Kopay Army Base is a

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

Kopay Kopay ( ta, கோப்பாய், translit=Kōppāy) is a town about 4 km from the city of Jaffna along Point Pedro road. An agricultural town consisting mainly of vegetable farms, paddy fields and coconut gardens. The suburb Kopay is ble ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The base was built on a

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

war cemetery A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to be ...

History

Flags Kopai Heroes Graveyard Jaffna 2004

In the early 1990s, when the

rebel A rebel is a participant in a rebellion. Rebel or rebels may also refer to: People * Rebel (given name) * Rebel (surname) * Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution * American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; s ...

(LTTE) controlled the

Valikamam Valikamam ( ta, வலிகாமம் valikāmam, si, වැලිගම) is one of the three historic regions of Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. The other two regions are Thenmarachchi and Vadamarachchi. Alternative spellings includ ...

region of Jaffna peninsula, they built a ''thuyilum illam'' (resting place) for their ''maaveerar'' (great heroes) in

. After the

Sri Lankan military The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka encompassing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force; they are governed by the Ministry of Defence (Sri Lank ...

recaptured Valikamam in 1995 they destroyed the LTTE cemetery using tractors. After the Norwegian mediated peace process began in 2002 the LTTE started rebuilding their war cemeteries including that at Kopay. After the Sri Lankan Civil War ended in May 2009 with military defeat of the LTTE the Sri Lankan government/military re-commenced destroying LTTE war cemeteries and other memorials for dead LTTE members. In July 2010 the Sri Lankan military destroyed Kopay war cemetery. The cemetery had had 2,000 graves. The Sri Lankan military then started building an army base on the site of the cemetery. On 4 March 2011 the new headquarters of the

Sri Lanka Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...

's 51 Division was officially opened by

Jagath Jayasuriya General Jagath Jayasuriya, VSV, USP is a retired senior Sri Lanka Army officer; he was the Chief of Defence Staff of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and Commander of the Sri Lankan Army. During the closing stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, h ...

, Commander of the Army.

References

Military installations in Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Army bases {{SriLanka-struct-stub