A court annulls the municipality's decision to replace the Hittite Sun as the city's symbol while Mayor Gökçek signals a new logo

Ankara citizens are hoping to see the sun again. Citizens of the capital are hoping for the restoration of their city's former emblem, the Hittite Sun, an icon of Anatolian civilization and the symbol of the Hittite people.

The city's sun logo was replaced with an Islamic icon, featuring the image of the Kocatepe Mosque and a relatively new structure, the Atakule shopping center, in 1995 by the Ankara Municipality.

Apart from a number of campaigns by Ankara citizens attempting to get their former symbol back, implementation of the logo has been subject to numerous court cases since the change was made. The new logo, however, continues to be used as the city's symbol in public spaces and on buses despite several court decisions barring its use. The latest such decision was issued last week.

“The images used in the new logo do not reflect the characteristics unique to Ankara nor its historic and cultural identity either as composition or individually,” said the court, finding the municipality's decision to change the symbol illegal and groundless.

The court also reminded that the influence of former civilizations including the Hittites, Phrygians, Byzantines, Seljuks, Ottomans, and that of the independence period, led by the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, had all shaped the identity of Ankara.
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