Needed in time of crisis and cast aside in times of peace, the executioners of the Ottoman Empire were neglected when they passed away and remain neglected today.

On a windy afternoon, when even the intense sunlight couldn't keep the cold from chilling a person to their bones, crowds of people were visiting their dearly departed or laying them to rest at Istanbul's Eyüp Sultan Cemetery, located in one of the most scenic areas of the city.

Walking along the path at Pierre Loti Heights, passing the famous coffee house, you come to the tomb of Karyağdı Baba. Just behind it are several tall, rectangular gravestones with no identifying marks. They seem misplaced, forlorn, among the other gravestones, which are meticulously inscribed. These are the graves of the executioners of the Ottoman Empire, witnesses to an unappreciated and mostly forgotten history.

Executioners' graves were purposefully separated from the rest in the past. However, as Istanbul grew, excess space in the cemetery, which has spread out into the desolate Karyağdı (Snowfall) Heights, shrank.

In Ottoman times, executioners were always hovering in the minds of royalty. The firing of a vizier was almost unheard of in the days of the early Ottoman sultans, who usually sent their unfortunate assistants to the gallows. There was also the troubled rule of succession, which gave any man born of a sultan the right to the throne. Until the 18th century, most sultans executed their brothers upon accession to the throne to remove all threats.

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