Sarajevo vs Ankara

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Sarajevo ( SARR-ə-YAY-voh; Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Сарајево, Bosnian pronunciation: [sǎrajeʋo] (listen); see names in other languages) is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 343,000 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area, including Sarajevo Canton, East Sarajevo and nearby municipalities, is home to 555,210 inhabitants. Nestled within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of the Balkans. Sarajevo is the political, financial, social and cultural center of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a prominent center of culture in the Balkans, with region-wide influence in entertainment, media, fashion and the arts.Due to its long history of religious and cultural diversity, Sarajevo is sometimes called the "Jerusalem of Europe" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It is one of only a few major European cities to have a mosque, Catholic church, Orthodox church and synagogue within the same neighborhood. A regional center in education, the city is home to the Balkans' first institution of tertiary education in the form of an Islamic madrasa, today part of the University of Sarajevo.Although settlement in the area stretches back to prehistoric times, the modern city arose as an Ottoman stronghold in the 15th century. Sarajevo has attracted international attention several times throughout its history. In 1885, Sarajevo was the first city in Europe and the second city in the world to have a full-time electric tram network running through the city, following San Francisco. In 1914, it was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by local Young Bosnia activist Gavrilo Princip that sparked World War I, which also ended Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and resulted in the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Later, after World War II, the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Second Yugoslavia led to a massive expansion of Sarajevo, then the constituent republic's capital, which culminated with the hosting of the 1984 Winter Olympics marking a prosperous era for the city. However, after the start of the Yugoslav Wars, for 1,425 days, from April 1992 to February 1996, the city suffered the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, during the Bosnian War and the breakup of Yugoslavia.Sarajevo has been undergoing post-war reconstruction, and is the fastest growing city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The travel guide series Lonely Planet has named Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world, and in December 2009 listed Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010. In 2011, Sarajevo was nominated to be the 2014 European Capital of Culture and in 2019, it hosted the European Youth Olympic Festival. In October 2019, Sarajevo was designated as a UNESCO Creative City for placing culture at the center of its development strategies, and is one of the world's eighteen Cities of Film. Furthermore there is a UNESCO tentative monument, the Old Jewish Cemetery, almost 500 years old site that is the second-largest Jewish sepulchral complex in Europe. UNESCO says that "It represents the eternal proof of coexistence of two or more different confessions under different administrations and rules, and the proof of mutual respect and tolerance."

Source: Wikipedia

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Ankara ( ANK-ə-rə, also US: AHNK-ə-rə, Turkish: [ˈaŋkaɾa] (listen)), historically known as Ancyra ( an-SY-rə) and Angora ( ang-GOR-ə, also US: ANG-gə-rə), is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 4.5 million in its urban center and over 5.6 million in Ankara Province, making it Turkey's second-largest city after Istanbul. Serving as the capital of the early Celtic country of Galatia (280--64 BC), and later of the Roman province with the identical name (25 BC--7th century), the city is very old with various Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Phrygian, Galatian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archaeological sites. The Ottomans made the city the capital first of the Anatolia Eyalet (1393--late 15th century), and the Angora Vilayet (1867--1922). The historic center of Ankara is a rocky mountain climbing 150 m (500 ft) over the left bank of the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of Ankara Castle. Although few of its outworks have survived, there are well-preserved examples of Roman and Ottoman architecture across the city, the most remarkable being the 20 BC Temple of Augustus and Rome that boasts the Monumentum Ancyranum, the inscription recording the Res Gestae Divi Augusti.

On 23 April 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was established in Ankara, which became the headquarters of the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence. Ankara became the new Turkish capital upon the organization of the Republic on 29 October 1923, succeeding in this role the former Turkish capital Istanbul (Constantinople) following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city, located at the centre of Turkey's road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat (the origin of mohair), and the Angora cat. The area is also famous for its pears, honey and muscat grapes. Although located in one of the driest regions of Turkey and surrounded largely by steppe vegetation (except for the forested areas on the southern periphery), Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, at 72 square metres (775 square feet) per head.

Source: Wikipedia