Graves of 304 martyrs of battle of Dumlupınar found

AFYONKARAHİSAR

The graves of 304 Turkish soldiers have come to light in the military archive scans and geophysical ground radar studies conducted in the Chief Commander Historical National Park, covering an area of 34,800 hectares, where the historical Battle of Dumlupınar took place.

In the Chief Commander Historical National Park, which covers an area of 34,800 hectares, where the Battle of Dumlupınar took place, t

Within the scope of the research called “Martyrs’ Geography,” geophysical ground radar studies have been carried out in 13 locations and 36 areas since April 2020.

The graves of a total of 304 martyrs were identified in eight different regions where the clashes took place.

Within the scope of the studies, 85 of the graves discovered by the teams were found in 2020, when the studies started, and 213 burials were found in 2021. The graves of six more martyrs were reached this year.

As a result of the examinations made in the military records of the period carried out in cooperation with the Archive and Military History Department of the Defense Ministry, the identity of 10 martyrs was determined.

Regarding the purpose of the project to carry out an inventory study of important areas for Turkish military history and to convert oral history sources into written materials, the studies on the identification of other martyrs are ongoing.

In addition to the identification studies, tombstones were erected at the martyrs’ graves. Studies have been initiated to transform other newly found cemeteries into martyrdoms in many regions, including
Çiğiltepe, one of the most critical regions of the war.

The date Aug. 30 has been celebrated as “Victory Day” for 100 years to mark the Battle of Dumlupınar, the biggest battle of Türkiye’s Independence War, which led to the birth of the Turkish Republic a year after. It was declared an official national holiday in 1926.