Kürük-Dara

(present-day Kurudere), a settlement in Turkish Armenia, on the road from Aleksandropol’ to Kars.

During the Crimean War (1853–56) a battle was fought near Kürük-Dara on July 24 (Aug. 5), 1854, between the main forces of the Turkish troops (about 60,000 men and 64 guns, commander Mustafa Zarif-pasha, British adviser General R. Guyon) and a detachment of Russian troops (about 18,000 men and 72 guns, commander V. O. Bebutov). The Turkish troops were stretched out over a wide front. Leaving covering detachments behind, Bebutov routed first the right wing of the Turks and then the center, after which he turned the left wing to flight. The Turks lost 10,000 men, including about 3,000 killed and over 2,000 captured; as many as 22,000 of their soldiers deserted. The Russian troops lost over 3,000 men. The remnants of the Turkish troops retreated to Kars. As a result of the defeat at Kürük-Dara, the Turkish army in Transcaucasia ceased to exist as an effective fighting force.