Çanakkale Monument of Martyrs

The memorial, which is the most visited attraction on Gallipoli peninsula, is situated on Eskihisarlık Ridge. The project designed by Doğan Erginbaş, İsmail Utkular ve Feridun Kip was chosen amongst 37 others in a project competition, and the foundation of the memorial was laid on 17 April 1954.  Çanakkale Martyrs’ Memorial, which was opened to visits on August 21th 1960, on the 45th anniversary of the second battle of Anafartalar, commemorates all the soldiers who fell martyr in the battles of Gallipoli and honours their memories. In the words of its architect Doğan Erginbaş, it symbolizes the joint ascension of our martyrs to the sky, who came from all over the world. There are reliefs on the monument, which depict the war memories. Every year on March 18th, commemorations are held by citizens coming from all over the country and by high state officials at the ceremony area of the memorial. 

The symbolic cemeteries located behind the memorial were opened to visits in 2007. The names of 59.408 soldiers who martyrized in the battles of Gallipoli and whose names could be identified till now can be found at the martyr’s cemetery. Also, there is a 45 m long relief in front of the symbolic martyr’s cemetery which depicts the battle period. Past the relief, at the beginning of the symbolic martyr’s cemetery there are the tomb of the unknown soldier and a marble monument on which the speech Ataturk gave on confederate soldiers in 1934 is inscribed. A skull, that belonged to a Turkish soldier and was taken to Australia by an Anzac soldier after Arıburnu Battle, was returned back to Turkey, after many years on 10 March 2003. On 18 March 2003 it was buried in its current location with ceremonies.