Bolayir Battle And Şarköy Landing Defeats In The Centenary Of Balkan Wars And Debates Taken Place On Them

One of the most important series of wars which accelerated the collapse of the Ottoman Empire is the Balkan Wars after which Balkan lands were lost. The Ottoman Empire was forced to fight first time against four state was born from within their own. The development favor of these states the war that Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro were initiated in order to expand the boundaries confused all states. The main reason for this confusion come out even Istanbul's may be occupied. In almost every field of this war, the Ottoman Empire was defeated and the Ottoman army was trapped to the narrow strait of Gallipoli peninsula of the Dardanelles. Of Ali Fethi and Mustafa Kemal who were charged in Bolayır region, one of the most strategic gates of the Dardanelles opening to the Sea of Marmara, Ali Fethi served as the operation chief of staff and Mustafa Kemal as the operation section chief of staff of Bolayır Battle which was a really important battle took place in the second half of the war. This operation recorded in the history of Balkan Wars as Bolayır Battle and Şarköy Landing resulted in defeat. However, serious debates on the defeat took place and even, two works, one by Ali Fethi, were written about it. In fact, defeats on all fronts have a special importance that to put forward the reasons discussed and studied since then. However, the Battle of Bolayır makes it different is that they took part in the front and subtraction as commanders Enver Pasha, Mustafa Kemal and Ali Fethi that they are leading influential personalities of Union and Progress. The debates on the reasons of the defeats and on who were responsible for them, caused the commanders almost to resign their positions and even military occupations. Even today, new interpretations and debates about these commanders are taking place.

Keywords

Bolayır Battle, Şarköy Landing, Macedonia, Rumelia, Ali Fethi, Mustafa Kemal, Enver Paşa