Thread by @kenancruz

#Ankara is too often portrayed as a model Turkish city, bereft of the cosmopolitan legacies of cities such as Istanbul and Izmir. I wrote about the little known non-Muslim history of Ankara in my first article for
@AjamMC #Thread
ajammc.com/2022/01/24/how…

"Modern-day understandings of Ankara’s history, influenced and shaped by the discourses of Turkish nationalism, seek to paint a picture of Ankara in the Ottoman era as a small, remote, ethnically, linguistically, and religiously homogeneous town."

"In the early decades of the Republic, as the new buildings, boulevards, parks, squares, and thoroughfares of modern Ankara were designed and constructed, the city’s non-Muslim cultural heritage was sidelined, and oftentimes destroyed."

"Visitors to Ankara and long-time residents alike are often unaware, for instance, that the iconic former presidential residence in the city, the Çankaya Köşkü (or Çankaya Mansion), was originally the home of an #Armenian jeweller and merchant by the name of Ohannes Kasabian"

"The last #Armenian religious site to survive in the city was the former chapel and cemetery belonging to the Armenian Catholic community. This religious complex was demolished in 1947, marking an end to centuries of Armenian ecclesiastical presence in Ankara."

"Today, the Roman Baths Museum is in many ways a cemetery of cemeteries, with tombstones belonging to figures such as an Armenian priest by the name of Bedros Kulahlian, and a Jewish rabbi named Shlomo Halevi (whose Hebrew-language tombstone was mistakenly propped upside-down)."

"During the Incident of the Twenty Classes, many #Jewish conscripts in Ankara were made to work on a military base in the centre of the city, paving roads and planting trees – ultimately creating Gençlik Parkı (Youth Park) one of the oldest urban parks in Ankara."

"Not too far away from the former Armenian neighbourhoods of Ankara lies the city’s old #djuderia, or Jewish quarter. A hundred years ago, when Yevgeny Lansere wrote of Spanish being spoken in Ankara, he was likely referring to the narrow, winding streets of the djuderia."

"The impressive #Ankara Synagogue was constructed in its current form in 1907. With its ornate Turkish-style rugs, and its wooden tevah located right at the building’s centre, it is an excellent example of a typical Ottoman-era Sephardic synagogue."

"The Ankara that exists today became the homogeneous capital of the Turkish republic as a result of a series of calculated policies in line with the nationalist ideals that dominated 20th century politics worldwide."

"As the city’s overall population continues to push past 5 million, with new neighbourhoods and highrises popping up throughout the metropolis, the diverse history and multi-religious heritage of Ankara can continue to act as a window into Ankara’s Ottoman past."