July 27

July 27

Events

• 1202 – Georgian–Seljuk wars: At the Battle of Basian the Kingdom of Georgia defeats the Sultanate of Rum.

• 1299 – According to Edward Gibbon, Osman I invades the territory of Nicomedia for the first time, usually considered to be the founding day of the Ottoman state.
• 1302 – Battle of Bapheus: Decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines opening up Bithynia for Turkish conquest.

• 1857 – Indian Rebellion: Sixty-eight men hold out for eight days against a force of 2,500 to 3,000 mutinying sepoys and 8,000 irregular forces.

• 1880 – Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand: Afghan forces led by Mohammad Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan.

• 1929 – The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.

• 1975 – Mayor of Jaffna and former MP Alfred Duraiappah is shot dead.

• 1983 – Black July: Eighteen Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.
• 1989 – While attempting to land at Tripoli International Airport in Libya, Korean Air Flight 803 crashes just short of the runway. Seventy-five of the 199 passengers and crew and four people on the ground are killed, in the second accident involving a DC-10 in less than two weeks, the first being United Airlines Flight 232.

• 1990 – The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago.

• 1997 – About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.

Births

• 1612 – Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1640)

• 1972 – Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Malaysian surgeon and astronaut

• 1975 – Serkan Çeliköz, Turkish keyboard player and songwriter

• 1985 – Husain Abdullah, American football player

• 1985 – Ajmal Shahzad, English cricketer

• 1989 – Maya Ali, Pakistani actress

Deaths

• 903 – Abdallah II of Ifriqiya, Aghlabid emir

• 1980 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iranian king (b. 1919)

• 1995 – Melih Esenbel, Turkish politician and diplomat, 20th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1915)

• 2015 – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian engineer, academic, and politician, 11th President of India (b. 1931)^[19]

Holidays and Observances