Graves and Graveyard Stones Found in Mosques in Gaziantep

Abstract

Gaziantep is one of the largest cities in the Southeastern Anatolia region, whose history dates back to ancient times. The city was conquered by Iyaz Bin Ganem, one of the commanders of Hazrat Omar, and joined the Islamic lands, and the city settlement was formed around the castle. At the present time, the city has grown much larger and with this growth, the city's cemeteries and some historical areas have been destroyed. Our study deals with the graves and graveyard stones found in the graves of Ömeriye, Boyacı, Ağa, Şeyh Fethullah and Nuri Mehmet Paşa mosques in the center of Gaziantep. At the present time, there are few graves and graveyard stones in the cemeteries. The graveyard stones were made of local mortar stone, black stone and marble stones of different colors in the form of sarcophagi and Ottoman style tombstones. The language used in the inscriptions of the graveyard stones are predominantly Ottoman, and with a little Arabic. Based on the epitaph texts, it is seen that the construction dates of these tombstones are 1890-1909 Gregorian.