- Zekki Pasha
Zekki Pasha was a
World War I Field Marshal of the Ottoman forces in theBalkans . He was also a scholar and historian and traveled throughout theOttoman Empire before WWI.Fact|date=March 2008In 1894, as Commandant of the Fourth Army Corps, he was decorated for his participation during the Sassoun massacre [Robert Melson, "Revolution and Genocide" (1992), p.60] [W. Blackwood, "Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine" (1897),p.21] [George Shaw/Lefevre Eversley, "The Turkish Empire from 1288 to 1914" (1914), p. 341] . During the massacres, he reportedly stated, "not finding any rebellion we cleared the country so none should occur in the future." [Arman Dzhonovich, "The Armenian Massacres, 1894-1896" (2004), pp. 63-64] .
In 1912-1913, he was commander of the Vardar Army during the
Balkan Wars . Following the orders ofNizam Pasha , Chief of Staff of the Ottoman Army, Zekki Pasha initiated theBattle of Kumanovo [Richard C. Hall, "The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War" (2000), p. 47] .His failure to emplace key artillery hindered the forces under his command and led to their defeat at Kumanovo [Hall,p. 48] . During the frantic Ottoman retreat from Kumanovo, a disgruntled Ottoman soldier attempted to assassinate him, contributing to the panic. [Hall, p. 49] .
The Vardar Army; consisting of the 7th Corps commanded by Feti Pasha, the 6th Corps commanded by Djavid Pasha and the 5th Corps commanded by Kara Said Pasha, all under Zekki Pasha's command, had retreated to
Bitola after the defeat at Kumanovo [Hall, p. 51] .Zekki Pasha managed to establish a strong position on the Oblahov heights northwest of Bitola prior to the battle. Superior Serbian artillery and infantry defeated the Ottomans at the
Battle of Bitola , Feti Pasha was killed in the process [Hall, p. 52] .Both the
Battle of Kumanovo andBattle of Bitola led to victories for theKingdom of Serbia .Fact|date=March 2008References
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