Meclis Parkı

About Meclis Parkı

Meclis Parkı is a city park in Çankaya whose official name is Millî Egemenlik Parkı (National Sovereignty Park). It is widely known as the Parliament Park because it wraps around the grounds of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM), close to Kızılay. The park was opened on 23 April 1986. Because the opening fell on National Sovereignty and Children's Day, it was held as a large event with children from several countries taking part, and there were activities and concerts in the park. According to Turkish Wikipedia, the trees and plants used in the landscaping were sent by the countries that joined the opening. Trees have also been planted here, at a later event organised by the TBMM, in the names of people who served Ankara over the years. They include the botanist Hikmet Birand, the former finance minister and METU rector Mustafa Kemal Kurdaş, and architects and planners who shaped the early Republican capital, such as Clemens Holzmeister, Hermann Jansen, Mimar Kemalettin, Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu. Today the park has an ornamental pool, an amphitheatre and many monuments and sculptures. It is popular with roller skaters and skateboarders. Practical notes: the park sits beside the parliament complex in central Ankara, so it fits easily into a walk around Kızılay and the government quarter.