Sargıyeri Cemetery

The cemetery is located 800 m west of Alçıtepe village, on the Zığındere valley, on the right of the path which leads to Nuri Yanut memorial. On the right of the cemetery’s entrance there is a statue of two soldiers made by Prof. Dr. Tankut Öktem, one of the soldiers is wounded and the other one is carrying him, and on this statue the poem called “My Saintly Martyr” is inscribed.. On one side of the memorial which is located in the middle of the martyrs’ cemetery the inscription reads: “Who then can dig the grave wide enough to hold you. And your story? / If we try to consign you to history, you will not fit!” and the inscription on the other side reads: Oh martyr, son of the martyr, do not ask me about the grave The prophet awaits you now, his arms flung wide open, to save!” On the other side, Atatürk’s famous words which he uttered during the battle are inscribed:” I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. In the time that it takes us to die, other forces and commanders can come and take our place. The poem “Whose land is it?” by Orhan Şaik Gökyay is also inscribed:”This land belongs to those who lie in the bosom of the earth like a chain of mountains/ to those who sacrificed themselves/ to those who rush forward like a flood/ to those who got shot in the chest like a hero/to those who enter into the ground/ as if They are entering a rose garden”. On the other two sides Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s lines are inscribed: He lies there shot in his forehead/ oh God, for a crescent, so many suns set. O soldier who fell for this land/ your ancestors shall come down from the Heavens to kiss that forehead  
The martyrs’ cemetery was built in 1945 to commemorate the soldiers who martyrized in the battles between June, 28th and July 5th and the ones who died at the aid stations with 385 tombstones. After the environmental planning conducted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 1992, the final environmental planning was conducted in 2013. The area in Zığındere which was used as an aid station during the battles was bombarded heavily on 28 June 1915 although it was marked as a military hospital. That’s why our soldiers suffered great casualties in the area. The martyrs’ cemetery, which is one of the true martyrs’ cemeteries, is marked on Sevki Pasha map’s 36th section.