Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi Tarihi Milli Parkı

About Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi Tarihi Milli Parkı

The Sakarya Battlefield Historical National Park protects the ground where the Battle of Sakarya was fought between 23 August and 13 September 1921, a 22-day battle that marked a turning point in the Turkish War of Independence. Declared a national park in 2015, it covers about 13,850 hectares in the Polatlı and Haymana districts, split into 14 separate sections along a front of roughly 100 km. The park is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's nature conservation directorate. The surviving traces of the battle are the reason to come: gun positions, trenches, martyrs' cemeteries, monuments and buildings used during the fighting, spread across hills such as Mangal Dağı, Yıldızdağı, Türbe Tepe, Duatepe, Kartaltepe and Karatepe. The main visitor stop is Kartaltepe, about 10 km from Polatlı and 90 km from Ankara. The hill controlled the road through the İğciler pass and was retaken on 12 September 1921. Today it carries the Mehmetçik Monument, 32 metres high with its base, by the sculptor Said Rüstem, and the Sakarya Battle and Turkish History Promotion Centre, with exhibition areas, interactive screens, 3D models, a video wall, a seminar hall and a cafeteria. In Polatlı itself, the central section holds the Sakarya Martyrs' Victory Monument, opened in 1973, and the Sakarya Central Martyrs' Cemetery. Duatepe has tour routes, parking and an amphitheatre, and hosts the annual commemoration of the victory each September. According to the directorate, the Kartaltepe section is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and open from 10:00 to 17:00 on other days; the other cemeteries and museum sites are closed on Mondays and open from 09:00 to 17:00. A car is the practical way to link the scattered sections.