About 10,000 people in the state of Kars, eastern Turkey, participated in a torch rally, to commemorate the 107th anniversary of the Battle of Sari Qamish, in which tens of thousands of Ottoman soldiers were martyred from the cold.
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The massive march with torches and flags started from the “Democratic July 15 Square” in the Sari Qamish district of Kars, after a mawlid was held in the “Kazim Qara Bakir Pasha Mosque” for the martyrs of the battle.
Despite the temperature dropping to minus 10 degrees, about 10,000 people, including soldiers, walked a distance of 3 kilometers to reach a cemetery for martyrs in the area.
Among the participants were the Wali of Kars Turker Oksuz, Deputy Minister of Family and Social Services Fatma Ungu and other officials.
The Battle of Sari Qamish took place between the Ottoman and Russian armies in eastern Anatolia during the First World War in 1915.
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The number of the Ottoman army martyrs in that battle exceeded 40,000 soldiers, most of whom died from the severe cold.
Anwar Pasha took command of the Ottoman army in the district of Sari Qamish, which is currently affiliated with the Wilayat of Kars.
And he decided to launch a three-pronged attack on the Russian army, which had occupied Ottoman lands since the “93 war” that took place between 1877-1878, such as Batumi, Kars, Sari Qamish, and Ardahan, with the aim of liberating them.
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The military campaign ended with a tragic end, in which tens of thousands of soldiers died from the cold, and thousands of others were captured and later died in exile in Siberia and Ukraine.
