It is one of Istanbul’s oldest cemeteries and once stretched from Eğrikapı to the Golden Horn. It is said that those who fell as martyrs along the land walls during the conquest of the city were buried here. Known to contain many gravestones dating from the late 15th to the early 16th centuries, this cemetery was sacrificed to ring road construction (almost entirely during roadwork in 1968); and as a result, only a few small fragments have survived to the present day. It takes its name from Tokmak Dede, who passed away in 1456. Tokmak Dede was one of the saints from Bukhara who came to Istanbul with the conquering army. Tokmak Dede’s grave, originally buried near the Ya Vedüd Mausoleum, was lost over time. This area, where the martyrs who participated in the conquest of Istanbul were collectively buried, expanded over time. Some of the gravestones from the expropriated land were relocated1 to the Davutağa Cemetery.
Some of the gravestones here were transcribed by Muhammet Erdi Gökyar, Furkan Yiğit Gürleyik, and Ahmet Yurtbakan.
The Tomb of Nakkaş Osman Ağa
He is the Ever-Living
; He has transferred
him from this world to the hereafter. May God make his grave a garden of Paradise
. El-Fatiha for the soul of the late Nakkaş Osman
Ağa.
On the 25th of Rabi’ al-Awwal (R) in the year 1236 AH / January 30, 1821
The Tomb of Gazi İsmail Beşe
The late and
forgiven Gazi
Ismail Beşe
for the repose of his soul
Fatiha
Year H. 1124 – M. 1712
Gravestone of İbrahim Alemdar of Tokat
[……].. a prayer of longing
[….] if it is for me today, it is
for you tomorrow. O budding rose that never sated its youth, never reached its
desire—do you ask?
For the soul of the late Ibrahim Alemdar
of Tokat
, of the thirty-sixth division, a Fatiha—Year 1227
