Eight martyrs from Beşiktaş JK’s first ever football team

We shall remember them with gratitude and respect!

According to Beşiktaş JK historian Vala Somalı, in the year 1914, the Ottoman Empire was going through tough times at all fronts and needed additional soldiers urgently. Beşiktaş JK’s first ever football team heeded this call and sent some of its players to help out the Turkish Army. Among those, the team Captain Kazım the poet, Asım and Rıdvan died in the Gallipoli War while the Doctors Ali, Mehmet and Sabri lost their lives in the Caucasus Campaign against the Russia and Armenia.Then the club saddened again by the martyrdom of Muallim Sadi and Behzat from Baltalimanı District, losing eight key players in total to eternity. Many more Beşiktaş JK players from various other sports disciplines passed away during the ensuing Turkish War of Independence, but they were all happy and proud to sacrice their lives for laying the foundations of modern Turkish Republic.