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Graves of Turkish soldiers unearthed in Georgia

01 September 2016 14:31 (UTC +04:00)

Georgia. Nizami Mammadzade – APA. Graves of Turkish soldiers have been discovered in Georgia.

There were graves of about 30 Turkish soldiers from the years 1919 to 192, at a site called “Osmanli tÉ™pÉ™si” (Ottoman hill) in the Azerbaijani-populated village of Akhli-Lele of the Marneuli district.

Sabir Guliyev, a teacher of the village secondary school, in his statement to APA on Thursday said that Caucasian Islamic Army commander Nuru Pasha passed through Borchali in 1918.

“The Turkish soldiers were exhausted and starving to death after fighting Bolsheviks. In 1919, they crossed the River Debed and settled in an area called “Qovu” in our village. They were 100 to 120 of them. About 30 of these soldiers soon died of disease. After burying the fellow soldiers, the remaining ones made a hill in the area and named it “Osmanli tÉ™pÉ™si,” he added.

Villagers say there used to be tall gravestones at the hill until 1988 and that these gravestones were gradually taken away by some. A number of human bones and soldier uniforms have been discovered at the hill so far.

Turkish ambassador to Georgia Zeki Levent Gumrukcu have been informed about the fact.