Battle of Otlukbeli Martyrs' Monument () is a

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

in Otlukbeli district of

Erzincan Province Erzincan Province (; ; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. In Turkey, its capital is also called Erzincan. Its area is 11,815 km2, and its population is 239,223 (2022). Geography Erzincan is trav ...

, eastern Turkey. Opened in 2008, it is dedicated to the fallen soldiers in the Battle of Otlukbeli (1473), with both belligerents,

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 ...

and

Aq Qoyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu or the White Sheep Turkomans (, ; ) was a culturally Persianate society, Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two trib ...

, being

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Turk states.

Battle

The Battle of Otlukbeli was fought between the eastbound-proceeding Ottoman forces commanded by Sultan

Mehmed II Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

and the defending forces of Aq Qoyunlu () Turcomans under

Uzun Hasan Uzun Hasan or Uzun Hassan (; February or March 1425 – January 6, 1478) was a ruler of the Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu state and is generally considered to be its strongest ruler. Hasan ruled between 1452 and 1478 and presided ove ...

near Otlukbeli on August 11, 1473. The cause of the conflict was that Uzun Hasan maintained ties with the

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, who moved to the east after the conquest of their capital Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453. The battle lasted eight hours causing deaths of thousands of soldiers, and ended with the decisive victory of the Ottoman army, which used firearms and cannons not available to their enemy.

Monument

The district governor of Otlukbeli initiated the construction of a monument in 2008 near the village Küçükotlukbeli, which is north of Otlukbeli. It is situated close to the Lake Otlukbeli, aka Acıgöl (literally: Bitter Lake), a small nature reserve lake. It is built on an area of . The monument was inaugurated on August 11, 2008, on the 535th anniversary of the battle. The monument is notable because it features the reliefs of the commanders Mehmed II and Uzun Hasan, and is dedicated to all the dead soldiers from both sides.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , url=http://www.haberler.com/otlukbeli-ne-sehitlik-aniti-yapiliyor-haberi/ , newspaper=Haberler , title=Otlukbeli'ne Şehitlik Anıtı Yapılıyor , date=2008-06-23 , language=Turkish , accessdate=2014-09-08 {{cite news , url=http://www.otlukbelican.com/haber_detay.asp?haberID=321#.VA4R2mPUv2Q , archive-url=https://archive.today/20140908205542/http://www.otlukbelican.com/haber_detay.asp?haberID=321%23.VA4R2mPUv2Q , url-status=dead , archive-date=September 8, 2014 , newspaper=Otlukbeli Can , title=Otlukbeli Gölüne Ziyaretçi Akını , date=2012-08-27 , language=Turkish , accessdate=2014-09-08 {{cite news , url=http://www.gundem24.com/News-file-print-sid-3092.html , newspaper=Gündem 24 , title=Otlukbeli ilçesi'nde Açılışlar Zinciri , date=2008-08-17 , language=Turkish , accessdate=2014-09-08 Monuments and memorials in Turkey Buildings and structures completed in 2008 Buildings and structures in Erzincan Province Martyrs' monuments and memorials