Çakırözü is a village in the

Şuhut District Şuhut District is a Districts of Turkey, district of Afyonkarahisar Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town Şuhut.

Afyonkarahisar Province Afyonkarahisar Province (), often shortened to Afyon Province, is a Provinces of Turkey, province in western Turkey. Its area is 14,016 km2, and its population is 747,555 (2022). The provincial capital is Afyonkarahisar. Adjacent provinces a ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 1,135 (2021).

Victory Trail

Çakırözü is the starting point of a public marching, which is held to commemorate the begin of the

Great Offensive The Great Offensive () was the largest and final military operation of the Turkish War of Independence, fought between the Turkish Armed Forces loyal to the government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and the Kingdom of Greece, ending ...

on August 26, 1922. Every year beginning on August 25, events, called "Victory Week" (), are held in the region, where the

Battle of Dumlupınar The Battle of Dumlupınar (, ), or known as Field Battle of the Commander-in-Chief () in Turkey, was one of the important battles in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) (part of the Turkish War of Independence). The battle was fought from 26 ...

took place, marking the last fight of the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

. Following celebrations organized by the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces () is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for Army, land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the ...

in the stadium of the district

Şuhut Şuhut (Ottoman Turkish language, Ottoman Turkish شهود ''Şuhūd'';Tahir Sezen, ''Osmanlı Yer Adları'', Ankara 2017, T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü Yayın No: 2''s.v.'', p. 731/ref> formerly Ancient Greek Σύννα ...

, the crowd of some thousands arrives in Çakırözü and departs by foot at 23:00 local time heading Kocatepe, a three-hour marching, called the Victory March (Zafer Yürüyüşü), with torches in the night. The top leaders of the Turkish military, Commander-in-Chief

Mustafa Kemal Pasha Mustafa () is one of the names of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic language, Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in t ...

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afghanistan) * Chief of the General Staff (Albania) * C ...

Fevzi Pasha and Commander of the Western Army İsmet Pasha, progressed on this trail, what is now named the "Victory Trail" (Zafer Yolu), in the eve of the Great Offensive in 1922 to arrive in Kocatepe, where they set up their quarters in the early morning for the final battle.

References

Villages in Şuhut District {{Afyonkarahisar-geo-stub