Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo

Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo (Turkish: Atatürk Orman Çiftliği ve Hayvanat Bahçesi, in short AOÇ) is an expansive recreational farming area, which houses a zoo, several small agricultural farms, greenhouses, restaurants, a dairy farm and a brewery in Ankara, Turkey. The farm and the zoo are under the administration of the Ministry of Agriculture and Village Affairs.

Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo
Forest Farm (1925-1938)
Gazi Forest Farm (1938-1950)[1]
TypeForest farm, zoo
LocationAnkara, Turkey
Coordinates39.94015°N 32.79582°E / 39.94015; 32.79582
Created1925 (Forest farm)
1933 (Zoo)[2]
Websitewww.aoc.gov.tr

Forest farm
Gazi Forest Farm in 1939

The Forest Farm was established in 1925 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, as a private farm. After 1926, management of the farm was offered to Spiritual Christians from Russia living in north Kars Province noted for animal breeding (Malakan horse, Malakan cow), who refused repatriation to Soviet Union, and declined to move to Ankara, because the most zealous believed they must live close to Mt. Ararat for the Second Coming of Christ. In 1937, Atatürk donated the farm to the Turkish state. At the farm is an exact replica of the house, where Atatürk was born in 1881 in Selânik, Ottoman Empire.[3]

Visitors to the farm can sample the products of the farm such as old-fashioned beer, fresh dairy products, ice cream, and meat rolls and kebabs made on charcoal, at a traditional restaurant (Merkez Lokantası, Central Restaurant) and other areas of catering around the farm.[3]

Zoo

The Ankara Zoo (Turkish: Ankara Hayvanat Bahçesi) is a 32-hectare (79-acre) zoological garden founded in 1933 (39.9459699°N 32.791099°E / 39.9459699; 32.791099).[4] It houses some big cats, various birds, monkeys, apes, ungulates, snakes, and an aquarium.[5] The zoo also breeds and sells Angora cats.[6][7]

Recent controversies and disputes

The current Presidential Complex of Turkey has been constructed on the part of the territory of the forest farm and this issue has involved substantial legal and political disputes in Turkey.[8] According to the most recent reports, Turkey's Public Housing Development Administration (TOKI) is planning to sell farm land of the farm in an auction.[9]

gollark: I think what you need is an "encrypted chat program".
gollark: I was talking Opus; I guess MBS somewhat counts but it isn't branded as an OS.
gollark: So very many new people make "OS"es. There is about *one* useful one?
gollark: Please cease "OS" production.
gollark: Please don't.

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2018-03-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "History". ankarazoo.gov.tr (in Turkish). Ankara Hayvanat Bahçesi. Archived from the original on 2009-05-16. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  3. "Atatürk Orman Çiftliği" (in Turkish). AOÇ. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  4. "Status". ankarazoo.gov.tr (in Turkish). Ankara Hayvanat Bahçesi. Archived from the original on 2009-05-17. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  5. "Ankara Zoo". ankarazoo.gov.tr (in Turkish). Ankara Hayvanat Bahçesi. Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  6. "Ataturk Forest Farm Zoo". ankarazoo.gov.tr. Ankara Zoo. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  7. Loeschke, S. (November 1997). "Turkish Angoras in Ankara Zoo... or on the road investigating the Turkish Angora". erkr.de. S. Loeschke. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  8. "Court decision to halt construction of Prime Ministry in Atatürk Forest Farm - Turkey News". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  9. "Turkey's housing authority to sell lands belonging to Ankara's Atatürk Forest Farm". Ahval. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
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