The town of Kırıkkale is located on the Ankara-Kayseri railway near the Kızılırmak River in central Turkey.

Formerly a village, it owes its rapid rise in population mainly to the establishment of steel mills in the 1950s.

These works, among the largest in the country, specialize in high-quality alloy steel and machinery.

In the 1960s, chemical plants were added and in 1986, the Tüpraş Kırıkkale Oil Refinery was established.

Inhabitation began in the 16th century when Turkish tribes came from the east and settled in Central Anatolia.