In the early period of the Republic of Turkey, sports clubs played a critical role in the promotion of sports in the public sphere, particularly less widespread sports, and the transformation of sporting activities into recreational leisure activities. This was all done in line with the physical training policies of the state. During this period, Ankara sports clubs introduced different qualities to modern leisure activities within new ‘locales’, and so played an active role in the transformation of urban space. They did this through the use of recreational leisure activities to emphasise a sense of belonging, entertainment, and recreation amongst the citizens. This study considers the sporting events, as well as the locales where they took place, that were organized by sport clubs in Ankara, the new capital. The period considered begins in 1922, when the institutionalization of sports began with the formation of The Turkish Alliance of Associations Promoting Exercise, until 1946 when the sporting activities were more comprehensively organised. Analysis of the transformation of sports activities into recreational leisure activities, as well as the role of sports clubs in redefining daily life and urban space, considers a variety, in terms of scales and qualities, of activities and locales. The Ankara daily newspaper Hakimiyet-i Milliye [which was renamed Ulus in 1934), was the main primary source used in this study, although certain weekly magazines, such as Resimli Uyanış, (Servet-i Fünun) and Gol Spor, were used to obtain further information and analysis of events and locations.

This article examines public performances of official national day celebrations in Ankara during the early period of the Republic. As studying only one actor within a single conceptual framework of national day celebrations would be insufficient to depict the complex nature of social practices, this study argues that national day celebrations inherently incorporate simultaneously and reciprocally performed layers within the public sphere. This study considers the celebration spaces, which are the physical theater of events, as being a part of a network of material and spiritual tools that are utilized to improve the celebration performance and increase the enjoyment of the audience, while also considering the socio-spatial codes that control the masses and the celebration of mise-en-scene. This article uses three intertwined themes: the mobilization of the masses; the promotion of technological development and technical exhibition; and the circulation of the founding images and narratives, to introduce and discuss public performance in Ankara. The study concludes by suggesting that the interaction of these themes with each other explains the consent culture, nation-building strategies, and performative forms of publicity, that occurred during national day performances of the early period of the Republic of Turkey.

The term ‘urban diplomacy’ is used to describe the various activities performed that pertain to international relations between cities. The aim of this study is to evaluate the urban diplomacy of the city of Ankara in the context of bilateral cooperation. Qualitative research is used to determine the nature of measures related to bilateral cooperation and obtain relevant quantitative data. The department archives of the Department of Foreign Relations and the Directorate of Foreign Relations of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality were used for research purposes during March 8-9, 2022. The study concludes that diplomatic bilateral cooperation within the city of Ankara was conducted according to the parameters of Turkish foreign diplomacy and in harmony with national diplomacy. It was also concluded that the relationship between urban politics and bilateral cooperation was influenced by the same political party controlling both central and local governments. In terms of the relationship with urban policies, activities related to bilateral cooperation are determined as a means of promoting the city, rather than providing urban services for Ankara.

In order to properly protect and restore cultural assets, it is important to correctly identify the natural materials used in historical buildings and determine the origin of these materials and the quarries they were taken from. This study therefore examines the rampart building stones of Ankara Castle, which is one of the most important historical buildings in the city, and determines the locations of the quarries used in its construction. In the study, samples were taken from the castle, rampart walls and the rocks in the castle’s foundation. The samples were then compared mineralogically, petrographically and geochemically with other samples taken from quarries where the stones may possibly have originated from. Ankara Castle, which is located in the Altındağ district of Ankara, is comprised of an inner and an outer castle. The castle was basically built on vertically articulated andesite rock and has the same composition as the rampart stones. Brick and limestone were also used in certain parts of the rampart walls. The rampart stones are mainly composed of pink porphyroafanitic textured andesites, but also contain locally crystallized and biosparitic limestone. Andesites are seen to have a hyaloplitic porphyritic texture when examined under the microscope, and consist mainly of plagioclase, amphibole, biotite, pyroxene, ± quartz and opaque minerals. Quartz and plagioclase crystals are embayed and the plagioclase was also zoned. Kaolinization, chloritization and opacification type alterations were detected in the andesites. These rocks, which are composed of quartz andesite, contain high levels of K-calcalkaline. In order to determine the origins of the rocks used in the construction of the rampart walls, andesite samples were compared with other samples taken from different locations around the castle and Ankara. It was determined that the rampart andesite samples most resemble those taken from seven old quarries on Yenidogan Hill.

The first examples of utopian designs in Turkish literature were produced in the 19th century, which was a period of both modernization and innovation. In the 20th century, following the proclamation of the Republic, issues were raised relating to the establishment of a new state and social order, contemporization, modernization, and the development of the individual and society. Discussions lead to idealistic notions of what the basis of this new culture would be, particularly in terms of the urban environment and use of space. The new capital, Ankara, became the stage for idealized designs that reflect notions of technology and modernization. Such notions were fed by works of literature which contained utopistic or critical works that responded to the new political and social order, while also discussing the positive and negative aspects of such an order. The aim of this article is to determine how the physical and ideational transformation of Ankara, in the process of becoming the capital city, was reflected in the fields of architecture and literature. Two different texts, Hülya Bu Ya… and Ankara, both of which provide contrasting future imaginings of Ankara, are used in the study to examine, in terms of architecture, technology, and modernization, how the contemporary version of the capital relates to conceptions of its rennovation. This examination is performed through analysis of the social, technological, urban and spatial transformations that occurred in Ankara during the implementation of the modernizing and progressive ideals of the new regime.

The Americans who came to Turkey, particularly during the 1950, as part of efforts to develop Turkish-American relations during the Cold War period, led to an increase in mutual cultural exchange and understanding between the two countries. One of these Americans was Elizabeth McNeill Leicester, who wrote a book entitled ‘Memories of 1950 in Ankara, Turkey’ during the time she spent in Ankara on an official mission during this period when the cultural influence of America was felt most keenly. Another example of written memoirs is ‘Assignment in Ankara’, which was written by Lucile Saunders McDonald and Zola Helen Ross. These books, which represent the written observations of the two women, contain profound insights into the social and cultural life of Ankara in the 1950s, and thus represent important first-hand historical sources. This study uses the books of Elizabeth McNeill Leicester and Lucile Saunders McDonald to help reveal the socio-cultural structure of Ankara in the 1950s while analyzing the authors’ perspectives on Turkish women in Ankara and discussing the activities of Americans in Turkey. The insights provided in the books demonstrate that traditional structures were strongly maintained in Ankara, especially for women, despite the modernization of the 1950s.

The Swiss anthropologist, Prof. Dr. Eugène Pittard was well-known and respected by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the President of the Republic of Turkey. In addition to being Afet İnan’s doctoral teacher from the University of Geneva, Prof. Dr. Pittard was also an honorary member of the Turkish Historical Society, the honorary president of the Second Turkish History Congress, and, in 1938, a faculty member at the Ankara Faculty of Languages, History and Geography. While Pittard was not able to visit Turkey again after this date and was thus unable to attend the Third Turkish History Congress in 1943, Prof. Dr. Pittard’s interest in Turkey continued after he had returned to Switzerland. In 1945, as a direct result of initiatives by himself and his wife, Hélène Pittard, the Swiss Turkish Friendship Association was established with the aim of helping to develop cultural and economic relations between Turkey and Switzerland. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Şükrü Saraçoğlu, was appointed as the Association’s honorary president. The Pittard couple participated in congresses, presented conferences on various subjects, and published works that introduced the Republic of Turkey to a wider audience during their visits to Turkey in 1928, 1937 and 1938. In 1973, which was also the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, the Swiss-Turkey Friendship Association was founded with the aim of helping to readdress the cultural relations between the two countries. It is notable that this new Association had a similar name to the one founded in 1945. This study tells and discusses the story of the friendship which was born in Ankara, and which forms the basis and foundations of current relations between Turkey and Switzerland.