Saturday August 30th, Zafer Bayrami, the victory day is celebrated. The day is celebrated in memory of the fighting forces in the Revolutionary War during the final battle in Dumlupinar. The battle marked the end of the Turkish War of Independence 1922.
Turkish War of Independence (Turkish: Istiklal Harbi, which literally just means the Revolutionary War) was a war of independence which took place May 19, 1919 to July 24, 1923 and conducted by Turkish nationalists against the Allies. After the Ottoman Empire‘s defeat in the First World War the country was divided up by the Allies. The Turkish nationalist movement in Anatolia culminated in the formation of a new National Assembly who successfully mobilized its resources under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk).
After the military campaigns against offensives in Greece, a Turkish–Armenian and French–Turkish War, Turkish revolutionaries forced the Allies to abandon the Sèvres treaty. The Lausanne Treaty was negotiated in July 1923. The Allies surrendered Anatolia and Eastern Thrace and the Republic of Turkey was thus founded in October 1923
The establishment of the Turkish national movement led to the end of the Ottoman millet system and with the help of Atatürk’s reforms a modern, secular nation-state was created.
Naturally Turkish Cypriots celebrates also this great day.
