Etimesgut Stadium

Etimesgut or Etimesut, formerly Ahimesut, is a metropolitan district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, mainly consisting of large public housing projects, 25 km (16 mi) from Ankara city centre. According to 2010 census, the population of Etimesgut is 386,879. The district covers an area of 49 km2 (19 sq mi), and the average elevation is 807 m (2,648 ft).

History

Archaeological research shows habitation since 2000 BC, including a Phrygian settlement in the 8th century BC. Then of course the district began to share the history of the city of Ankara with its Lydians, Persians, Galatians, Ancient Romans, Byzantines and finally Turks. Etimesgut is on the ancient Silk Road to the orient, and still today the road and railway from Ankara to Istanbul pass through the district.

Ataturk was fond of the area and would come here to ride horses and chat to the locals. He had a room in the building that is the public health laboratory today, and many other public buildings, including the hospital and the post office, that were built by his order still stand today.

Etimesgut began as a housing project of 50 homes ordered by Ataturk in 1924 to accommodate Turkish refugees from Bulgaria. From the 1950s, as poverty forced people to migrate from the countryside into the city much illegal housing gecekondu was thrown up in this district. Some of this has been replaced by public housing projects such as Elvankent, Eryaman and Guzelkent and also military and civil service accommodation. However much gecekondu remains, inhabited by working-class people from cities such as Erzurum, many of whom commute to jobs in the city of Ankara. The Islamic terrorist organisation Hizbullah had a number of hidden cells here in the 1990s.