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Article: Byzantium was quieter. (Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- October 24, 1992
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NO HAREM girls ever made their trysts in the back alleys of Ankara. The city that Ataturk's planners created, as distinct from the shanty-towns that have crept up around it, has hardly any alleys, Istanbul, on the European shore of the Bosphorus, is heir to the mysteries of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. But Turkey's definatly modern capital was build on the Anatolican uplands to a plan that ruled out narrow streets. Ankara's one attraction, runs the Istanbul prejudice, is the road out.
Ankara cultivates its reputation as one long corridor power. The modern city's creation in 1923 as a purpose-built capital was deliberate attempt to remove power from the ...