The First Bullet Monument (İlk Kurşun Anıtı) stands near Konak Square, commemorating the Turkish resistance to the Greek occupation of Smyrna in May 1919. The occupation began on 15 May 1919, when Greek troops landed at the port and marched into the city under Allied supervision — triggering a war that lasted until 1922 and ended with the population exchanges and the great fire that destroyed the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city.
The monument is a significant site in Turkish national memory, marking what is described as the symbolic first act of resistance in the Turkish War of Independence. It stands a short walk from the İzmir Clock Tower, making it easy to include in any exploration of the Konak area. The contrast between the monument's martial subject and the gentle civic life of the square around it gives some sense of how much this city has absorbed.