According to abbreviationfinder, Ankara is 848 m above sea level on the eastern edge of a basin in the northern Central Anatolian highlands at the transition to the Pontic Mountains. Remnants of the Ottoman old town surround a steep andesite cone with the citadel. To the south is the younger district of Yenişehir (»New Town«, 1935−40) with wide boulevards, government districts and foreign embassies; further modern residential areas since 1940/50 in the south, west and east. In addition, simple housing estates (Gecekondusiedlung) were built immediately adjacent to the old town and in the peripheral areas (especially in the north and east)), partly with simple residential buildings of the population who moved from mostly rural regions of Anatolia, which are now partly replaced by more modern city districts. Around 60% of Ankara’s population now live in such districts. After 1980 the modern expansion with row houses and apartment blocks took place, mainly to the south towards Konya and west to the Mürted plain.

The pollution of the air with pollutants and toxins, which was a serious problem until a few years ago, has now been significantly alleviated by connecting it to the long-distance gas network. A six-line rapid transit metro network to solve the traffic problems has been partially implemented. Another problem is the water supply of the steadily growing city located in the semi-arid area. In just a few years, the dams in the area will probably no longer be sufficient, among other things. also because of the heavy sediment deposits in the reservoirs.

Attractions

From ancient Ankyra the following are preserved: Remains of the provincial temple dedicated to the goddess Roma and the emperor Augustus (25–20 BC, converted into a church in the 4th century, partially demolished in the 15th century), which bears an outer wall of the temple’s cella the Monumentum Ancyranum ; Thermal baths from the time of Caracalla (212–217 AD) with gymnasium; the 15 m high column of the emperor Julian, called the Apostate (4th century). The hill fortification with a double wall ring dates from the Byzantine period and was reinforced by a small citadel in the Ottoman period. The oldest mosque in the old town is the Alaeddin Camii (1178, later rebuilt several times), the largest medieval mosque in Ankara is the Arslanhane Camii (before 1290). As a result of urban planning competitions since 1928, new urban districts with a European character have been created around the old town area (plans were provided by the German architects H. Jansen , P. Bonatz , B. Taut and the Austrian C. Holzmeister). Ataturk’s mausoleum is located in the southwest of the city(1944-53). In 1986, the Kocatepe Camii mosque, which had a capacity of 24,000 people and was built in the New Ottoman style, was inaugurated. In October 2014, the 40,000 m ² presidential palace (architect Ş. Birkiye) was opened.

Turkish music

Turkish music, term for the art music of the Ottomans, which was founded as courtly on the stylistic principles of the Transoxan-Persian court music.

Transmitted by the school of Abdülkadir Meraği (Arabic Abd al-Kadir al-Maraghi, * around 1350, † 1435), who himself had worked under Timur and his sons in Samarkand and Herat. Their largely “compositional” style with melody models (makam; Arabic maqam), which are usually based on seven-step practical guides with whole and semitone steps of different sizes and complex rhythmic patterns (usul), was further developed in Constantinople and led to increasingly complex forms up to the 19th century. Multi-part »concerts« (fasıl) with vocal movements (best, şarkı, semai) and these framing instrumental pieces (taksim, peşrev, saz semaisi) were performed by chamber music on instruments (some of which are no longer in use today) such as lute (ud), dulcimer (Santur), zither (Kanun), long-necked lute (Tanbur), string instruments (Rebab; kemençe, Arabic Kamangah) and reed flute (Ney, Arabic Naj) played, accompanied by timpani (kudüm) and other rhythm instruments and led by the »senior singer« (ser-hânende) of the ensemble. The name of the composer Buhurîzade Mustafa Itrî (* 1640, † 1712) stands for one of the high points of Ottoman music history, followed by the musically productive »tulip time« (lâle devri) under Ahmed III. (1703-30). As a composer and patron, Selim III. (1789–1807) and promoted, inter alia. the most famous musician after Itrî, Hamâmîzâde İsmail Dede (* 1778, † 1846). European stimuli made themselves felt in the instruments (violin) and playing manners since the »tulip time«, in the development of our own musical notation and probably also in our interest in our own musical history, which is much more pronounced than in neighboring Islamic countries. In the 19th century, European music (military and piano music, opera ) was cultivated at court and in the Constantinople bourgeoisie on an equal footing with local music (Zekâi Dede, * 1825, † 1897), supported on both sides by musically “bilingual” Greek and Armenian music and Jewish musicians. In addition, the Sultan’s court appointed G. Donizetti as music director in 1828, and M. Kemal Ataturk commissioned P. Hindemith to organize musical life. Today, epigonal traditional music creation is accompanied by a western-oriented music cultivation (from school lessons on), also in modern compositions (Ahmed Adnan Saygun, * 1907, † 1991), and v. a. Light music opposite.

The local military music, originally of Central Asian origin, was played under the Ottomans with oboes, drums, bells and other wind and percussion instruments in up to 300 members and was imitated as Janissary music in Europe during the Turkish fashion of the 18th century. After the abolition of the Janissary Corps (1826), traditional military bands were founded several times, most recently in 1952.

Rural music and folk dance reflect the ethnic stratification of Turkey and its historical development with great diversity in form, representation and instruments. As a rule, the narrow melos of art music are contrasted with diatonic (sometimes pentatonic) melodies, as well as song texts that are correspondingly simpler in language and meter. In addition to folk songs with fixed metrics (turku, mani), metrically free “long songs” (uzun hava), often sung in descending seventh ranges, reveal Central Asian kinship, as well as playing the big drum (dawul) and oboe (zurna), with which folk dances are accompanied. The semi-professional folk singers (âşık) who accompany themselves on the long-necked lute (Bağlama), Aşik Veysel Şatiroğlu, * 1894, † 1973).