The poet Ali Cengizkan described Ankara as a city of dreams whose horizon was circumscribed by mountains. Without pleasant dreams one could not live in Turkey's landlocked capital was the implication. But the city's image has changed a lot in recent times. Until a few years ago the central area of Kızılay and its environs were the most popular places for Ankara's inhabitants. It was here that people went after work or school to stroll the streets or meet their friends in cafés. But the faded attractions of İzmir Caddesi, Konur Sokak, Sakarya Caddesi and Kızılay Square have been superseded by more glitzy venues, where the new generation of Ankara's inhabitants spend their leisure time. There was a tavern called Buket with a garden / In Yenişehir / Now long demolished and a supermarket in its place / At a table above / A tiny pool surrounded by fuschias / We would sit with Cahit on summer nights. So the poet Can Yücel recalled the Ankara of a few decades ago.

Kuğulu Park at the foot of Çankaya Hill is still a well-known place to meet and relax, and from the crossroads with its view of Atakule Tower, Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi still runs down towards Kuğulu Park. That much remains the same. Named after the writer and politician Tunalı Hilmi (1871-1928), this is an elegant shopping street and promenade, with its restaurants, perfumeries, patisseries, florists, banks and cinemas. Clowns promoting who knows what product, the tastefully chic Tivoli Cake Shop, and the lively atmosphere of Café des Cafés set their stamp on this street. Above Kuğulu Park is Karum Shopping Centre, where many famous shops are to be found and which opened in 1991.

There are also numerous cafés where shoppers can stop for a rest and a snack, and students use as meeting places. Outside in the street fashionably dressed young people pass by an old man with a beard who is praying on the grass of the park. He makes a living from passers-by who weigh themselves on his bathroom scales, which for the moment lie on the pavement with an abandoned air awaiting his return.
Çankaya Hill, once covered in vineyards, began its transformation into an exclusive residential area in the 1950s, and today boasts not only luxury flats, shops, restaurants, and offices, but a State Theatre and Opera House. It was here that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lived in a small villa with a pool in the 1920s, when Çankaya was still a remote rural spot outside the city.

In his memoirs, Atatürk's friend and associate Falih Rıfkı Atay, records an anecdote which gives an idea of just how lonely Çankaya was in those days: 'That night it had snowed so heavily that the cars became stuck in drifts. The British ambassador George Clark and his counsellor were forced to walk to the house of İsmet Paşa through the uninhabited countryside. As they plodded along, Clark joked, "The wolves will tear us to pieces and nothing will be left of us but our tail coats and top hats!"'
Seğmenler Park, in the valley between Iran Caddesi and Atatürk Boulevard, opened in 1983. It consists of 67,000 square metres of gardens, lakes, playgrounds, and an amphitheatre where concerts take place in summer. Higher up is the nearly as large Botanic Park between Çankaya Caddesi and Cinnah Caddesi. The Peace Bell here is rung every year on the anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb.

The park also features a pool, conservatory, childrn's playground, and two sculptures, one of children playing leapfrog and the other of the famous Angora goats.
On the summit of the hill overlooking the park is Atakule Tower, containing one of Ankara's foremost shopping centres, with nearly 150 shops, municipal marriage office, cafés and restaurants occupying the lower floors. A lift up the 125 metre high tower takes you to the viewing terrace and revolving restaurant, which turns full circle every one and a half hours. Here you can look out over the city in every direction as you enjoy your meal. Cinnah Caddesi is named after Pakistan's founder, Muhammed Ali Cinnah, to whom there is an inscription at either end of the road. Just above the Kavaklıdere junction is a small square known as Chile Square, behind which is a white colonnaded house in a style reminiscent of South American architecture, once home to a former Turkish statesman and now that of a business tycoon.

The names of many other streets and squares in Ankara pay similar tribute to innumerable countries of the world. As you walk up Çankaya Hill from Karum, the name of the road curving off to the left is Argentina Caddesi.
The new face of Ankara is today clear for all to see - on Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi, in Karum, in Atakule, on Argentina Caddesi, and as far away as Bilkent University on the city's outskirts.

* Can Kızıltan is a freelance writer.