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On August 25, 2020, the official Facebook account of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan posted a video marking the 949th anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert. In the video, President Erdoğan recites a verse from a poem by Niyazi Yıldırım Gençosmanoğlu that urges the reader "to the Red Apple!" Kızıl Elma ("Red Apple") is a concept from Turkish mythology that has been used to refer sometimes to world domination and at other times to a particular military goal by a Turkish state that, once achieved, is replaced by some other goal, making the "Red Apple" ever elusive. The poem also refers to the mehter, the traditional Ottoman military band whose central wind instrument, the zurna, can be heard in the video, giving the music a distinctly "Ottoman" sound. The final line of the poem "Oh, Allah... In the name of Allah... Allah Akbar," is three simple Arabic prayers used in Turkish before beginning a task, in this case, pursuing the "Red Apple." In the video Erdoğan refers to the 1071 Battle of Manzikert as a gaza, or "a holy battle against non-Muslims for the purpose of protecting or propagating Islam." At the battle, Sultan Alp Arslan led a Seljuk army to victory over a Byzantine army on a field near the modern-day town of Malazgirt in Muş province, Turkey, opening the path for the Seljuk conquest of and migration into Asia Minor. The video shows horsemen in medieval military garb bearing the Seljuk standard cut with footage of the modern Turkish military, including soldiers on foot, fighter jets, attack helicopters, and the armed Turkish-made Akıncı drone.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: "The brave ones will shed blood, the flag will begin to fade, and Anatolia will begin to be a homeland. To the Red Apple, to the Red Apple! Before playing the mehter, the best march. Oh Allah, in the name of Allah, Allah Akbar!
"In the name of my nation, I remember with gratitude Sultan Alp Arslan and all the heroes who took part in this holy battle with him."
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