SARIKAMISH OPERATION ACCORDING TO RUSSIAN SOURCES

On October 29, 1914, after the bombing of the Black Sea coast of Odessa, Sevastopol, Feodosia and Novorossiysk by two Ottoman naval vessels, the Russian government porclaimed that diplomatic relations with the Ottoman state had been cut off and immediately called the Russian embassy delegation in Istanbul back to the country. On November 2, Tsar Nikola issued a manifesto and declared war against the Ottoman Empire and ordered the Caucasus army to attack the Turkish army by crossing the border. Thus, the Ottoman Empire actually entered the First World War. After Russia declared war against Ottoman Empire , clashes between the two sides began in the Eastern Anatolia region. The main aim of Russia was the Capture of Erzurum which was also the base of the III. Corps of the Ottoman Empire . The Ottoman Empire, aware of this situation, prepared a plan. According to this plan, Russia will be firstly removed from the region and so Kars and Ardahan will be rescued. Later on, Baku will be recovered by moving to the South Caucasus and all Turkish-Islamic peoples living under Russian domination will be encouraged to rebel against Tsarism. In order to implement this plan, the Ottoman Empire decided to carry out a risky operation in December 1914. This operation, known in history as Sarikamis Operation, lasted for about 15 days and ended with great defeat for the Ottoman Empire. The information given by the Russian sources on the Sarikamis Operation, which still has great debate on today, is undoubtedly very important. In this study, wiew and aspects of Russian press and literature beyond archive sources towards Sarikamish Operation was examined.