Aviation Martyrs' Monument
Encyclopedia
The Aviation Martyrs' Monument ( or formerly Tayyare Şehitleri Abidesi), located in Fatih
district of Istanbul
, Turkey
, is a memorial
dedicated to the first soldiers of the Ottoman aviation squadrons to be killed in flight accidents. In Islam, one use of the term "martyrs
" is as an honorific for Muslims who have died fighting defending their country.
The monument was commissioned right after the consecutive crash of two monoplane
s in Palestine
, killing three of the four military aviators who were on an 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.
, 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 2500 km (1,553.4 mi). The planes left Istanbul from the Aviation School in Hagios Stefanos
(modern Yeşilköy) on February 8 manned by two aviators each.
The first team's aircraft, a Blériot XI
, crashed on February 27 on the flight leg from Damascus
to Jerusalem at the Golan Heights near the Sea of Galilee
, killing pilot Navy Lieutenant Fethi Bey and his navigator, Artillery
First Lieutenant
Sadık Bey. The second team's aircraft, a Deperdussin B
, crashed on March 11 into the Mediterranean Sea
off Jaffa
shortly after take-off. Artillery Second Lieutenant
Nuri Bey was killed while the other aviator, İsmail Hahkı Bey, survived the accident.
All three victims were interred in Damascus. A monument was erected at the crash site near the Sea of Galilee.
.
The memorial's foundation stone was laid on April 2, 1914 by Minister of War Enver Pasha. Its construction lasted two years and it was inaugurated in 1916. Designed by the renowned Turkish architect Vedat Tek
, the conical
columnar monument features a broken top made of white marble. The broken top symbolizes the flight mission's incomplete status. A branch of laurel
made of bronze
is fixed on the lower half of the column. The monument is about 7.5 m (24.6 ft) high.
A large bronze medallion is attached on each of the two opposite sides of the marble base on which the column stands. On one medallion are 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
.
Following the foundation of the Turkish Aeronautical Association
on February 16, 1925, by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
, 27th January was accepted as the commemoration day for aviation martyrs in honor of pilot Major
Mehmet Fazıl Bey and Petty officer
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. Celebrations for remembrance on January 27 lasted until 1935.
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 Colonel
Fethi Bey, journalist Hasan Tahsin
and nine other people were killed in 1919 during the Occupation of İzmir
by Greek
forces.
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.
Fatih
Fatih is a municipality and district in Istanbul, Turkey that encompasses most of the peninsula coinciding with historic Constantinople. In 2009, the district of Eminönü, formerly a separate municipality located at the tip of the peninsula, was merged into Fatih...
district of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, is a memorial
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
dedicated to the first soldiers of the Ottoman aviation squadrons to be killed in flight accidents. In Islam, one use of the term "martyrs
Shahid
Shahid is an Arabic word meaning "witness". It is a religious term in Islam, meaning both "witness" and "martyr." While a martyr may die as a consequence of fighting, a shahid is a "witness" because he gives his life out of passion for truth. The shahid exchanges himself for the divine and thereby...
" is as an honorific for Muslims who have died fighting defending their country.
The monument was commissioned right after the consecutive crash of two monoplane
Monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...
s in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, killing three of the four military aviators who were on an expedition flight from Istanbul to Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
in early 1914. The monument, in form of a column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
, was inaugurated in 1916. A military memorial ceremony is held in front of the monument every year on Martyrs' Day.
History
Following the Balkan WarsBalkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
, 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
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
and Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, it would cover a distance of nearly 2500 km (1,553.4 mi). The planes left Istanbul from the Aviation School in Hagios Stefanos
Yesilköy
Yeşilköy is a neighborhood of the Bakırköy municipality of Istanbul, Turkey.It is located along the Marmara Sea about 11 kilometers west of Istanbul's historic city center...
(modern Yeşilköy) on February 8 manned by two aviators each.
The first team's aircraft, a Blériot XI
Blériot XI
The Blériot XI is the aircraft in which, on 25 July 1909, Louis Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel made in a heavier-than-air aircraft . This achievement is one of the most famous accomplishments of the early years of aviation, and not only won Blériot a lasting place in...
, crashed on February 27 on the flight leg from Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
to Jerusalem at the Golan Heights near the Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...
, killing pilot Navy Lieutenant Fethi Bey and his navigator, Artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
First Lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
Sadık Bey. The second team's aircraft, a Deperdussin B
Deperdussin TT
-References:* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft , 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1434-See also:...
, crashed on March 11 into the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
off Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
shortly after take-off. Artillery Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
Nuri Bey was killed while the other aviator, İsmail Hahkı Bey, survived the accident.
All three victims were interred in Damascus. A monument was erected at the crash site near the Sea of Galilee.
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 AqueductValens Aqueduct
The Valens Aqueduct is a Roman aqueduct which was the major water-providing system of the Eastern Roman capital of Constantinople...
.
The memorial's foundation stone was laid on April 2, 1914 by Minister of War Enver Pasha. Its construction lasted two years and it was inaugurated in 1916. Designed by the renowned Turkish architect Vedat Tek
Vedat Tek
Mehmet Vedat Tek was a notable Turkish architect, who has been one of the leading figures of the First Turkish National Architecture Movement.-Early life and career:...
, the conical
Cone (geometry)
A cone is an n-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a base to a point called the apex or vertex. Formally, it is the solid figure formed by the locus of all straight line segments that join the apex to the base...
columnar monument features a broken top made of white marble. The broken top symbolizes the flight mission's incomplete status. A branch of laurel
Bay Laurel
The bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...
made of bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
is fixed on the lower half of the column. The monument is about 7.5 m (24.6 ft) high.
A large bronze medallion is attached on each of the two opposite sides of the marble base on which the column stands. On one medallion are inscribed the names and the officer ranks of the victims. On the other are depicted a monoplane, the Beyazıt Tower
Beyazit Tower
Beyazıt Tower, also named Seraskier Tower, from the name of the Ottoman ministry of War, is an 85 metre tall fire-watch tower located in the courtyard of Istanbul University's main campus on Beyazıt Square in Istanbul, Turkey, on top of one of the "seven hills" which Constantine the Great had built...
and the landscape of Istanbul is the form of a relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
.
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.Following the foundation of the Turkish Aeronautical Association
Turkish Aeronautical Association
Turkish Aeronautical Association is a non-profit organization with an aim of increasing public awareness and participation in aviation related activities and the national body governing air sports in Turkey...
on February 16, 1925, by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
, 27th January was accepted as the commemoration day for aviation martyrs in honor of pilot Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Mehmet Fazıl Bey and Petty officer
Petty Officer
A petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...
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. Celebrations for remembrance on January 27 lasted until 1935.
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 Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Fethi Bey, journalist Hasan Tahsin
Hasan Tahsin
Hasan Tahsin Receb was an Ottoman Turk.A member of the Ottoman special Organization, he unsuccessfully tried to assassinate the Buxton Brothers: Noel Noel-Buxton, 1st Baron Noel-Buxton and Charles Roden Buxton in Romania during World War I.He was the first to open fire on the Greek soldiers that...
and nine other people were killed in 1919 during the Occupation of İzmir
Occupation of İzmir
The Occupation of Smyrna occurred from 15 May 1919 to 8 September 1922 by Greek forces under the High Commissioner Aristidis Stergiadis in the Smyrna district, aligned with the Allied partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. There were no military hostilities between Greece and the Ottoman Empire...
by Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
forces.
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.