Sarıkamış or Sarikamish (,
) is a town in
Kars Province in the
Eastern Anatolia Region of
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 ...
. It is the seat of
Sarıkamış District.
[İlçe Belediyesi]
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023. Its population is 15,260 (2022).
The town is perhaps best known for being the site of the
Battle of Sarikamish
The Battle of Sarikamish was an engagement between the Russian Empire, Russian and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empires during World War I. It took place from December 22, 1914, to January 17, 1915, as part of the Caucasus campaign.
The battle resul ...
, one of the major battles of the
Caucasus front of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
History
For most of the 19th century, Sarikamish was an insignificant settlement that was divided into two parts: upper Sarikamish and lower Sarikamish.
Obsidian
Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...
from Sarikamish was found at several
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
sites in South Caucasus, such as at
Aratashen, and at Khramis Didi-gora dating from the 6th millennium BC. Obsidian from
Meydan DaÄŸ (to the south of Sarikamish) was also found in South Caucasus.
During the later history, nearby archaeological sites date from
Urartian times: there is a Urartian fortress on a hill beside upper Sarikamish, another, away, beside Chatak village, and a third, away, at a site known as Yedikilise. In 1878, archaeologist Alexander Yeritsian discovered near Sarıkamış a cuneiform inscription made during the reign of Urartian king
Argishti I. To the east and south of the town, in the forests of Soğanlı, there were many medieval
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
monasteries, but most were in ruins by 1878.
Seljuk sultan
Alp Arslan invaded the Sarikamish area including
Allahüekber and Soğanlı mountains in 1064, only a few years prior to the battle of
Manzikert between the armies of
Alp Arslan and
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
s. The area was then taken by
Selim I
Selim I (; ; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute (), was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite lasting only eight years, his reign is ...
in 1514 and became a ''liva'' of
Kars ''sancak'' of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
.
In the 19th century, the region around Sarikamish became a conflict zone between the
Ottoman and
Russian empires. Battles took place at nearby Zivin in 1829, 1855 and 1877.
After the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, Sarikamish became part of the Russian empire, incorporated within the militarily administered
Kars Oblast, which was renowned for the extreme ethnic diversity of its population. Lower Sarikamish developed into a small, modern town. Being close to the Ottoman border, it was also a military station with barracks for two regiments. It had a railway station that was the railhead for the line running from
Kars and
Alexandropol
Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...
.
Battle of Sarikamish
An important battle took place between the armies of the Ottoman and Russian empires in and around the city in late December 1914-January 1915 as part of the
Caucasus Campaign of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
Enver Pasha
İsmâil Enver (; ; 23 November 1881 – 4 August 1922), better known as Enver Pasha, was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish people, Turkish military officer, revolutionary, and Istanbul trials of 1919–1920, convicted war criminal who was a p ...
, the leader of the
Ittihat ve Terakki party in Istanbul, personally led the army along with
Hafiz Hakki Pasha, who was his brother in-law, to scale the
Mount Allahu Ekber and afterwards attack the Russian army in Sarikamish. Enver Pasha intended to occupy the town in order to halt logistic support to the city of
Kars, which the Turks lost to the Russians in 1878, and which he was planning to reoccupy.
In mid December, Enver Pasha entered the Caucasus region through Armenia. Enver ordered his forces to attack along many routes with the goal of arriving suddenly at Sarikamis at the same time. The chief German military advisor,
Liman von Sanders strongly argued against this plan but was ignored. Governor
General Vorontsov planned to withdraw his forces to the city of Kars. But General
Yudenich, in charge of the defense of the area, ignored Vorontsov's wishes to withdraw and instead stayed to defend Sarikamis.
Enver's forces lost touch with one another and arrived at Sarakamis at different times from December 29 through 3 January. The first divisions to arrive briefly took control of the barracks in the western part of the city but were driven off. In the following days, as more Ottoman forces arrived at the battle, they attacked without coordination and the Russians under the skillful command of Yudenich fought off the attacks one by one. The battle finally ended on January 4 and the Ottoman army retreated in complete disorganization back through the mountains in the middle of winter.
The number of Turkish losses is estimated to be 60,000-80,000 dead out of an army of 90,000. It is very likely that the majority of Turkish soldiers died because of inadequate winter clothing and field shelters during the attack and retreat. In any event, this was an extraordinarily costly defeat for the Turks; in losses this was the worst single defeat they suffered in the entire war. Turkish soldiers reached their targets but they were too weak to win. The Russian casualties were estimated at 35,000.
As one German officer attached to the army wrote later, the Ottoman 3rd army had "suffered a disaster which for rapidity and completeness is without parallel in military history."
Climate
Sarıkamış has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Dfb''),
with cool summers and very cold winters.
See also
*
Soğuksu Nature Park, a 2011-established nature park southeast of Sarıkamış.
References
External links
360 Degree Panoramic Photos / Sarıkamış Virtual Tour, 360TR.COM, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarikamis
District municipalities in Turkey
Ski areas and resorts in Turkey
Populated places in Kars Province
Sarıkamış District
Kars oblast
Kurdish settlements in Turkey