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The recapture of Adrianople on 21 July 1913 by the Ottoman Army under the command of Minister of War (defense minister) Enver Pasha and the general commander of the Ottoman Army (current chief of staff) Ahmet İzzet Pasha during the Balkan War

= Background =


 * After the First Balkan War, the Second Balkan War broke out as a result of Bulgaria's disagreement with its allies. The Kingdom of Bulgaria had to go to war with both the Kingdom of Greece, the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Montenegro. While the Kingdom of Bulgaria was dealing with this situation, the Kingdom of Romania saw this as an opportunity and attacked southern Dobruja, where it was in conflict with the Kingdom of Bulgaria. It was a surprise for the Ottoman Empire when the Balkan alliance collapsed and started a war among itself. The Ottoman Empire initially displayed an abstaining attitude when the states that had united and fought for their ambitions on the Ottoman Empire until six months ago began to go to war among themselves just one month after achieving their goals. The reluctance of the Ottoman Empire to be included in the Greek-Serbian alliance stems from this abstention. Another reason for the Ottoman Empire to remain silent was the heavy losses in the First Balkan War at the beginning of the Second Balkan War. However, the bad situation of Bulgaria was also noticed by the Ottomans. Bulgarians could not show sufficient resistance to the occupation of Romanian troops in Dobrudja. This situation is also seen as a great opportunity by the staff within the Ottoman Empire. In the region, especially in the Edirne region, it was determined that the Bulgarians withdrew almost their entire army and corps and sent them to the Serbian, Greek and, in the new situation, Romanian lines, only a garrison of 4,000 people remained in Edirne under the command of Major General Vulko Velchev . The idea of saving Edirne and Western Thrace was presented to Sultan Mehmet V by the Ottoman Empire staff. The Sultan found the plan suitable both to improve the Turkish image and to get rid of the pressure of the Union and Progress Party and it was decided to make a surprise attack. However, before this, they called the British, French and Russian ambassadors before the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état. The British, French and Russian ambassadors stated that they were against a possible Ottoman intervention in Bulgarian lands, etc., and that the Ottomans should remain loyal to the Treaty of London.  The Ottoman Empire had around 200-250,000 soldiers in the region at this time, and the army was led by Enver Pasha and Ahmet İzzet Pasha. The 1st Army was stationed at the front lines around Kıyıköy (Midye). This was followed by the 2nd and 3rd Army from east to west, while there was the 4th Army stationed in Gallipoli. On July 6, army units are instructed to advance to the end of the Midye and Enez line and wait. The army advances to the border.  There upon, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Gray made a threatening speech in the House of Commons, stating that the Ottoman Empire should respect the signed agreements, otherwise, if it tries to take back Edirne by taking advantage of the disaster suffered by the Bulgarians, the punishment it will face will not only be very severe, but also the entire European territory, even Istanbul, will be lost. it does. In short, England opposes the Ottoman move towards Edirne.

The Ottoman Empire waited for a while longer, but two events ended this wait. The first is that on July 12, the Greek armies in the region moved towards the Western Thrace   lands held by Bulgaria, and the possibility of marching on Dedeağaç and Edirne, held by the Bulgarians at that time, appeared, and Mahmut Muhtar Pasha, who was injured in the 1st Balkan War while leading his troops in Çatalca and was appointed as attaché to Berlin, was unable to command these places. He stated that he had a clear feeling that they wanted to be given to Greece, and sent a telegram to the government in Istanbul stating that the Ottomans should take over these places before they fell into Greek hands. Secondly, on July 17, the Bulgarian King makes a peace offer to Romania. This situation reveals that the Bulgarians were unable to resist Greece or the Ottoman Empire in Western Thrace. As a result, the Ottomans firmly decide to take action.

= Operation =


 * Noticing the mobilization of Ottoman troops on July 18-19, the Bulgarians decided to retreat due to their low numbers. They started to evacuate Edirne on July 19. However, when the expected Ottoman operation on July 19 did not occur, they stopped withdrawing and deployed to Edirne again on July 20. Meanwhile, on July 19, the Ottoman government published a declaration. The declaration declared that it had ordered its army to cross the Midye-Enez line in order to prevent the oppression of the Turks in the places under Bulgarian occupation and to reach a border that would ensure the security of the capital Istanbul. It is also emphasized in the declaration that the operation is limited and that it will not move to the right bank of Meriç. On July 20, 1913, at 17.58, an order was issued informing the Ottoman army units what to do for the next day. In this order, the relevant units were informed by Right Wing Commander Abuk Ahmet Pasha that the enemy consisted of 2-3 regiments of infantry and 2 regiments of cavalry, concentrated in the Lüleburgaz region, and that the entire army would take action to save Edirne and Kırklareli. In the Ottoman army, the 10th Corps from the Ottoman 1st Army, which came from Çatalca to the border, and the Bolayır Corps of the Ottoman 4th Army (One of the operations leaders is Mustafa Kemal) are assigned to advance in the front line in this operation. On July 21, Ottoman forces officially began to advance. On 21 July, Lüleburgaz and Vize, and on 22 July, Kırklareli were captured by the Ottomans with almost no resistance. Meanwhile, on July 21, realizing that the Ottomans were advancing, Bulgarian forces began to evacuate Edirne again. While all this was happening, an Ottoman reconnaissance group led by Captain Reşit Bey was ambushed by the Bulgarians. Reşit Bey dies in the conflict and his unit suffers casualties.  On July 22, the Bolayır Corps reached Edirne and the city was evacuated, but the corps was ordered to wait near Lüleburgaz; Because Enver Pasha stated that he would be the first to enter the city for propaganda purposes, the Ottoman Army waited one more day and the Minister of Defense Enver Pasha was once appointed chief of staff as Lieutenant Colonel Enver Bey, the left wing army under Hurşit Pasha and the independent cavalry brigade coming from Çatalca, the Crown Princes and He enters the city with Ahmet İzzet Pasha on July 23. Various newspapers in the Ottoman Empire call him "the second conqueror of Edirne" after Sultan Murat I. In this way, the Union and Progress Party and its government will make the necessary propaganda to win public opinion. Another reason for choosing this day is the 1908 Revolution, that is, the Second Constitutional Monarchy, led by Enver Pasha, who was put forward by the Union and Progress Party as the "Hero of Freedom". The fifth anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Turkey "coincides" with today. (23-24 July 1908)

Ottoman forces did not find any resistance in the city and easily reached the Evros River. Meanwhile, Bolayır Corps also captured Karaağaç, Edirne-Istanbul Railway line and Dimetoka.

However, it cannot be said that the Ottoman Army stopped exactly at the border of the Meriç River and Kırklareli, as promised, because a Turkish cavalry column advanced as far as Yanbolu and caused panic among the Bulgarians, especially the Bulgarian villagers, and some of the villagers fled to the mountains. Among the leaders, this was considered a complete reversal of fortune. In the words of historian Richard Hall, "The battlefields of Eastern Thrace, where many Bulgarian soldiers died to win the First Balkan War, came back under Ottoman control." Afterwards, this unit, which advanced to Yanbolu, was withdrawn by the Ottomans. While England sent some warships to Çanakkale to stop the advance after the Ottoman Empire captured Edirne, Russia threatened the Ottoman Empire with attacking the Caucasian provinces, that is, its lands in Eastern Anatolia. = Consequences = The Ottoman Empire stopped its advance and Edirne, Kırklareli, Lüleburgaz, Karaağaç and Dimetoka were given back to the Ottomans. The Ottoman Empire's troop losses, like Romania, were small, but 4,000 soldiers died of cholera during or shortly after the operation.

The Ottoman Empire won its last victory in the Balkans and did not lose a great deal of territory in Thrace until the First World War. Despite the Ottoman forces capturing the city on July 21, Edirne's reincorporation into Ottoman territory became official only with the Treaty of Istanbul signed with the Kingdom of Bulgaria on September 29, 1913.

After this operation, both the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria accused each other of ethnic cleansing. Until this operation, the Ottoman Empire accused Bulgaria of mistreating the Turks and even the Greeks with the start of the 2nd Balkan War and of mass murder, and stated that it saved them from this atrocity with this operation. Indeed, the Carnegie Report and various international sources state this situation.

Some international sources in the Kingdom of Bulgaria claimed that after this operation, the Ottoman Empire forced the Bulgarians of Eastern Thrace from Eastern Thrace to Bulgarian territory and committed mass massacres, claiming that the Bulgarians were responsible for the loss of Eastern Thrace from the Ottoman Empire in the 1st Balkan War.

However, after 2 years of the Second Balkan War, everything changed and the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria had to become allies, not enemies. Because, when the First World War broke out, the Ottoman Empire joined the war on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Serbia and Romania were on the side of the conflict states. In 1915, the Ottoman's connection with Germany was through Bulgaria, which was in a neutral position. He sat at the table again with the Ottoman Empire -Bulgaria. The 1915 Ottoman-Bulgarian Border Revision Agreement was signed and Dimetoka and the surrounding 2600 km2 area were given back to Bulgaria in exchange for entering the war on the side of the Ottomans, Germany and Austria, declaring war on Serbia, and allowing German shipments to the Ottomans. Apart from this situation, the border of Thrace lands in today's Republic of Turkey was drawn with this operation.

= Sources =