Aviation Martyrs' Monument

Coordinates: 41°00′56″N 28°57′15″E / 41.01560°N 28.95418°E / 41.01560; 28.95418
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Aviation Martyrs' Monument
Hava Şehitleri Anıtı
formerly Tayyare Şehitleri Abidesi
Ottoman aviation squadrons

The Aviation Martyrs' Monument (

Ottoman Airforce to be killed in flight accidents.[1]
In Turkey, one use of the term "martyr" is as an honorific for people killed in action during war.

The monument was commissioned right after the consecutive crash of two

expedition flight from Istanbul to Alexandria in early 1914. The monument, in form of a column, was inaugurated in 1916. A military memorial ceremony is held in front of the monument every year on Martyrs' Day.[1]

History

Following the

government of the Ottoman Empire launched a prestigious expedition across the empire's holdings. A multiple-leg flight of four air force monoplanes from Istanbul to Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, it would cover a distance of nearly 2,500 km (1,600 mi). The planes left Istanbul from the Aviation School in Hagios Stefanos (modern Yeşilköy)[2] on February 8 manned by two aviators each.[3]

The first team's aircraft, a

Ottoman Turkish: Topçu Mülazım-ı Saniye) Nuri Bey was killed while the other aviator, İsmail Hakkı Bey, survived the accident.[3]

All three victims were interred in Damascus. A monument was erected at the crash site near the Sea of Galilee.[3]

Design and construction

The government decided to build a monument in the empire's capital to the commemorate the first martyrs of the Ottoman military aviation. The site chosen for the memorial was a park in Istanbul's Fatih district, in front of the then city hall (currently the Istanbul Fire Department's main building), not far from the

Valens Aqueduct.[3]

The memorial's foundation stone was laid on April 2, 1914, by Minister of War

laurel made of bronze is fixed on the lower half of the column. The monument is about 7.50 m (24.6 ft) high.[1]
A large bronze
inscribed the names and the officer ranks of the victims. On the other are depicted a monoplane, the Beyazıt Tower and the landscape of Istanbul is the form of a relief.[3]

Commemoration day

The first commemoration at the monument was held on its opening day in 1916. However, until 1926 no celebration at all took place.[4]

Following the foundation of the Turkish Aeronautical Association (Turkish: Türk Tayyare Cemiyeti) on February 16, 1925, by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 27 January was accepted as the commemoration day for aviation martyrs in honor of pilot Major (Turkish: Binbaşı) Mehmet Fazıl Bey and Petty officer (Turkish: Deniz Astsubay) Mehmet Emin Bey, who were killed on January 27, 1923, during a training flight. As part of the commemoration, all flights in Turkey's airspace were to cease for one hour at noon on that commemoration day.[5] Celebrations for remembrance on January 27 lasted until 1935.[4]

As January is one of the coldest months in Turkey, commemorations could hardly be held. From 1935 the commemoration day was rescheduled for May 15, the day on which

Occupation of İzmir by Greek forces.[4][5]

In 2002, the commemoration day for the aviation martyrs was merged with the more general Martyrs' Memorial Day by finally changing its date to March 18, which marks the 1915

Battle of March 18 in the Dardanelles Campaign. Since then, aviation martyrs are commemorated together with all other victims who lost their lives in the service of the nation.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Tayyare Şehitleri Anıtı". Kent Haber (in Turkish). 2008-02-11. Archived from the original on 2010-02-08. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  2. ^ a b Yılmazer, Bülent. "Murat Bardakçı'nın Hürriyet Gazetesi vasıtasıyla Aziz Hava Şehitlerimiz'in hatırasına büyük saygısızlığı" (in Turkish). Tayyareci. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  3. ^ a b c d e Bedük, Muhammed. "Fatih'teki İlk Türk Hava Şehitleri Anıtı" (in Turkish). Tarihi Yarımada İşadamları ve Yöneticileri Derneği. Archived from the original on 2010-03-01. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  4. ^ a b c "Hava Şehitleri Anma Günü" (in Turkish). Tayyareci. Archived from the original on 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  5. ^ a b c "Binbaşı Mehmet Fazıl (Hv.1326-P-41)" (in Turkish). Turkish Air Force official website. Archived from the original on 24 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
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