Martyrs' Memorial

Çekerek district was originally known as Hacıköy, a village center under Sivas province's Zile district. When the district seat moved to Kadışehri in 1924–25, Hacıköy came under that district; a year later the seat returned to Hacıköy, and when Sorgun subsequently became a district, Hacıköy remained a village attached to it. Hacıköy was made a sub-district (bucak) of Sorgun in 1928, and finally became its own district in 1944, taking the name Çekerek from the river running through it. In the early years of the Turkish War of Independence, the Aynacıoğlu clan, based in the district's Özüveren village, raised an armed band of irregulars and raided the districts of Zile and Akdağ. National Forces (Kuvâ-yı Milliye) troops under Major Ali Galip Bey engaged the Aynacıoğlus near Koyunculu village to suppress the revolt, but were captured after the village imam, Osman Yılmaz ("Kör Hoca," the Blind Cleric), collaborated with the rebels — an episode remembered in Turkish history as the "Kör Hoca Incident." The Aynacıoğlus subsequently killed Ali Galip Bey and six fellow officers near Mount Deveci, close to Fakıdağ. Later, through the efforts of Ali Galip Bey's brother, a member of parliament, and the local community, the officers' remains were brought to Hacıköy — then the sub-district center — in 1935, where a martyrs' memorial was erected. Today the monument stands in Çekerek's Cumhuriyet Square, renewed in 1984: seven marble-clad blocks rise from a polygonal, marble-stepped pedestal within a triangular green space bordered by low iron railings, converging into a triangular form at the top. It was registered for protection in 1989 by the Kayseri Regional Board for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage.