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| Located One-Half Mile South of Kilitbahir Fort |
Corporal Seyit Ali Çabuk (1889–1939) enlisted in the Turkish army in April 1909 and served as an artilleryman at the Gallipoli Campaign. Corporal Seyit represents all of the soldiers in person who defended the Straits of the Dardanelles during the decisive defeat of the 18 March 1915 Allied battleship assault.
Following the heavy naval bombardment of the forts guarding the Narrows of the Dardanelles, the gun he was serving remained operational, but its shell crane had been damaged and the other gunners in the area were injured. Corporal Seyit, by himself, is said to have carried three artillery shells each weighing 276 kg to the 240mm gun, enabling it to continue firing on the Allied fleet. With this he became a symbol for a nation's faith, resistance, and determination.
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| Staged After-Action Photo |
Afterward, he was asked to have his picture taken with the shell which he famously carried. Corporal Seyit could not move the shell no matter how hard he tried. Subsequently, Corporal Seyit uttered the famous words "If war breaks out again, I'll lift it again." The photo above was taken with a lightened shell. He was discharged in 1918 and became a forester and later a coal-miner. He took the surname Çabuk in 1934 with the passing of the Surname Law. He died of pneumonia in 1939. A statue of him carrying a shell was erected in 1992 and positioned just south of Kilitbahir Fortress on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Other bronzed depictions of Seyit, usually depicting him using the back carry technique, exist including at the national military museum in Istanbul.
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| Overlooking the Straits He Guarded in 1915 |
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