The Bey of Kilis

Canbulat, the bey of Kilis, was one of the commanders of the Ottoman Army. In the name of Allah he urged his horse to go forward and rode right into the deadly wings. His body, armour and horse stopped the rotation of the wings and thus were his soldiers able to attack the gate. According to the tradition the hero Canbulat fought on the city wall carrying his severed head under his arm. His grave lies under the bastion. The tomb is a place of pilgrimage for Turks, ranking after the Hala Sultan Tekke outside Larnaca. Maybe it was the gate's glorious history that made the Turk Cypriots construct a memorial of the war in 1974 just inside the gate.