High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Battle of Marash was a battle that took place in the early winter of 1920 between the French forces occupying the city of Marash in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish National Forces linked to Mustafa Kemal Pasha. It was the first major battle of the Turkish War of Independence, and the three-week long engagement in the city ultimately forced the French to abandon and retreat from Marash and resulted in a Turkish massacre of Armenian refugees who had just been repatriated to the city following the Armenian Genocide. The controversial retreat, along with the massacre which took place under French watch, was subsequently dubbed the "Marash Affair."