Kırıkkale

Kırıkkale, town, central Turkey. It lies on the rail line between Ankara and Kayseri, near the Kızıl River.

Kırıkkale, which was formerly a village, owes its rapid rise in population mainly to the establishment of steel mills in the 1950s. Those works, among the largest in the country, specialize in high-quality alloy steel and machinery. In the 1960s chemical plants were added. Electricity is provided by a generating plant that is linked to larger hydroelectric plants in Hırfanlı and Keşikköprü. The town is also a local market for the cereals and livestock products of the Kızıl River valley. Pop. (2000) 205,078; (2013 est.) 192,473.