Cycling 1879 Kilometres in January to Remember Sarikamish Martyrs

On 100th anniversary of Sarıkamış tragedy, the cyclists who set to road from Istanbul reached Sarıkamış, Kars reported Aydınlık daily on January 4th. This was the 6th cycling tour organized in tribute to the memory of Sarıkamış martyrs. The group cycled all the way through and had a difficult time between Ardahan and Kars because of cold weather as explained by Tuna Akyüz, the  group leader[1].

Tens of thousands of people came together to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Sarıkamış operation in Kars. The event, titled “Turkey Walks on Martyrs' Path” began with participants marching the same 8.5-kilometer route that Turkish soldiers used during World War I, despite cold weather conditions and a temperature of around -10 Celsius. Some foreign representatives were also in attendance. “[Such] ceremonies should strengthen our unity and solidarity. Maybe then our martyrs can rest in peace,” Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek said during the commemoration seremony. [2].

Let’s read Garekin Pasdermadjian (Armen Garo)’s lines about Sarıkamış Battle and the role of Armenians in the defeat of Ottoman Army by the Russians:

“The ninth army corps was to advance toward Ardahan by  way of Olti and from there to march on Tiflis by way of Akhalkalag, when it should receive word that the tenth army corps had already captured Sarikamish and cut off the retreat of the Russian army of 60,000 men ; while the eleventh army corps was to attack the centre of the Russian army near the frontier. The ninth army corps, in three days and without difficulty, reached Ardahan, where the local Moslem inhabitants assisted it in every possible way. The tenth army corps, during its march from Olti to Sarikamish, suffered a delay of twenty-four hours in the Barduz Pass, due to the heroic resistance of the fourth battalion of the Armenian volunteers which made up the Russian reserve. This delay of twenty-four hours enabled the Russians to concentrate a sufficient force around Sarikamish (which had been left entirely  undefended) and thereby force back the ninth corps of the Turkish army. The Turks were so certain of the success of their plan that they had no transports with them and no extra supply of provisions. Opposite Sarikamish, where a battle was waged for three days and three nights, the Turks suffered a loss of 30,000 men, mostly due to cold rather than to the Russian arms. But if the Turkish army corps had reached Sarikamish twenty-four hours earlier, as was expected, it would have confronted only one battalion of Russian reserves, and that without artillery.  This was the invaluable service rendered to the Russian army by the fourth battalion of the Armenian volunteers under the command of the matchless Keri. Six hundred Armenian veterans fell in the Barduz Pass, and at such a high price saved the 60,000 Russians from being taken prisoners by the Turks. This great service of the Armenians to the Russian army was announced at the time by Enver Pasha himself, when he returned to Constantinople immediately after his defeat. From that time on the government at Constantinople laid the blame of its defeat at the door of the Armenians, as a preliminary step in its preparation for the execution of its already-planned massacres of the Armenian people.” [3]

Isn’t it interesting that Armenians get angry when Tashnak  contribution to Russian victory is described as betrayal by Turks. Readers of this blog will probably remember that Pasdermadjian was a Member of Parliament  not in Russia, but in the Ottoman Empire. Pasdermadjian is regarded as a hero by Armenians so far as it appears in Internet sources.

At this time of the year, not only Sarıkamış martyrs, but also 3000 elderly and children who froze on Kargapazarı Mountain in Erzurum who had volunteered to distract the Russian Army to enable the Ottoman Army to retreat should be remembered. All of the volunteer children and elderlies died either because of cold or shellings by Russians in 1916[4].  If  the  cycling tour is materialized next year  for the 7th time, I hope,  Kargapazarı civilian martyrs will also be remembered, even if they probably cannot be visited at the same time under harsh winter conditions. We should in fact remember all losses of WWI and War of Independence with gratitude, respect  and affection.

Sources

1) Sarıkamış şehitleri için bin 879 km pedal çevirdiler. Aydınlık. 4.1.2015. p.20

2) Turkey commemorates fallen soldiers of WWI in Sarıkamış. Hürriyet Daily News . 05.01.2015. Accessed at
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-commemorates-fallen-soldiers-of-wwi-in-sarikamis---.aspx?pageID=238&nID=76493&NewsCatID=341 on 06.01.2015

3)Pasdermadjian, G. ( Armen Gar) (1918). Why Armenia should be free : Armenia's role in the present war. Boston: Hairanik. https://archive.org/details/whyarmeniashould00garo. Accessed on 16.02.2014.

4) Türk Ordusu'nu imhadan kurtaran Erzurumlu 3 bin şehit vefa bekliyor. Gazete Gerçek. 29.12.2012. Accessed at http://www.gazetegercek.com/turk-ordusunu-imhadan-kurtaran-erzurumlu-3-bin-sehit-vefa-bekliyor.html on 04.01.2015