Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attended the premiere of a TV series on the history of the Caucasus Army of Islam in 1918.
The army, a unit of the Ottoman army, was set up to defend Muslim interests in the Caucasus.
As the Russian Empire collapsed, the army marched through the empire's province of Azerbaijan, and drove British-led forces out of Baku in 1918. The Caucasus Army of Islam later marched north to Dagestan.
“Azerbaijan and Turkey have always worked on objectives that arise from fraternal relations. We have a long history with Azerbaijan. Throughout history our heart has been with Azerbaijan. These relations did not originate in 1991. In 1918 the Caucasus Army of Islam, under the command of Nuri Pasha, liberated first Ganja and then Baku from occupation," Erdogan said at the screening in Istanbul.
He said that an analysis of current events in the Middle East required a good understanding of Ottoman history and the experiences of World War I and subsequent years.
“How these countries were formed, how their borders were drawn, how their administrations shaped or were shaped. All this is related to the end of the Ottoman Empire and World War I. It’s worth noting that Turkey has been held up as a model for the countries in the region. Turkey is also a country that that prepared the ground for these events a century and more before,” Erdogan said.
State-run TRT TV is to start broadcasting the five-episode documentary on the TRT Haber channel on 3 March.
The documentary will also be aired on TRT Avaz, which broadcasts to Azerbaijan and Central Asia, and TRT Arabic, the PM said.
”However, I especially want it to be aired on TRT Schools, which we opened recently. Our generation was subjected to a kind of historical amnesia and practically left rootless. Some circles still try to do the same. But I attach great importance to teaching the younger generations their genuine history and how it intersects with others. We invite our neighbouring countries to erase mutually negative phrases against one another, let’s get rid of them all,” Erdogan said.
TRT Director General Ibrahim Sahin said at the screening that the programme provided a perspective not only for the Caucasus but also for the Ottoman geography of the period.
“The Caucasus Army of Islam tells the story of the 1910s. There were serious problems in the Ottoman Empire in 1914-1918. And the same Ottomans, though they were in need themselves, extended a helping hand and contributed to Azerbaijan’s current independence. They proposed Baku as their capital city again. That is why the documentary is so important,” Ibrahim Sahin said.
The documentary was produced and directed by Suleyman Gunduz.
“Turkey has mainly focused on the axis of World War I, the Sarikamis and Canakkale battles. But beyond these, the Ottoman Empire won incredible victories in that period. The siege of Kut Al Amara, for instance is one of them, and we have already started shooting the story. The other is the Caucasus Army of Islamic," Suleyman Gunduz said.
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