Nuri Yamut Monument Sarıtepe Martyrs' Cemetery

"A place to reflect."

Robert Quinn

"The Nuri Yamut Monument is an important martyrs' cemetery and memorial site located in the Zığındere Valley, near the village of Alçıtepe in the Eceabat district of Çanakkale. It was commissioned in 1943 by General Nuri Yamut, then Commander of the II Corps, to commemorate the soldiers who fell on the Gallipoli Peninsula."

Burcu İlmen

"Learning the tragic story of the Nuri Yamut Monument, which I had the opportunity to see on March 24, 2019, deeply wounded and saddened me.

The story goes as follows:
With the start of the Çanakkale land battles, the fiercely fierce and bloody 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Kirte battles were fought in the Zığındere area, located 2.5 km below the village of Alçıtepe, formerly known as Kirte. During this battle, the British repelled the wounded. A hospital was established in the Zığındere valley, a water basin most in need of treatment for approximately 40,000 wounded soldiers. Despite the fact that the hospital was designated as such and that the Red Crescent and even the Hurricane Cross were displayed, the British bombed both your hospital and their own hospital located just below. Of the 40,000 wounded soldiers, 18,000 were martyred. 10,000 British soldiers lost their lives. While the British government claimed they had accidentally hit our hospital, they used the phrase "let them die if they die" for their own soldiers. They abandoned their wounded, thinking the Turks would treat them anyway. The wounded British soldiers were found and treated by Mehmetçik (Turkish soldiers). Our martyrs were buried right there. Between 1934 and 1936, when villagers began farming, the bones of our martyrs began to emerge from the fields. The field owners began piling them up along the field borders, even forming walls. In 1943, General Mehmet Nuri Yamut Pasha, appointed Commander of the Çanakkale 2nd Corps and a Lieutenant during the Gallipoli Campaign, was deeply saddened to see this. He sold his two houses in Zeytinburnu, Istanbul, and requested, along with his savings, that a monument be built, with his name not mentioned. The bones of 150 martyred soldiers from the Zığındere region were collected and interred in the monument. Officials placed a plaque outside the monument reading "NURI YAMUT MONUMENT."

Mehmet Nuri Yamut later served as the 6th Chief of the General Staff from 1954 to 1956. After retiring, he became a Member of Parliament. He was arrested and tortured during the 1960 coup. In fact, an officer slapped him and said that he was not a police officer but a former member of parliament, causing him to use the stairs. Pasha fell ill and died in 1961 out of grief."

Mahir Güney