If İstanbul represents the imperial past of Turkey, Ankara represents its republican future. The Turkish capital is a city created from nothing but the histories of an old settlement called "Ancyra"; Atatürk chose it as a model city for its strategic location in the War of Independence and its distance from the old Ottoman values.

Ankara has seen Turkey grow past what once defined it, and is the locus of many of Turkey's glories and defeats. The beating heart of the Republic, it is the pride of its own citizens and those of the Turkish nation. Truly it is as the Ankara March puts it: 'Ankara, Ankara, beautiful Ankara; every unfortunate person wants to see you.'