Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo

Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo
Forest Farm (1925-1938)
Gazi Forest Farm (1938-1950)[1]
Type Forest farm, zoo
Location Ankara, Turkey
Coordinates 39°56′25″N 32°47′45″E / 39.94015°N 32.79582°E / 39.94015; 32.79582Coordinates: 39°56′25″N 32°47′45″E / 39.94015°N 32.79582°E / 39.94015; 32.79582
Created 1925 (Forest farm)
1933 (Zoo)[2]
Website www.aoc.gov.tr

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.

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°56′45″N 32°47′28″E / 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]

References

  1. ↑ http://ataturkormanciftligi.nedir.com/
  2. ↑ "History". ankarazoo.gov.tr (in Turkish). Ankara Hayvanat Bahçesi. Archived from the original on 2009-05-16. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  3. 1 2 "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. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
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