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Was the former capital of Turkey ISTANBUL?

April 26, 2017Capital Europe Istanbul Travel Turkey

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Was the former capital of Turkey ISTANBUL?

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Istanbul used to be the capital of the Ottoman Empire which shouldn’t be mixed up with the Turkish Republic. Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, established the headquarters of his resistance movement in Ankara in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey was founded there on April 23, 1920. It’s quite clear that the place where the parliament of a country is, is also the capital of that country. In case of Turkey, one of the reasons why Istanbul wasn’t the seat of the parliament is that Istanbul was still occupied in 1920. One could think that an existing building in Ankara can’t be the only reason why Ankara became capital after the war. It could have been Istanbul after the independence. In my opinion, there are other reasons that Ankara became capital. First of all, the fact that the first session of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was held in Ankara has a highly symbolic character. A parliament symbolizes the will of the people.