Victory Day in Turkey (30/08)

Every year on August 30, Türkiye celebrates a big public holiday — Victory Day (tour. Zafer Bayramı) in honor of the decisive victory over the Greek occupiers and in memory of those killed in the Battle of Dumlupinar, which ended the Turkish War of Independence in 1922.

The Battle of Dumlupinar was the last in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919—1922, which in turn was part of the Turkish War of Independence. The Turkish army was led by Mustafa Kemal (1881-1938) —, a future Turkish politician, the first president of the Republic of Turkey.

On August 26, 1922, Mustafa Kemal ordered an attack on the enemy, and on August 30, the largest four-day battle at Dumlupinar, in the province of Kütahya, ended, in which the Turkish army inflicted a crushing defeat on Greek troops forced to retreat to Izmir. Turkish troops entered the city following the Greeks and set it on fire — Izmir was completely destroyed, and civilian casualties — are incalculable. To this day, Greeks and Turks hold each other responsible for that terrible fire.

On October 20, 1922, a peace conference was held in Lausanne, in which representatives of Great Britain, France, Italy, Turkey and other countries took part. The treaty signed in Lausanne consolidated Turkey's independence and firmly established its borders. It also regulated population exchanges between Greece and Turkey.

On Victory Day, concerts, military parades and militarized ceremonies are held throughout the country, accompanied by a Janissary march designed to strengthen the connection of times in the mass consciousness.

This day (Zafir Bairam) is also celebrated by Turkish Cypriots.

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