Why can Yemen be the cemetery of Turkish soldiers and the "Peace of Mecca"?/ The painful lesson of the Ottomans in Yemen + photo

For centuries, this monument has been a symbol of the Ottoman presence in Yemen. The deliberate attack on this memorial is a reminder of how Ansarullah remembers the Ottoman campaigns in Yemen.

According to Jahan Mashrekh service, as announced by Saudi-affiliated news agencies, the entry of Turkish and Pakistani forces into the ranks of the Saudi army with the aim of confronting Yemeni fighters and the implementation of the "Mecca Agreement" has entered a new phase.

Therefore, the analytical website "Times Eurasia", in an article written by Sumit Ahlawat, reviews the historical experience of the presence of the Ottoman forces and the tragedy of the Turkish soldiers in the field of Yemen and warns that this painful and bitter experience can be repeated even today for the Turkish and Pakistani forces in the Yemen war.

According to "Eurasia Times", after weeks of hesitation amid the deterioration of the security situation in the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey finally agreed to activate "deterrent measures" within the framework of the mutual security agreement, the "Mecca Treaty".

According to this agreement, Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to quickly deploy forces in Saudi Arabia to respond to the attacks of the Ansarullah government.

This is the first time that the Makkah Agreement, signed in August, will be activated.

"The committee agreed to activate collective deterrence measures within the framework of the alliance in response to the attacks and all those responsible," said Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman.

The "Mecca Treaty" has a clause on mutual defense, similar to Article 5 of NATO, that an armed attack on one country is considered an attack on all three.

According to this agreement, Ankara can deploy its troops in the south of the Arabian Peninsula for the first time in more than a century.

The last time Turkish soldiers served in Yemen in 1919 under Ottoman rule. After the Ottoman defeat in World War I, Ankara agreed to surrender garrisons outside Anatolia under the Mudros Armistice.

After the armistice signed in 1918 between the Ottomans and the allied countries, the Ottoman garrisons in Yemen surrendered to the British forces one by one.

Therefore, the activation of the Mecca Treaty can mark the return of Turkish forces to the south of the Arabian Peninsula after more than a century.

In fact, although the Mecca Treaty was only signed in 2026, Turkey has been waiting for an opportunity to return to Yemen for more than a decade.

The Makkah Treaty was signed in August 2026.

In 2015, when Saudi Arabia first intervened militarily in Yemen against Ansarullah forces, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "Depending on the course of events, we may consider providing logistical support."

However, Ankara should not celebrate too soon, as history has a lesson for the Turks.

The mighty Ottoman Empire once ruled the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe; It controlled three of the holiest places in Islam, including Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem (Bait al-Maqdis); and ruled a vast land in the Balkans and southern Europe.

But the Ottomans were never able to completely subdue the Zaidi tribes of Yemen, the historical ancestors of today's Ansarullah fighters.

In fact, Yemen was often called the "Graveyard of Anatolia" or the "Graveyard of Ottoman Soldiers".

Yemen - Cemetery of the Turks (Ottomans)

Victoria Clark writes in Yemen: A Dance on the Heads of Snakes (2010) that by the 1890s, Yemen had already become known as "the graveyard of the Turks" during the campaigns of Ahmed Faizi Pasha.

He also quotes an Ottoman official: "Yemen has now become a graveyard for Muslims and money."

Turkish journalist and writer Mustafa Balbay called his book "Türkler Mezarlığı Yemen", which means "Cemetery of the Turks".

Indeed, the description of Yemen as a "cemetery of Turkish soldiers" is a recurring theme in Ottoman (Turkish) historical memory.

"Yemen Türküsü" is a famous Turkish folk song that is a sad elegy for the Ottoman soldiers who went to Yemen to fight in World War I and never returned.

Another Turkish folk song recalls the hardships faced by Ottoman soldiers in Yemen and pays tribute to the Turks who went to Yemen but never returned.

"There is no cloud in the sky, what is this smoke?

There is no death in the neighborhood, what is this commotion?

How deceptive these Yemeni lands are

Why don't those who leave come back?"

In her article "The Largest Ottoman Cemetery: Yemen", Ayesha Hor recounts that the Ottoman government in Yemen was strongly opposed by the Zaydis, the ancestors of the Ansarullah fighters.

According to the Zaidis, the Ottomans were "turbaned infidels".

Ahmad Ezzat (Forgach) Pasha, who was sent to Yemen in the early 20th century to suppress the Zaydi rebellion against the Ottomans, describes the period of the Ottoman conflict in Yemen (1635–1840) in his work entitled "My Lament" as follows: "After a century of conflict in the Jabal, with internal rebellions and continuous wars against the Zaydi imams, which continued until 1045 AH (1635), the entire region of Yemen Due to the siege and pressure on Heydar Pasha, he came under the rule of Imam Zaidi. Heydar Pasha, who was forgotten by the central government and left in Jabal."

Ottoman sources do not specify how many people were killed in the wars with the Zaydis during these 100 years, and only say "thousands died."

Ayesha Hor wrote in her article: "Going to Yemen and not coming back" has been the fate of Ottoman soldiers since the 16th century.

In an article entitled "Situation in Yemen" in issue 15 of Osmani newspaper dated 1316 (1900), it was stated: "As a result of Ahmad Fawzi Pasha's wrong policies, about 4,000 soldiers died every year."

In her article, Ayesha Hur also quotes an Ottoman official who said that between 1871 and 1894, 130,000 Ottoman soldiers were buried in Hijaz and Yemen.

Marshal Galip, who served as a captain in Yemen in the 19th century, wrote: "Since I worked under the supervision of the General Staff, all the records of the General Staff passed through my hands. In these records, I found a wide and terrible gap between new soldiers joining the army and those who were being replaced or disabled...Yemen at that time was a constant war zone.

"I compared the number of those who joined their factions or were mobilized en masse and sent due to riots with the number of those who survived and returned home. My conclusion was this: in the past 22 years, a total of 130,000 Anatolian youths were buried in the deserts of Hijaz and Yemen.

In 2011, then-President of Turkey Abdallah Gül reconstructed and opened a Turkish Memorial Cemetery (Yemen-Türk Şehitliği) in Sana'a to commemorate the Ottoman soldiers who died in the Yemeni campaigns.

Only one year later, in 2012, the Yemenis destroyed a part of this monument.