Polatlı

Polatlı (formerly Ancient Greek: Γόρδιον, Górdion and Latin: Gordium) is a municipality and district of Ankara Province, Turkey. Its area is 3,618 km2, and its population is 128,378 (2022). It is 80 km west of the Turkish capital Ankara, on the road to Eskişehir. Its elevation is 853 m.
Geography
Polatlı is situated at the heart of the high Anatolian Plateau, a large steppe covered with grass. Far from the coast, it has a typical steppe climate. The winters are cold and generally snowy, the summers are hot and dry. Spring and autumn are the wettest seasons (especially the former). Polatlı is one of the most productive agricultural districts in Turkey and is best known for its cereal production, especially barley and wheat. Polatlı is one of Turkey's largest grain stores. Sugar beet, melon and onion are also grown.
History
Ancient settlement
The ancient Phrygian capital Gordion is 10 km from the city of Polatlı.
On the outskirts of Polatli there is an archaeological mound of the same name, the remains of a multi-layered settlement of the Bronze Age (3rd-2nd millennium BC). Since the mound was being used by local people as a quarry, rescue excavations of its southern and central parts were carried out in 1949 by the Anglo-Turkish expedition led by Seton Lloyd, and Nuri Gökçe, then the director of the ‘Hittite Museum in Ankara’.
Classical antiquity
On his expedition to the east, Alexander the Great cut the famous Gordian Knot, an omen of his coming rule over the whole Asia. Pessinus, an ancient city on the upper river Sangarios (modern day Sakarya River), is also within the borders of Polatlı. The mythological Phrygian King Midas is said to have ruled from Pessinus and to be buried here.
Polatlı also occupied an important place in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 as the Battle of Sakarya (August 23-September 13, 1921) was fought here, the utmost eastern point reached by the advancing Greek Army in Anatolia. There are two memorial burial grounds of those lost in the battle. There is also a monument named Mehmetçik Monument about the battle just west of Polatlı.
Hacıtuğrul mound
Since the 1970s, excavations by Turkish archaeologists have been carried out near the modern town and train station of Yenidoğan, Polatlı, 15 km northeast of Polatli and 20 km from Gordion. This site, near Hacıtuğrul, is now known as :tr:Hacıtuğrul Höyüğü. The remains of monumental fortifications and other buildings of the city from Phrygian times, which exceeded Gordion in size, were found here. Five burial mounds were found in the vicinity.
Composition
There are 95 neighbourhoods in Polatlı District:
Adatoprakpınar
Avdanlı
Avşar
Babayakup
Basrı
Beşköprü
Beyceğiz
Beylikköprü
Çamlıca
Çanakçı
Çekirdeksiz
Çimenceğiz
Cumhuriyet
Esentepe
Eskikarsak
Eskiköseler
Eskipolatlı
Fatih
Gazi
Gedikli
Gençali
Gülpınar
Gülveren
Gümüşyaka
Gündoğan
Güreş
Hacımusa
Hacımuslu
Hacıosmanoğlu
Hacıtuğrul
Hıdırşeyh
İğciler
Ilıca
İnler
İstiklal
Kabakköy
Karaahmet
Karabenli
Karacaahmet
Karahamzalı
Karailyas
Karakaya
Karakuyu
Karapınar
Karayavşan
Kargalı
Kayabaşı
Kıranharmanı
Kızılcakışla
Kocahacılı
Kurtuluş
Kuşcu
Macun
Mehmetakif
Müslüm
Oğuzlar
Olukpınar
Ömerler
Ördekgölü
Özyurt
Poyraz
Sabanca
Şabanözü
Sakarya
Sarıhalil
Sarıoba
Sazlar
Şehitlik
Şentepe
Şeyhali
Şıhahmetli
Sinanlı
Sincik
Sivri
Taşpınar
Tatlıkuyu
Toydemir
Tüfekçioğlu
Türkkarsak
Türktaciri
Üçpınar
Uzunbey
Yağcıoğlu
Yağmurbaba
Yaralı
Yassıhüyük
Yeni
Yenice
Yenidoğan
Yeniköseler
Yenimehmetli
Yeşilöz
Yıldızlı
Yüzükbaşı
Zafer
Polatlı today
Today, Polatlı is an important district of Ankara on the main road which connects the capital to the west of Turkey. The city has a good range of restaurants, bars, schools and other important amenities but still a quiet rural feel to it, and little social life except cafes, patisseries and window shopping on a Sunday afternoon. There are car repair workshops but otherwise little industry. Polatlı is trying to become an independent province from Ankara and "we want to be a city" graffiti can be seen in the town.
There is a military base here and the Turkish Army Artillery School was established in Polatlı in the early 1940s and is still an important institution in the town.
Polatlıspor is a minor league football club that once climbed into the second league.
There is a large statue of a kangaroo on the main road into city.
Longwave transmitter
Near Polatli, there is a longwave broadcasting transmitter, which works on 180 kHz with a transmitter output power of 1200 kW. It uses as antenna a single 250 metres tall mast situated at 39°45'22"N 32°25'5"E. The station is known as "Polatlı Vericisi."
References
External links
District governor's official website
District municipality's official website
Everyday images of Polatlı
Populated places in Ankara Province
Cities in Turkey
Districts of Ankara Province
Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey