Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo
Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo is an expansive recreational farming area, which houses a zoo, several small agricultural farms, greenhouses, restaurants, a dairy farm and a brewery in Ankara, Turkey. The farm and the zoo are under the administration of the Ministry of Agriculture and Village Affairs.
The Forest Farm was established in 1925 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first President of the Turkish Republic as a private farm. After 1926, the management of the farm was offered to Spiritual Christians from Russia living in north Kars Province who were noted for animal breeding (Malakan horse, Malakan cow) but who refused repatriation to Soviet Union. They declined to move to Ankara, because the most zealous believed they must live close to Mount Ararat for the Second Coming of Christ. In 1937, Atatürk donated the farm to the Turkish state. At the farm is an exact replica of the house, where Atatürk was born in 1881 in Selânik, Ottoman Empire.
Visitors to the farm can sample the products of the farm such as old-fashioned beer, fresh dairy products, ice cream, and meat rolls and kebabs made on charcoal, at a traditional restaurant (Merkez Lokantası, Central Restaurant) and other areas of catering around the farm .
The Ankara Zoo houses some big cats, various birds, monkeys, apes, ungulates, snakes and an aquarium. The zoo also breeds and sells Angora cats.
