Museum displays times of war against French soldiers in southeastern province

GAZIANTEP - Anatolia News Agency

The Gaziantep War Museum is housed in a three-floor historical building and commemorates the memories of 6,317 martyrs. AA photo

The Gaziantep War Museum, which was opened five years ago in the southeastern province of Gaziantep to show the Siege of Antep to the people, has received around 1 million visitors since.

The museum, which serves in a three-floor historical building and survives the memories of 6,317 martyrs, was established by the former Şahinbey mayor Ömer Can and with the contributions of historian Adil Dai. The museum displays chronological boards to display the defense.

The 12-room museum is located next to the Siege of Antep Martyrdom in the Esenbek Mosque burial area. Gaziantep locals have also donated their family heirlooms to the museum for display.

The section of the museum most attracting interest is the “cave” below the museum, which contains various imitations of pieces considered to be the secret of the city’s defense.

Statues of children gathering empty cases and bullets, masters repairing caput guns and making mortar bombs, and the cries of mothers are being portrayed at the museum. The cave also features the symbolic state ceremony held for the martyrs in 1935.

Lots of pieces such as pieces of guns belonging to the French soldiers, pistols, shotguns, swords, gammas and digging tools used by the city’s locals, as well as many belongings of martyrs, are also displayed at the museum.

Among the interesting objects in the museum are a “tak takı,” which was made of wood by locals to scare French soldiers, and a bomb made by people using silver lunch boxes.

The museum is open every day, except Monday, between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The Siege of Antep

The Siege of Antep was a military engagement between the Turkish National Forces and the French Colonial Forces that occupied Gaziantep, which was named Antep at the time.

The fight occurred in April 1920, when French forces opened fire on city, and continued until February 1921.