Sunday was the 106th anniversary of the Caucasian Islamic Army taking back Baku from Bolshevik and Armenian gangs. A campaign largely assisted by the Ottoman Empire, the episode cemented the future full independence of Azerbaijan.
Turkish diplomats and citizens joined a commemoration ceremony at Baku Turkish Cemetery of Martyrs in memory of people who died during the liberation as anthems of Azerbaijan and Türkiye were recited.
The campaign to liberate Baku came only a few months after the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of the Republic of Türkiye, signed the Treaty of Batumi with the fledgling Turkic republic that stipulated Turkish military assistance against security risks and paved the way for recognition of Azerbaijan’s independence. The treaty was signed in Batumi of Georgia as Azerbaijan’s leadership was not in Baku, which was occupied by Armenian militants and the Bolsheviks.
Ottoman War Minister Enver Pasha, assigned his brother Nuri, a young officer, to create an army to help Azerbaijan. Nuri Pasha formed the Caucasian Islamic Army, which consisted of several military units, including those that served in World War I's Palestine Front and marched to Azerbaijan. The 11,000-strong army was joined by some 1,000 Azerbaijani troops, who cleared several smaller towns from the occupiers before reaching Baku. On Sept. 15, 1918, after 30 hours of intense clashes, Baku was liberated. Ottoman troops received a fervent welcome from Azerbaijanis in Baku and stayed for a while. But in less than two months, they had to withdraw when the Ottoman Empire, defeated in World War I, was forced to withdraw troops under a treaty it signed with the victors.
Today, Azerbaijan remembers 1,130 martyrs of the army whose graves are located in Baku and towns they helped to liberate.
Enver Pasha, an adherent of pan-Turkic ideals, remained so throughout his life and traveled to the budding Soviet Union after the war, where he fought the Bolshevik occupation and was killed by an Armenian soldier near Dushanbe, of present-day Tajikistan.
Nuri Pasha, who took the last name Killigil after the foundation of the republic, also worked for the independence of Azerbaijan long after the war, though his efforts were unsuccessful. In his later years, he focused on weapons production, sowing the seeds for the local defense industry. He was killed in a 1949 explosion in his weapons factory in Istanbul.
