During the Great War, Ottoman soldiers fought on a front that did not border on the Ottoman Empire and did not carry immediate strategic importance for them. For the reasons quoted, the Galician and Romanian fronts remain understudied in the field of Ottoman participation in the First World War. In this paper, I aim to look at how the Ottoman state legitimized the presence of the Ottoman soldier on the Galician front. By analyzing a propaganda booklet, “Anavatandan Selam: Galiçya’daki Askerlerimize”(Greetings from Homeland: to Our Soldiers in Galicia), particularly aimed at the soldier on the Galician front, I will argue that the authors of the propaganda pieces depicted Galicia foremost to be an ex-Ottoman land, conquered by courageous ancestors. Russians were enemies from that time on, whereas the local population viewed the Ottomans favorably. A general and vague Turkish nationalist message is also apparent in the booklet, whereas religion and the German factor make very rare appearances. As a counterpoint to that state-sponsored narrative, I will use the memoirs of soldiers who fought on the Galician front. The soldiers’ own articulation of their war experiences reflects to a certain extent that propaganda narrative: they were rephrasing the themes of valiant ancestors and Russian nemeses. Yet to their understanding it was very clear that they were aiding the Austro-Hungarian and German forces. In addition, the Galician front was more agreeable for the Ottoman soldiers in terms of food, clothing and shelter compared to other Ottoman fronts. By looking at the propaganda discourse in conjuncture with the accounts of soldiers, I aim to piece together a part of the complex Ottoman war experience.