Battle of Otlukbeli Martyrs' Monument ( tr, Otlukbeli Savaşı Şehitleri Anıtı) is a

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

Otlukbeli Otlukbeli is a town and district of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey, Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The mayor is Vahdet Ercan (Justice and Development Party (Turkey), AKP). See also *Battle of Otlukbeli *Battle of Otlu ...

district of

Erzincan Province Erzincan Province ( tr, ; ku, Parezgêha Erzînganê) is a province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. In Turkey, its capital is also called Erzincan. The population was 236,034 in 2018. Geography Erzincan is traversed by the northeaste ...

eastern Turkey The Eastern Anatolia Region ('' tr, Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'') is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Black Se ...

. Opened in 2008, it is dedicated to the fallen soldiers in the

Battle of Otlukbeli The Battle of Otlukbeli or Otluk Beli was a battle between Aq Qoyunlu and the Ottoman Empire that was fought on August 11, 1473. Background In autumn of 1463, Republic of Venice opened negotiations with Uzun Hasan. In 1464, Uzun Hasan interven ...

(1473), with both belligerents,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and

Aq Qoyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu ( az, Ağqoyunlular , ) was a culturally Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two tribal confederations: Akkoyunlu (Wh ...

, being

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Turk states.

Battle

The Battle of Otlukbeli was fought between the eastbound-proceeding Ottoman forces commanded by Sultan

Mehmed II Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...

and the defending forces of Aq Qoyunlu ( tr, Akkoyunlular) Turcomans under

Uzun Hasan Uzun Hasan or Uzun Hassan ( اوزون حسن; fa, اوزون حسن; 1423 – January 6, 1478; where ''uzun'' means "tall" in Oghuz Turkic) was a ruler of the Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu state and is generally considered to be its strongest ruler. ...

near Otlukbeli on August 11, 1473. The cause of the conflict was that Uzun Hasan maintained ties with the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

s, who moved to the east after the conquest of their capital Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453. The battle lasted eight hours causing deaths of thousands of soldiers, and ended with the decisive victory of the Ottoman army, which used firearms and cannons not available to their enemy.

Monument

The district governor of Otlukbeli initiated the construction of a monument in 2008 near the village Küçükotlukbeli, which is north of Otlukbeli. It is situated close to the Lake Otlukbeli, aka Acıgöl (literally: Bitter Lake), a small nature reserve lake. It is built on an area of . The monument was inaugurated on August 11, 2008, on the 535th anniversary of the battle. The monument is notable because it features the reliefs of the commanders Mehmed II and Uzun Hasan, and is dedicated to all the dead soldiers from both sides.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , url=http://www.haberler.com/otlukbeli-ne-sehitlik-aniti-yapiliyor-haberi/ , newspaper=Haberler , title=Otlukbeli'ne Şehitlik Anıtı Yapılıyor , date=2008-06-23 , language=Turkish , accessdate=2014-09-08 {{cite news , url=http://www.otlukbelican.com/haber_detay.asp?haberID=321#.VA4R2mPUv2Q , newspaper=Otlukbeli Can , title=Otlukbeli Gölüne Ziyaretçi Akını , date=2012-08-27 , language=Turkish , accessdate=2014-09-08 {{cite news , url=http://www.gundem24.com/News-file-print-sid-3092.html , newspaper=Gündem 24 , title=Otlukbeli ilçesi'nde Açılışlar Zinciri , date=2008-08-17 , language=Turkish , accessdate=2014-09-08 Monuments and memorials in Turkey Cultural infrastructure completed in 2008 Buildings and structures in Erzincan Province Martyrs' monuments and memorials