ANITKABIR

Anıtkabir is a complex that includes the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, located in the Çankaya district of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. The construction of the building complex, designed by Emin Onat and Orhan Arda, started in 1944 and was completed in 1953. The complex consists of various structures and monuments, especially the mausoleum, as well as a wooded area called Peace Park.

1. After Atatürk’s death on November 10, 1938, it was announced that his body would remain in the Ankara Ethnography Museum until a mausoleum was built in Ankara. A commission was established by the government to determine the place where the mausoleum will be built. In line with the prepared report, at the meeting of the parliamentary group of the Republican People’s Party on January 17, 1939, it was decided to build the building in Rasattepe. After this decision, an international project competition was opened on 1 March 1941 to determine the design of the building while the expropriation works were started on the relevant land. As a result of the evaluations made after the competition that ended on March 2, 1942, it was decided to implement Emin Onat and Orhan Arda’s project with some changes, and the construction started with the groundbreaking ceremony held on October 9, 1944. While the construction, which was carried out in four parts, was completed in October 1953, later than planned due to some problems and disruptions, changes were made to the project even while the construction was going on. In a ceremony held on November 10, 1953, Atatürk’s body was transferred here. The remains of Cemal Gürsel, who was buried in 1966 in Anıtkabir, where İsmet İnönü’s tomb is located since 1973, and of eleven people who were buried between 1960-1963, were written by Kenan Evren in 1988 as “Anıtkabir is for Atatürk. It cannot be a cemetery.” It was removed from Anıtkabir with the thought of