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Kahramankazan, a Galatian Stronghold, Satı Kadın's House and Kurtboğazı
Cultural

Kahramankazan, a Galatian Stronghold, Satı Kadın's House and Kurtboğazı

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Most people who leave Ankara heading northwest on the Istanbul road know Kahramankazan for its factories, greenhouses and melon fields.

Kazan, Ankara
Cultural
Radar Editör
October 15, 2026

About Trip

Most people who leave Ankara heading northwest on the Istanbul road know Kahramankazan for its factories, greenhouses and melon fields. Yet within the district, less than half an hour apart, lie three distinct layers of time: a rocky settlement from the age of the Galatian kings, the house of one of the Republic's first women village heads, and the pine-shaded shore of a reservoir built in the 1960s. This piece describes a day trip that fits all three into a single day. Morning at the ruins of Karalar, midday at the Satıkadın Museum in the town centre, afternoon at Kurtboğazı.

From the plain to the district

Kahramankazan sits on the Akıncı Plain northwest of Ankara; Turkish Wikipedia notes that over the centuries the plain was also known as the Mürted Plain and Murtaza Abad. The present town centre was for a long time just one of the villages on the plain. Kazan village became the centre of a sub-district in 1961, this sub-district of Yenimahalle became a district in 1987, and since 2016 its official name has been Kahramankazan. Locals still simply call it Kazan. The village name is said to come from the cauldrons, kazan in Turkish, that the Ottoman army left behind after using the place as a field kitchen during the Battle of Ankara in 1402; Wikipedia presents this as a story that is told, not as established fact.

The plain's past is much older than that story. An excavation at Bitik in 1942 revealed nine settlement layers; the lowest belongs to the Copper Age, the ones above to the Hittite, Phrygian and Classical periods. According to an interview with the district mayor, the Bitik finds, together with painted pottery and fragments of storage jars, are on display at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. The fossil of an extinct tailless ape found at Sinap Tepe near Yassıören, named Ankarapithecus, is another discovery that carried the district's name into the scientific world. The first stop on this trip, however, belongs to the plain's Galatian period.

Karalar and the Galatian stronghold

According to Turkish Wikipedia, the Karalar neighbourhood lies about eight kilometres from the centre of Kahramankazan and about fifty-five kilometres from Ankara. English Wikipedia writes that north of the village is an ancient settlement where the ruins of a temple and burial mounds can be seen; Turkish sources refer to this area as the Asarkaya locality. The Kahramankazan article lists the Asarkaya Cave at Karalar, the tomb and burials attributed to King Deiotaros, and the İkiztepeler mounds among the district's works surviving from the Hellenistic age.

The person who introduced the site to the scholarly world was the archaeologist Remzi Oğuz Arık. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam writes that Arık was posted to Ankara in 1933 as the archaeologist of the Ministry of Education, that with the Karalar excavation he uncovered an ancient Galatian town, and that he made the inscription of Deiotaros II known to the world. The Galatians were a community of Celtic origin who came from the west and settled in Central Anatolia from the 3rd century BC, dividing the land among their tribes. The lands around Karalar belonged to the Tolistobogii tribe.

The name Karalar is often mentioned together with the ancient fortress of Blucium. According to English Wikipedia, Blucium was a fortress of the Tolistobogii and the residence of the Galatian king Deiotaros, and its site is placed near Karalar. Deiotaros was known as a loyal ally of Rome and ruled over the three tribes of Galatia. The Roman orator Cicero defended him in a case heard in Caesar's house in 45 BC, and that speech has come down to us as Pro Rege Deiotaro. A word of caution is still needed: as scholars themselves acknowledge, the topography of pre-Roman Galatia remains obscure. The abstract of a study published in the journal Anatolian Studies stresses that only three town names of independent Galatia could be placed on the map without a question mark. The most accurate way to read Karalar, therefore, is as a place thought to be Blucium.

Research in the area continues. Surface surveys led by Associate Professor Çiğdem Gençler Güray of Ankara University began in September 2021 with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and were completed in autumn 2024. As reported by DHA and Hürriyet Daily News, the work identified a Galatian settlement at Asarkaya; wall remains, structural features and burial finds show that Karalar was an important centre before the Roman era. In other villages of the district, such as Fethiye, Kınık and Dağyaka, potsherds revealed simple rural settlements reaching from the Hellenistic through the Roman and Byzantine periods. In the same statement Güray says that after the excavations treasure hunters used dynamite at the site and that the damage they caused is irreversible.

What to do at the ruins

Do not expect an arranged museum or visitor centre at Karalar; the sources describe it as an open-country archaeological site. The photographs on Commons show steps cut into the rock, traces of walls around a tall rocky outcrop, and tumuli rising from the plain. Come early in the morning; when the light falls sideways across the plain, the shape of the tumuli and the workmanship in the rock are easier to read. Do not climb the tumuli, do not step on the wall stones and do not take any fragment away; this is a protected cultural asset and, in the eyes of researchers, one of the few witnesses to Ankara's Galatian period. There is little shade and no facilities along the road; bring water, a hat and sturdy shoes.

The Satıkadın Museum

Returning from Karalar to the town centre, the route moves into the twentieth century. The Satıkadın Museum was set up in Satı Çırpan's house in the town centre. According to Turkish Wikipedia, the decision to found the museum was taken in 2012 and it opened in 2014. According to news agency reports, Satı Kadın's grandchildren handed the house over to the municipality free of charge under a protocol. After renovation began on the adobe house, part of the decayed roof and a wall collapsed; the municipality then announced that it would rebuild the house faithfully to the original. The two-storey white building with wooden balconies that you see today is the result of that work. Satı Kadın's bust stands in front of it.

Inside are belongings and clothes of Satı Kadın, along with photographs and paintings that bear witness to the period. Knowing her story before you go in makes the visit richer. According to Turkish Wikipedia, Satı Kadın, whose real name was Hatice, was born in Kazan village in 1890. As a young woman she fought one of the village bullies over the inheritance left by her father, and after winning that struggle she came to be called Satı Ağa. She was married to Halil Çırpanoğlu, who had been wounded in the Balkan War, and was the mother of five children. She farmed, and learned to read and write at the Nation's Schools opened after the alphabet reform. When women were granted the right to serve as village heads on 26 October 1933, she won the election in Kazan village and became one of Turkey's first women village heads. In the 1935 elections she was among the first women to enter parliament, as a deputy for Ankara, and served on the Agriculture Committee. Records give her name as Hatı Çırpan. After her term ended she returned to her village, and she died on 19 March 1956.

Satı Kadın's memorial tomb is near the museum. In the district's Satıkadın Park there is a monument dedicated to her. According to the municipality's news, a commemoration is held there every year; on 5 December, the day women were granted the right to vote and stand for election, a programme is also held in front of the monument. Since the museum's opening days and hours can change, check the latest information on the official website of Kahramankazan Municipality before you set out.

A break at Kurtboğazı

The last stop of the day is Kurtboğazı Dam, north of the town centre. According to Turkish Wikipedia, the dam was built on the Kurtboğazı Stream between 1963 and 1967 for irrigation and drinking water. It is an earth-fill dam standing 54 metres above the riverbed, and at its normal water level the lake covers 5.5 square kilometres. The dam irrigates an area of 3,780 hectares and supplies 67 million cubic metres of drinking and utility water a year. In other words, this lake is one of the sources of the water that runs from Ankara's taps.

The picnic area beside the lake is a favourite with people from the capital, especially at weekends. As the local press describes it, there are many gazebos and picnic tables in the shade of pine trees, children's playgrounds, fountains and a car park; the area is cleaned and supervised by Ankara Metropolitan Municipality. Barbecues may only be lit in designated spots. The paths around the lake suit a short walk, and the light falling on the water at sunset makes a good moment for photographs. Do not skip one warning: swimming in the reservoir harms a drinking water source and is dangerous to life; drowning cases reported in the news are a painful reminder of this. Stay out of the water, and follow the seasonal rules if you fish with a rod.

Planning the day

The three stops are close together, but Karalar and Kurtboğazı are hard to reach by public transport; a private car is the easiest way to do this trip. The town centre can be reached from Ankara by EGO buses and privately run public buses; route numbers can change, so check the current information with EGO. Karalar lies west of the town centre and Kurtboğazı to the north. So starting with the ruins in the morning, moving to the museum at midday and to the dam in the afternoon avoids needless backtracking. Allow an hour for the ruins and an hour for the museum, and leave the rest of the day for the lakeshore.

Season and time of day

Spring and autumn are the best seasons. In summer there is no shade on the plain and walking at Karalar around midday is tiring; in winter the dirt tracks to the ruins can be muddy. Kahramankazan is a district famous for its melons; at the end of summer it would be no surprise to come across melons from the plain by the roadside. Do not count on facilities such as toilets or cafes at the ruins or the dam; bring your own food and water, and take your rubbish back with you.

Sources

Location - Kahramankazan, a Galatian Stronghold, Satı Kadın's House and Kurtboğazı

Trip Info
CityKazan, Ankara
TypeCultural
DateOctober 15, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions