Türkiye is celebrating its 102nd Victory Day, commemorating the resounding defeat of the occupying Greek armies at the Battle of Dumlupinar in 1922.
The battle was part of the Great Offensive launched by the Turkish Armed Forces on August 26, 1922, under the leadership of the Turkish Republic's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and ended on September 18 that year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, senior government and high-ranking military officials laid a wreath at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Ataturk in the capital Ankara, to mark the victory.
Extending his congratulations to Turkish people around the world, President Erdogan stressed that with the battle on August 30, the occupation forces were “decisively defeated, the axis of imperialism was shattered, and the doors to the proclamation of the Republic were thrown wide open.”
Erdogan emphasised that with the Great Victory, which Ataturk described as “the immortal monument of the Turkish Nation’s idea of freedom and independence,” the Turkish nation declared to the whole world that "it would not let shackles be put on its will, and that it would never compromise on living independently in its homeland.”
He further reiterated Türkiye’s commitment to aiding oppressed populations worldwide, saying: "We are mobilising all our means and resources to stop the conflicts, oppressions, and massacres occurring in different parts of the world, particularly in Gaza."
Ending occupation
Türkiye was occupied by Allied forces after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I (1914-1918).
Victors of the war, also known as the Entente Powers, landed in present-day Türkiye in 1919, occupying large swathes of land based on the provisions of the Armistice of Mudros.
The foreign occupation prompted Türkiye’s War of Independence in 1919, in which Turkish forces – led by Ataturk – eventually drove the invaders from Anatolia.
From August 26 to August 30 of 1922, Turkish forces fought the Battle of Dumlupinar (considered part of the Greco-Turkish War) in Türkiye’s western Kutahya province, where Greek forces were decisively defeated.
By the end of 1922, all foreign forces had left the territories which would collectively become the new Republic of Türkiye one year later.
