Istanbul–Ankara railway the undertaking, von Siemens formed the Ottoman Anatolian Railway (CFOA) on 4 October 1888 to build and operate the railway for 99 years. The CFOA started construction further from Izmit in May 1889 and purchased the Istanbul-Izmit railway for 6 million CHF. Istanbul–Ankara railway The Istanbul–Ankara railway () is a long electrified railway in Turkey. The line connects Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, to the capital and second largest city, Ankara; making it one the busiest railways in the country in terms of passenger and freight rail traffic. The railway runs parallel to the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway and in several sections,
Ankara in a single direction. Ankara is politically a triple battleground between the ruling conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), the opposition Kemalist centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) and the nationalist far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The province of Ankara is divided into 25 districts. The CHP's key and almost only political stronghold in Ankara lies within the central area of Çankaya, which is the city's most populous district. While the CHP has always gained between 60 and 70% of the vote in Çankaya since 2002, political support elsewhere throughout Ankara is minimal. The high population within Çankaya, as well as