# Why is Ankara the capital of Turkey, not Istanbul?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ankara-the-capital-of-turkey-not-istanbul/635239>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 20, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ankara-the-capital-of-turkey-not-istanbul/635239 "2012-09-20T04:27:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ankara-the-capital-of-turkey-not-istanbul/635239/41 "2013-06-21T15:18:12Z")

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I lived my first 18 years in DC and both of those statements are true.

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ankara-the-capital-of-turkey-not-istanbul/635239/42 "2013-06-22T01:30:47Z")

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> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> anned community was a flop. Congress did not want to fund it, as many states were still trying to dig their way out from under the debt from the revolution. So the idea was to plat out lots, sell them, and use that money to build the city. Sales were so lackluster that even during the Civil War, DC was known as The City of Monumental Distances because of all the huge undeveloped areas between government buildings.

After the British set fire to it during the War of 1812, a motion in Congress to move the capital was only narrowly defeated.

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