//
Photo: Nedim Ardoğa, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Mehmetçik is the Turkish Tommy, the salt-of-the-earth soldier who stands his watch then stoically marches out to face his fate. This 22-m tall Mehmetçik in his 1921-style uniform signals "stop!" on Kartaltepe hill, where the Greeks were halted. There is a museum on site, and the visitor centre of the national park.
Mehmetçik Monument is a monumental sculpture featuring a Turkish soldier on Kartaltepe of Polatlı, a rural area of Ankara Province, Turkey. The name of the monument Mehmetçik is the diminutive form of the common name Mehmet, which is used to nickname Turkish soldiers.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Duatepe was another strategic stronghold on elevated ground. It's now the site of the most extensive set of statues commemorating the battle, including one inspired by a photo of Kemal Atatürk taken while he was observing the battleground on a pair of binoculars.
Sakarya Şehitleri ve Zafer Anıtı
The monument was built in 1973 on a wooded hill just north of the centre. You enter through a military cemetery: turn right for the museum, which exhibits photos and documents from the battle. Then a stairway between 21 pairs of slabs – one for each day and night of the battle – takes you to the flat top of the hill; the stairway is said to symbolize the unknown fate the battle would bring and the relief at its end. On the summit is the main statue of three figures.
This large settlement was the chief city of the Phrygians, and previously a stronghold of the Hittites. It suffered a devastating fire in 800 BC but was rebuilt, only losing its importance under Cimmerian / Persian rule from 540 BC. Its three sites are visited on the same ticket.