were considered Phrygian cities. Ancient capital Phrygia – Gordion is 90 km away. west of Ankara, near the modern village of Yassihöyük. Gordion received its name from the Phrygian king Gordius, the founder of the city. The most famous story, associated with the city of Gordion, is a story about Gordian knot. The origins of the phraseological unit “Gordian Knot” go back to mythological times when Phrygia did not have a ruler.
Gordian knot - legend
“In those days, there lived a peasant named Gordios, who predicted that one day he would become king. Another prophecy said, however, that the king of Phrygia would be a man who would first enter the city on a team of oxen, tied to the team with such a knot that no one could untie. Both prophecies came true, and Gordios became king of Phrygia. His team was preserved in memory of these events.”
After Phrygians Ankara owned Lydians and Persians. Later, in 333 BC, the army of Alexander the Great passed by the city on its way to India. Many centuries later, when Alexander the Great stopped near Ankara V Gordione, was intrigued by the complex knot. Without further ado and without thinking for very long, I cut Gordian knot with a sword. It is assumed that turkish knot is famous Gordian knot.
In 25 BC. e. located at the intersection of the caravan routes of Ancyra ( Ankara), became administrative center Roman province of Galatia. Later she was owned Byzantines, conquered Arabs, crusaders And Seljuks. In the middle of the 14th century Ankara was conquered Ottoman Turks.
Ankara – Capital of the Republic of Turkey
The First World War (1914) effectively ended the Ottoman Empire. Türkiye entered the First world war on the side of Germany, and after the defeat, Türkiye was occupied by Entente troops. It was during these years (1918 – 1923) that Ankara became the center of the national liberation movement. After the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Kemal Atatürk moved the capital from Istanbul to Ankara. At that time Ankara was small town, whose population numbered only 60,000 people.
Sights of Ankara
Old part of the city Ankara called Ulus. All historical attractions are located in this part of the city. The modern city center is called Kızılay.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara
One of the main attractions Ankara is one of the richest museums in the world - Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. It houses a unique collection of exhibits from all over Anatolia (Asia Minor) and the world's largest collection of monuments Hittite culture. Along with this, the museum contains collections from the Paleolithic period, Neolithic stone products, Bronze Age products and monuments material culture, relating to all civilizations that lived in the territory Anatolia(Phrygians, Assyrians and Urartu). Virtual tour of the museum halls
Photos of museum exhibits
Solar disk - Bronze. III millennium BC
Ceremonial standard – III millennium BC
Anitkabir – Ataturk Mausoleum
One of the modern architectural monuments of Ankara is the mausoleum of the founder and first president of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The mausoleum is located in the new part of the city. Erected 15 years after death Ataturk in 1953, in honor of this legendary figure. The mausoleum consists of 3 parts. The first part is Lion's Way(262 meters) is lined with statues of sitting lions, 12 on each side. The Lion's Path leads to the second part of the mausoleum - Ceremonial area. And the third part is the main building of the mausoleum. The sarcophagus with the remains of Ataturk is kept inside the mausoleum. In the room with the sarcophagus there are vases filled with earth brought from all provinces Turkey. Near the mausoleum there is a museum where the personal belongings of Mustafa Kemal are displayed. The museum is worth visiting for its amazing historical panoramas of the War of Independence, accompanied by thematic music.
Photo of Anitkabir in Ankara
Ethnographic Museum in Ankara founded in 1925 and is considered the first museum opened after the proclamation of the republic. This museum contains collections of items related mainly to Seljuk And Ottoman period. These are objects of everyday life and everyday life of the Turks, which clearly demonstrate folk traditions and the specifics of various crafts.
War of Independence Museum in Ankara
The museum is located on the square Ulus. The museum displays the history of the events of the War of Independence and the exhibits here are mainly photographs and documents. The museum highlights the events of the 20s of the 20th century, when an independent modern state was created on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire that collapsed during the First World War. The first parliament was located in this building Turkish Republic.
Hacı Bayram Mosque in Ankara
Hadji Bayram- the oldest in Ankara- dates back more than six centuries. Built in the mid-15th century, it is still in use. The mosque houses the tomb of Haji Bayram, the head of the monastic order in the fifteenth century. The Temple of Augustine and Roma is connected by a common wall with Hadji Bayram Mosque. It was built during the reign of Emperor Augustus.
Temple of Augustine and Rom in Ankara
Temple of Augustine and Roma, located in close proximity from the mosque Hadji Bayram, was erected in the 1st century BC during the reign of Emperor Augustus . It was during this period Ankara was declared the capital of the Roman province Galatia.
Roman Baths in Ankara
Login Roman bath located on Chankar Boulevard (Çankırı caddesi). Roman baths were erected in the 3rd century AD under the reign of Emperor Caracalla and dedicated to the god of medicine and healing. Bathhouse size 80 x 130 m.
Previously, completely different peoples lived in Turkey: Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Assyrians. Where did the Turks come from? Who are they?
Seljuks
According to official science, the first Turkic-speaking peoples appeared in Asia Minor in the sixth century. The Byzantine rulers settled the Bulgars here, the Arabs attracted Turkic-speaking Muslims from Central Asia here, and the Armenian kings settled the Avars to protect the outskirts. However, these tribes disappeared, dissolving into the local population.
The real ancestors of the Turks were the Seljuks - Turkic-speaking nomadic peoples who lived in Central Asia and Altai (the language of the Turks belongs to the Altai language family), who concentrated around the Oghuz tribe, whose rulers converted to Islam.
These were Turkmens, Kynyks, Avshars, Kays, Karamans and other peoples. First, the Seljuks strengthened themselves in Central Asia and conquered Khorezm and Iran. In 1055 they captured the capital of the Caliphate, Baghdad, and moved west. Farmers from Iran and Arab Iraq joined their ranks.
The Seljuk Empire grew, they invaded Central Asia, conquered Armenia and Georgia, occupied Syria and Palestine, significantly displacing Byzantium. In the middle of the 13th century, the empire, unable to survive the Mongol invasion, collapsed. In 1227, the Kayi tribe moved into Seljuk territory, ruled by Ertorgrul, whose son Osman became the founder of the Turkish state, which was later called the Ottoman Empire.
Mixture
The invasion of the Mongols caused a new flow of settlers, and in the 13th century tribes from Khorezm came to Asia Minor. And today the ancient Khorzum tribe roams throughout Turkey.
From the 12th century, the Turks began to settle down, mixing with indigenous peoples, which marked the beginning of the Islamization and Turkization of the population. At the same time, Pechenegs, Romanians and Eastern Slavs migrated from the northwest to Asia Minor.
The Turkish people were formed by the end of the century. Already in 1327 official language in some areas of Turkey it was Turkic rather than Persian. Modern Turkish science believes that the population of Turkey consists of 70% descendants of the Seljuk Turks and 30% of the indigenous population.
Another version
Russian science thought differently. The Efron and Brockhaus encyclopedia indicated that the ancestors of the Turks were “Ural-Altai tribes,” but due to the mass of settlers of other nationalities, they have long lost their authenticity, and now the Turks are the descendants of Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians and Armenians.
It turned out that such confidence is based on the history of the warlike Ottomans. First they conquered the territories of Byzantium, then the Balkans, Greece, and Egypt. And captives and slaves were taken out from everywhere.
The conquered peoples paid with slaves; children and wives were taken from the Slavs for debts. Turks married Armenians, Slavs, and Greeks. And the children inherited the traits of these peoples.
There was another process that led to the “Turkification” of the Greeks and other peoples who were previously under the protection of Byzantium. After Constantinople was barbarously sacked by the Crusaders in 1204, the Greeks no longer considered the Latins allies.
Many chose to remain “under the Ottomans” and pay the jizya, a tax for infidels, rather than leaving for Europe. Just at this time, Islamic preachers appeared, preaching that there were not many differences between religions and persuading the Byzantines to convert to Islam.
Genetics
Genetic studies confirm that Turks are heterogeneous. Almost a quarter of Anatolian Turks can be classified as autochthonous peoples, a quarter can be classified as Caucasian tribes, 11% have a Phoenician gallogroup (these are descendants of the Greeks), 4% of the population have East Slavic roots.
Anthropologists believe that the average Turk is a representative of the Caucasian race, but the Seljuk Turks were not Caucasians. Central Asia is still inhabited by monogoloid peoples.
What do the Turks think?
The Turkish ethnographer Mahturk became interested in this question. He went to Central Asia and Altai to find there nationalities related to the Turks, to find common legends, identical elements in patterns and clothing, and common rituals. He climbed into remote villages and remote camps, but found nothing.
Moreover, he was surprised that anthropologically the people in Central Asia were very different from the Turks. And then the professor had a theory that official history embellishes reality, and in the 12th century the Turkic tribes began their migration due to lack of food. They moved first to the southeast, and then to Iran and Asia Minor.
The ethnographer noted that there are still purebred Turks in Turkey; they have retained their Mongoloid appearance and live compactly in just a few regions of the country.
According to statistics, there are now 89 million Turks living in the world. 59 million of them live in Turkey, five in Syria and Iraq, and almost seven in Europe.
Germany has the largest number of Turks - four million, Bulgaria has 800,000 Turks, and Britain has half a million. A million Turks live in the Netherlands and Austria. In Belgium - 200,000 Turks, in Greece - 120,000, in Switzerland - 100,000, in Macedonia - 78,000, in Denmark - 60,000, in Romania - up to 80,000, in Italy - 21,000. There are 500,000 Turks in the USA . Only 105,058 Turks live in Russia.
In my opinion, many people consider it the capital of Turkey, but this is far from the case. Simply - this is one of the most major cities Turkey, where infrastructure and industry are well developed, this city is considered the cultural center of Turkey. And in terms of population, it ranks first in the country. And already - capital of Turkey, takes second place. Well, historically it so happened that Ankara became the capital of Turkey, it was moved to this city. By delving into more detail when answering this question, you can find the truth, you just need to know a few historical facts. Let's look at them.
Facts from history
Once upon a time, when the Byzantine Empire still existed, the capital of present-day Turkey was Constantinople, but during the fall of this empire, a new Ottoman Empire was founded. Everything changed: laws, charters, even cities were renamed. So Constantinople was renamed capital of the Ottoman Empire - Istanbul, one of the largest cities with its own port. Later, namely in the 20s of the twentieth century, when the Ottoman Empire fell, Mustafa Kemal proclaimed the creation of a new Turkish Republic, the capital of which was the city. To this day it is the capital of Turkey, and simply one of the largest resort and tourist cities of this country.
This is precisely the reason why Istanbul did not become the capital of Turkey. But this does not prevent him from continuing to develop dynamically. The city today thrives due to tourists and a well-developed resort business.