The five stone monoliths at Chunuk Bair were designed by Ahmet Gulgonen, winner of a national competition in 1970, and represents a hand turned upward to God. They were dedicated to the soldiers, 'Mehmetcik', (literally little Mehmets, the affectionate Turkish name for 'Johnny Turk') who lost their lives fighting here. Each has an inscription in Turkish, repeated on a plaque in English, which tells the story:
1. After learning of the enemy landing at Ariburnu on 25 April 1915, Staff Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), Commander of the 19th Infantry Division, on his own initiative despatched the 57th Regiment to this sector. At this time, a small number of soldiers, whose ammunition was finished, were guarding the shore. They made a bayonet charge and gained enough time to successfully prevent the enemy reaching Chunuk Bair.
2. On the morning of 25 April 1915, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) gave this order to the 57th Regiment, just before the Regiment's attack on the enemy approaching the Conk Slope: the 'I do not order you to attack, I order you to die'. In the time which passes until we die, other troops can take our places and other commanders can master the situation. 'This order angered the Mehmetciks, who continuously and relentlessly attacked the enemy under the continuous and heavy fire of the naval artillery and forced the enemy back to Casaret Tepe (the Nek).
3. Again, enemy forces in the Ariburnu sector, which were strengthened by reinforcements, began to attack Chunuk Bair on 6 August 1915. At the end of the bloody battles, which continued uninterrupted, day and night, both sides suffered heavy casualties. Turkish soldiers stopped the enemy 25 metres from the line of hills around Chunuk Bair on the evening of 9 August 1915.
4. The Turkish counter-attack, due to the narrowness of the land between the trenches of the two sides, began as a bayonet charge on the morning of 10 August 1915. During the battles of Chunuk Bair, which became hellish under the thick fire of the enemy's naval artillery, Colonel Mustafa Kemal, Commander of the Anafarta Group, did not leave the observation points even for a minute. His life was saved by his watch in his breast pocket which was shattered by a piece of shrapnel. And so, at the end of this attack, the enemy was thrown back as far as Aghyl Dere.
5. That continuous attacks of the enemy forces, aimed to capture Chunuk Bair, the most important area and the peak of Gallipoli Peninsula and divide the Turkish forces into two and so conquer the Dardanelles, was unsuccessful due to the courageous defence operation and zeal of the heroic Turkish soldiers. During the battles fought in this sector, the Turkish army suffered around 9,200 casualties and the enemy 12,000.