Current Time in Batikent, Turkey

Batikent, written in Turkish as Batıkent, lies in the western part of Ankara, the capital of Turkey, within the district of Yenimahalle. Its name means simply western city, a straightforward description of its position about fifteen kilometres from the historic centre. Like the rest of the capital it stands on the high Anatolian plateau at around nine hundred metres, in open steppe country of low rolling hills, and it shares Ankara's continental climate of hot dry summers, cold snowy winters and a brief green spring.

Some three hundred thousand people live in the area, making it one of the largest residential districts of the capital. Its importance lies less in monuments than in what it represents, for Batikent is one of the most ambitious housing projects ever undertaken in Turkey and a widely studied example of cooperative urban development.

Until the late 1970s this was empty land on the edge of a city struggling with rapid growth. Ankara had expanded enormously since being chosen as capital of the new republic in 1923, and much of that growth had taken the form of gecekondu, informal houses built overnight on unclaimed land. In response, the municipality and a union of housing cooperatives launched a plan in 1979 to build an entire new district of affordable homes for working families, with land supplied publicly and construction organised through hundreds of cooperatives. Over the following decades tens of thousands of apartments were completed, together with schools, health centres, parks, mosques and shopping streets, and the project attracted international attention as an alternative to both slum growth and speculative development.

The result is a district of mid rise apartment blocks arranged around generous green spaces, tree lined avenues and pedestrian areas, with a strong sense of neighbourhood. Weekly street markets fill several avenues with produce from the Anatolian countryside, small parks and sports grounds are busy in the evenings, and the surrounding hills offer walking and views across the plateau. Cafes, patisseries and kebab houses along the main streets provide everyday social life, and the district has become known for its relaxed, family oriented atmosphere.

Batikent's transformation was completed by transport. In 1997 the first line of the Ankara metro opened, running from the central square of Kızılay out to a terminus here, and a further line has since extended westward toward the newer suburbs, making the district one of the best connected parts of the capital. Buses and minibuses fill in the gaps, and the ring road provides quick access by car.

Everything Ankara offers lies within easy reach, including the mausoleum of Atatürk, the outstanding Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, the ancient citadel and the Roman temple, while the surrounding province holds thermal springs, lakes and Hittite archaeological sites. Several universities are located nearby, and students form part of the local population.

Batikent is significant as a successful experiment in planned, affordable housing and as a comfortable modern quarter of the Turkish capital.