07 August 2010, 19:00
All-Russian festival of war-history clubs held in Rostov Region
On August 7, members of more than 30 war-history clubs came to Azov (Rostov Region) to take part in reconstruction of the Azov siege seat.
In 1637, the Don Cossacks seized from the Turks the Azov Fortress - a key of the exit from the Don River to the Azov Sea. In 1641, Cossacks sustained a siege of Turkish troops, which were 20 times stronger - 6000 against 120,000; and 1642, receiving no support from the Russian government, they left the fortress by themselves, having destroyed the fortifications and taken away the fortress gate. The gate can be seen today in Starocherkasskaya village. The festival was on these pages of the history of the Don Cossacks.
The event started in the morning. Sightseeing tours over the expositions of the Azov Museum-Reserve were free-of-charge on that day. The festival included a parade of war-history clubs and reconstruction of the storm of the Azov Fortress by Turkish troops.
The participants of the reconstruction, having split into "Turks" and "Cossacks", staged negotiations of flag-of-truce bearers, a fight of two athletes - a "Cossack" and a "Turk", and a triple attempt of "Turks" to climb up a bulwark, from where they were all the time thrown back. As a result, the "Ottoman Turks" were driven to the sea, and spectators rushed to storm the bulwark themselves. In the end, "Turks" with "Cossacks" fraternized and started making photos with the spectators of the holiday.
Author: Natalya Bazhenova Source: CK correspondent
