Since there is an important military base (of the Turkish navy) in Karamürsel, some 100 m from the memory column for the civil victims amongst the inhabitants of the municipality (seen in the background of this picture) stands another monument for victims of the earthquake of 17 August 1999: those amongst the military, which were numerous too.

This 1999 ‘Kocaeli/Gölcük earthquake’ had a 7.4 magnitude and struck northwestern Turkey on 17 August 1999, at about 3:02am local time. The event lasted for 37 seconds, killing around 17 thousand people and leaving approximately half a million people homeless. Even though official sources state casualties 17,000 people, non-official sources consider the casualties up to 35,000 people.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Source: Wikipedia & own stay in Central Turkey in those days.