17 roller coasters, rides, Ferris wheel and giant rusting dinosaurs.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan had great ambitions for this amusement park that he wanted to be the largest in Europe.
Considered an unnecessary and expensive whim, the park closed less than a year after it opened in March 2019.
Just two days after the park opened, a train got stuck at the top of a roller coaster forcing passengers to descend on foot. Sanitary facilities in poor condition, attractions not fully built, areas prohibited because of the construction site… The wonder was short-lived for the visitors. The park closes in 2020, the ghosts of the attractions remain.
“What Ankara needed was not an amusement park.
It was (an improvement) in transport, ”deplores Tezcan Karakus Candan, president of the Ankara Chamber of Architects.
The inhabitants especially regret the destruction of the "Ataturk Forest Farm".
Initiated in 1925 by the founder of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, to meet the agricultural needs of the city, this green area contained a zoo and vegetable gardens before being destroyed to build the park.
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According to the current mayor and member of the opposition, Mansur Yavas, the project would have cost more than 680 million euros.
His predecessor, Melih Gökçek, claims a lower figure: 420 million euros.
