Celebrating the 103rd anniversary of the Great Victory: August 30 Victory Day
In 1919, after the First World War, the Allied Powers began to invade Anatolia under various pretexts, based on the provisions of the Armistice of Mudros, and the Turkish nation, whose army was deprived of its ammunition, was tried to be left in a difficult situation.
During the occupation days described by the famous author Halide Edip Adıvar in her book "The Turk's Trial by Fire", the Allied fleet settled in Istanbul, the French in Adana, the British in Urfa, Maraş, Samsun and Merzifon, and the Italians in Antalya and the southwestern Anatolia. On May 15, 1919, with the permission of the Allied Powers, the Greek Army landed in Izmir.
In the face of this situation, the Turkish nation, with the "consciousness of nationhood" it has demonstrated throughout history, launched the Kuvayımilliye (National Forces) movement against the occupations. There were two options: either surrender to the occupying forces, or a country devastated and burned would rise again and rise from the ashes with the determination of its indomitable sons and daughters. With the opening of the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1920, the occupying forces concentrated all their oppressive policies on Atatürk and his comrades-in-arms, and activity began, especially on the Western Front. Repelling the Greek army, which had advanced as far as Polatlı in 1921, fell to the sons of this nation, who had just a few years earlier engraved the phrase "Çanakkale is impassable" in golden letters in historical literature. Following a year-long preparation period aimed at completely expelling the enemy army, which had been halted after 22 days and 22 nights of bloody fighting at Sakarya, Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Pasha launched the Great Offensive on August 26, 1922.
On the morning of August 26, Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal, along with Chief of General Staff Fevzi Pasha (Çakmak) and Western Front Commander İsmet Pasha (İnönü), took up positions at Kocatepe, within the Afyonkarahisar border, to direct the battle. The operation, which began at dawn with artillery fire, continued at dawn, and Turkish troops launched an attack, capturing Tınaztepe and driving the enemy from Belentepe and Kalecik Sivrisi. On the first day of the offensive, units of the 1st Army captured the enemy's first line positions in a 15-kilometer area between Büyük Kaleciktepe and Çiğiltepe. The 5th Cavalry Corps successfully attacked enemy transport columns in the enemy's rear, while the 2nd Army continued its reconnaissance mission on the front without interruption.
The Turkish army launched a renewed offensive on all fronts on the morning of August 27, and the same day, Afyonkarahisar was liberated from enemy occupation by the 8th Division. The offensive, successfully continued on August 28th and 29th, culminated in the neutralization of the enemy's 5th Division. The commanders, assessing the situation on the night of August 29th, agreed on immediate action and a swift conclusion to the offensive. Necessary measures were taken to ensure the plan was implemented without delay on August 30th.
On the eve of the Turkish Army's most significant victory in the War of Independence, on the morning of August 30th, Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Pasha ordered an attack on troops at Zafertepe Çalköy, now part of the Altıntaş district of Kütahya province. In the pitched battle at Dumlupınar, which he personally led, his heroic soldiers completely surrounded and destroyed Greek troops on both sides of the road from Allıören, Keçiler, and Kızıltaş Stream. Some Greek troops, General Trikopis, General Diyenis, and many Greek commanders escaped through the open area left in the Kızıltaş Stream area. The day after the Great Victory, on August 31st, Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal placed a map of the battlefield on a broken oxcart in the garden of a house in Zafertepe Çalköy. After assessing the situation with Fevzi Pasha and İsmet Pasha, they agreed to enter İzmir to prevent the Greeks from taking up defensive positions and to defeat them.
In a communiqué published in Dumlupınar on September 1st, following the Great Victory, to be read to all officers and men on the Western Front, Mustafa Kemal Pasha stated the following: "Armies of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, in the Great Field Battle of Afyonkarahisar-Dumlupınar, you destroyed the fundamental existence of a cruel and proud army in an incredibly short time. You have proven yourself worthy of the sacrifices of our great and distinguished nation. Our master, the great Turkish nation, is right to have confidence in its future. I have closely observed and observed your successes and sacrifices on the battlefield. I will not relent and will continuously fulfill my duty to mediate the conveyance of our nation's praise to you. I have ordered the Front Command to submit a recommendation for reward to the Commander-in-Chief." I demand that all my friends advance, bearing in mind that further field battles will be fought in Anatolia, and that everyone, using the resources of their intellect and patriotism, continue the race with all their might. Armies, your first target is the Mediterranean, forward! The liberation of Afyonkarahisar on 27 August and Kütahya on 30 August was followed by the liberation of Gediz on 1 September, and Emet and Tavşanlı on 3 September. The Turkish army, which drove the Greek Army into the sea at İzmir on 9 September, carried out Mustafa Kemal Pasha's order with great success.
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