Armenian Genocide: My Story: Sarikamish : Remembering Martyrs versus Celebration

Thousands of young people from 81 provinces of Turkey set to road on the 3rd of January and met at Kızılçubuk village nearby Sarıkamış (Sarikamish) to march 8.4 kilometres. They first climbed up to Soganli Peak of Allahuekber Mountain, then visited the Martyrs Memorial and joined the remembrance ceremony. The altitude of Soganli is 2.800 metres and the temperature was minus 13 °C. The snow was 40 centimeter thick and it was still snowing. Each one said "Grandpa, I've come!" Grandpas were young soldiers on December 22, 1914 when they joined the Caucasus Campaign to confront the Russian Army. They had come in summer uniforms to this place where “temperatures can drop to as low as −50°C, and winter snows are often best measured in feet or even meters”^[1]. During the campaign which ended on January 5, 1915, the Ottoman casualties were estimated between 60.000 - 90.000. Most of them froze to death before they could reach the front and most of those who were not frozen could not resist typhus fever epidemic or became prisoners of war and very few soldiers survived.

In his book titled The Genocide of the Truth, Şükrü Server Aya^[2] summarizes the Campaign as follows, quoting from Sonyel:

Marching towards the peak

“... in the winter of 1914, the Ottoman Army set out to regain the provinces it had lost to Russia in 1828 and 1878. Enver Pasha had assumed the title of acting Commander-in-chief of the Ottoman armies on Oct. 21st, 1914, personally led the Ottoman 3rd Army in the Caucasus Campaign, but his 100 000 -man force was decimated at Sarikamis in January 1915 by the bitter cold weather and by the stubborn resistance of several Russian divisions assisted by three Armenian volunteer units from Transcaucasia. The Armenians were hailed by all leading organs of the Russian press as the ‘saviors’ of the Caucasus. According to the May 14th, 1915 issue of the Italian newspaper, Tribuna, Enver Pasha accused the Armenians as traitors and this accusation was probably correct for Armenians never failed, under any circumstance, to desire the triumphant march of Russia, and to help towards it... ‘They hoped to see the salvation reborn from the embers of Europe in conflagration’, declared the paper. The way was prepared for a new Russian push into eastern Anatolia to be accompanied by an open revolt against the Sultan.”


Batum, Ardahan, Kars, Sarikamish & Erzurum(my hometown)

Russia had already gained Batumi (Batoum), Kars and Ardahan in 1878 with the Treaty of Berlin and Sarikamish had become the border and at that time was intending to assault further towards Erzurum with an ambition to expand southward. Neiberg describes the losses for the Ottoman Empire as significant in his book titled Fighting the Great War, and adds that “their reconquest quickly became a major aim for Ottoman forces.”

Sarıkamış Battle was one of the most severe tragedies of the WWI. Enver Pasha and CUP have been heavily blamed for not waiting until spring or at least winter clothes and other requirements were provided, for not being able to devise a better strategy and for having unrealistic goals. However we should also note that road and rail links from western and central Turkey to the Caucasus were few and primitive. The nearest railway station at Ulukışla was 900 km away and the Blacksea was no longer safe for delivery of supplies for the Ottoman Army^[3], while Russian Transcaucasus Railway had been extended to Sarıkamış in 1913^[4]. It is best to leave any judgement to specialists while we remember those who lost their lives.

Reaching the peak!

As I was browsing web for resources about this tragic campaign, I came across a celebration written in 2011 and was astounded. It was titled “The Battle of Sarikamish - February, 2011 : I wish you all a Happy Sarikamish!”, was written two years ago and published at the blog “The Rise of Russia”. In the article the city of Kars was mentioned as “Armenian city of Kars”. Historically this is correct, but that was milleniums ago. Since late 1230s Kars is a Turkish city. According to 1892 Russian census data, Russians formed 7% of the population, Pontic Greeks 13.5%, Kurds 15%, Turks 24%, Karapapakhs 14%, Turkmen 5%, and Armenians were only 21.5% of the population, although 11.000 people migrated to the Ottoman Empire, and many Armenians and Pontic Greeks migrated to the region after the city was yielded to Russia in 1878 ^[6] . --Kars was retaken by the republican forces in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence.-- The celebration article starts reading “….I am proudly commemorating the 96th anniversary of an epic Russo-Armenian military campaign that inflicted upwards of 100,000 casualties upon Ottoman army regulars at the battle of Sarikamish”, and ends saying: “Happy Sarikamish! And let's collectively pray that Sarikamish II (of course without the first one's Bolshevik ending) is not too far down the Anatolian road.”

Such an ambition and that kind of hatred is beyond my grasp. I hope not many people on this earth have got this kind of thinking and feelings. Let’s listen to Maya Angelou: "We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising" ^[7]. Please remember, not through hatred, but only through friendship we can foster peace and a better future on our planet.

References

1. Neiberg, Michael S.. Fighting the Great War : A Global History. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press, 2005. p 119. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/tobb/Doc?id=10314297&ppg=140.Accessed: 21.01.2013
2.Aya, Şükrü Server. The Genocide of the Truth. İstanbul Ticaret Universitesi, 2008. http://www.cptstrs.org/THE%20GENOCIDE%20OF%20TRUTH.Vol.1.pdf Accessed: 23.01.2013
3.Balci, Ramazan. “Sarıkamış taarruzunda felaketin sebepleri,” in Sarıkamış Şehitleri Özel. Kars Valiliği Kültür ve Turizm İl Müdürlüğü, 2008. pp.62-71.
4.Transcaucasus Railway. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcaucasus_Railway. Accessed: 27.01.2013
5.The Battle of Sarikamish -February, 2011 : I wish you all a Happy Sarikamish! http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2011/02/battle-of-sarikamish-february-2011.html". Accessed: 27.01.2013
6. Kars. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kars#Population. Accessed: 26.01.2013< 7.http://www.betterworld.net/quotes/future-quotes.htm. Accessed: 26.01.2013

NB. For those who are interested in this tragic event I suggest watching the film 120, in which during the Sarikamis Battle, the Ottoman army runs out of ammunition and appeals to the people of Van for help, who happen to have supplies. However, the First World War is on and all men are fighting at four corners of the empire and therefore can not respond to the appeal. The young children of Van want to do something. When the Principal of a school, who has lost a son in the war, suggests that the ammunition be transported to Sarikamis, 120 young boys aged 12 to 17 volunteer and take to the road. The movie tells the true story of the 120 boys and their sisters and mothers left behind, who wait for their return…. I am sorry, I could not find a version with English subtitles on youtube. Turkish version is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cq9jO9FTgE.
For details of the movie please visit IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1166085

Meral, who joined the march and the remembrance ceremony in the group of hearing-impaired young people from Ankara, kindly shared her photos with me. You see some of them on this page.