Siller Cemetery

İlginç mezar taşları görülmeye değer. Yöneticiler daha fazla ilgi gösterse çok iyi olur.

قرية سيلة تبعد عن مدينة كونيا حوالي ١٠ الى١٥ كم هي قرية قديمة الطابع فيها نهر صغير وبالقرب منها يوجد بحيرة و منتزه. تمتاز القرية بجبالها التي حفر سكانها بيوتهم وقبورهم فيها وهي تشبه لحد كبير مدن وقرى كبدوكيا. أصبحت مؤخراً المكان الأفضل للسياح و لسكان مدينة كونيا بعد تنظيمها وفتح المقاهي والمطاعم فيها

Orthodox Türk Karamanidler lerin. Balbalları.

Tarihi bir mezarlık...

You can see this cemetery on a small hill by the side of the walkway leading to the “Time Museum” of Sille. The “Time Museum” is a small building displaying old clocks, watches, and time instruments. There is ample parking space there.
This is actually an old cemetery and is no longer being used. The tombstones there are very old and the engraved wording on most of them has eroded and disappeared. Other tombstones have even disintegrated with hardly any leftover remaining aboveground. I am attaching some photos showing what is still visible and/or legible.
Although the “Time Museum” building used to be a Church in the past, the wording engraved on the tombstones tells that the buried are Muslims. The wording is either in Arabic or in original Turkish which used to be written using the Arabic alphabet.
I could also notice that one of the tombstones shows that the deceased passed away in Islamic year 1340, the equivalent to Gregorian year 1922. The cemetery is accordingly more than 100 years old.
It is sad that the cemetery is not guarded, fenced, and well maintained. In my view, it is inappropriate to leave these tombstones subjected to weather’s eroding factors and allow them to decay without intervention.

General note about Sille:
Sille, also known as Sille Subaşı and historically Sylata, is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Selçuklu, northwest of Konya. To describe it practically, it is a peaceful village trying to find itself a place on the tourist attraction map. It does have some historical landmarks but seems to have been neglected in the past. You can now notice a serious effort by its Municipality to give it a new look, restore what needs to be restored, organize the streets and shopping locations, beautify the general look etc., in what seems to be a move to make it an elegant tourist destination. The efforts are noticeable and are moving in the right direction. I did enjoy a full day there and wouldn’t hesitate to visit it again if I happen to be in Konya.