Çankaya, Ankara Province, West Anatolia Region, Türkiye

🇹🇷 Çankaya is a district of Ankara, Turkey. It is home to many government buildings, including the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, as well as nearly all foreign embassies to Turkey. Çankaya is a cosmopolitan district and considered the cultural and financial centre of Ankara.

History Until the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Çankaya was a hillside of orchards and gardens to the south of the city, which had grown up in time, surrounding the Ankara Castle (Kale) on the opposite hill. Everything changed in the 1920s when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk came to stay in one of the garden houses. Atatürk selected Ankara as capital of the new republic and in the 1920s and 30s the city quickly grew, especially in the direction of Çankaya. In 1934 the writer Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu described the area as "a wooden bridge, a dirt road, and when you come round the hill you see a hillside, green in gentle contours. That's Çankaya". Çankaya eventually developed into one of the largest central districts of Ankara in later years.

Culture The early buildings of the republic were in grand Ottoman style, but today Çankaya also contains a number of impressive modern buildings. The district is home to a great number of museums, theatres, cinemas, cultural associations, booksellers, publishers and libraries, including the National Library in a new building. Many of the streets in the district are named after poets, writers and thinkers.

Most of Ankara's best-known high schools and a great number of university buildings are in the district, including the large campuses of METU, Bilkent University and (most of) Hacettepe University. Çankaya University, a private institution owned by businessman Sıtkı Alp, was opened in a number of former school buildings in 1997.

Neighbourhoods There are 124 neighbourhoods in Çankaya as of 2017. • 100.Yıl • 50.Yıl • Ahlatlıbel • Ahmet Taner Kışlalı • Akarlar • Akpınar • Alacaatlı • Anıttepe • Aşağı Dikmen • Aşağı İmrahor • Aşağı Öveçler • Aşağı Topraklık • Aşıkpaşa • Ata • Aydınlar • Ayrancı • Aziziye • Bademlidere • Bağcılar • Bahçelievler • Balgat • Barbaros • Bayraktar • Beytepe • Birlik • Boztepe • Büyükesat • Cebeci • Cevizlidere • Cumhuriyet • Çamlıtepe • Çankaya • Çavuşlu • Çayyolu • Çiğdem • Çukurambar • Devlet • Dilekler • Dodurga • Doğuş • Ehlibeyt • Emek • Ertuğrulgazi • Erzurum • Esatoğlu • Eti • Evciler • Fakülteler • Fidanlık • Gaziosmanpaşa • Gökkuşağı • Göktürk • Güvenevler • Güzeltepe • Harbiye • Hilal • Huzur • İleri • İlkadım • İlkbahar • İlker • İncesu • İşçi Blokları • Karahasanlı • Karapınar • Karataş • Kavaklıdere • Kazım Özalp • Keklikpınarı • Kırkkonaklar • Kızılay • Kızılırmak • Kocatepe • Konutkent • Korkutreis • Koru • Kömürcü • Küçükesat • Kültür • Malazgirt • Maltepe • Mebusevleri • Meşrutiyet • Metin Akkuş • Metin Oktay • Mimar Sinan • Muhsin Ertuğrul • Murat • Mustafa Kemal • Mutlukent • Mürsel Uluç • Naci Çakır • Namık Kemal • Nasuh Akar • Oğuzlar • Oran • Orta İmrahor • Osman Temiz • Ön Cebeci • Öveçler • Remzi Oğuz Arık • Sağlık • Sancak • Seyranbağları • Sokullu Mehmet Paşa • Söğütözü • Şehit Cengiz Karaca • Şehit Cevdet Özdemir • Tınaztepe • Tohumlar • Topraklık • Umut • Ümit • Üniversiteler • Yakupabdal • Yaşamkent • Yayla • Yeşilkent • Yıldızevler • Yukarı Bahçelievler • Yukarı Dikmen • Yukarı Öveçler • Yücetepe • Zafertepe.

Places of interest • The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations • Anıtkabir the mausoleum of Atatürk • Ankara Ethnography Museum • Atakule Tower • Çankaya Köşkü - the former residence of the President of Turkey • Pembe Köşk - the residence of Turkish President İsmet İnönü from 1925 to 1973 • THF Sport Hall.