Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, lawmakers, generals and a large crowd were among those who arrived in Afyonkarahisar in western Türkiye on Sunday and Monday to mark the anniversary of the Great Offensive.
Afyonkarahisar was the starting point of the offensive, a major campaign by ragtag Turkish forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Türkiye.
The Great Offensive was the second-largest victory against occupying Greek forces after the Battle of Sakarya in 1921, again in August, as part of the Turkish army’s campaign to ensure the country’s independence following the end of World War I when the Ottoman Empire accepted defeat. Atatürk, an Ottoman general who went on to be the first president of the republic, had decided to go ahead with the offensive in June 1922 with his Ankara-based forces. It would serve as the final blow to Greek occupation forces who were shaken by the Battle of Sakarya.
After months of preparations and deployment of weapons and soldiers from all across the country, the offensive began on Aug. 26, with artillery fire on Greek forces in Afyonkarahisar. Within hours, Turkish forces managed to capture strategic points and recaptured Afyonkarahisar from the Greeks in a day. By Aug. 30, the Greek forces were completely defeated.
As the Greeks started to withdraw, Atatürk would give his famous order, “Armies! Your first goal is the Mediterranean! Forward!” and the army chased away all Greek troops disorderly retreating to the Aegean region in the west of the country.
Eventually, Turkish forces recaptured Izmir from all occupying forces on Sept. 9.
On Monday, Kurtulmuş and dignitaries first attended a ceremony in Kocatepe, a hill where Atatürk gave his orders to start the offensive. They laid wreaths at a statue of Atatürk in his military garb. The solemn ceremony began with the recitation of the Anthem of Independence adapted by the fledgling republic to honor the nation’s fight for independence in the post-Ottoman era. Visitors also paid tribute to Capt. Agah Efendi, one of the first casualties of the offensive who led a division at the forefront of the attack. The captain was killed on the second day in a battle to capture a hill from the Greeks.
In a separate event to mark the anniversary on Sunday evening, Kurtulmuş praised the fight for independence that reflected the resolve of Atatürk and his comrades to establish a new state in Ankara. “Combined with the battle of the troops and commitment of Turkish women who supplied them, it was the crowning achievement of a liberation saga,” Kurtulmuş said.
The Great Offensive ended with Turks taking back Izmir on the Aegean coast, which had been under Greek control since May 15, 1919. Leaders of the Turkish forces led by Atatürk later went on to sign the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923, which overturned the post-World War I Treaty of Sevres that was imposed on the defeated Ottoman Empire.
Later that year, on Nov. 29, 1923, the Republic of Türkiye was declared with its capital Ankara, putting an end to the six-century-long Ottoman Empire.
