Mustafa Ertuğrul (1892–1961), Mustafa Ertuğrul Aker since the

Surname Law Surname law can refer to any law regulating the use of surnames. Canada From 1941 to 1978, the Government of Canada issued disc numbers to identify Inuit in their records. In the mid-1960s Project Surname began, and, headed by Abe Okpik, Inuit ...

of 1934 in Turkey, was a Turkish career officer. He was an officer of the

Ottoman Army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and of the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...

in the early stages of the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

(he was wounded near Aydın in 1919). He accomplished a number of brilliant military feats, the most notable being the sinking of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

seaplane tender HMS ''Ben-my-Chree'' with shore artillery fire. In the same campaign along the coasts of southwestern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, he also sank the French auxiliary

aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an ...

''Paris II'', the converted

naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built ...

''Alexandra'' and a number of other Allied vessels in 1917.

Life

He was born in 1893 in Hanya to Turkish Cretan parents. His family remained in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

until 1903 when they moved to

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

where Ertuğrul attended the

Ottoman Military Academy The Turkish Military Academy ( tr, Kara Harp Okulu) is a four-year co-educational military academy and part of the National Defence University. It is located in the center of Ankara, Turkey. Its mission is to develop cadets mentally and ph ...

. He married a daughter of his commander Şefik Bey (Aker). After the 1934

, he chose the family name of his father-in-law. By the start of the

Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) There have been several Greco-Turkish Wars: *Greek War of Independence (1821–1830), against the Ottoman Empire *Undeclared war in 1854 during the Crimean War, with Greek irregulars invading Ottoman Epirus ( Epirus Revolt of 1854) and Thessaly * Fi ...

, he had been posted to Aydın region where he had the task of organizing and training Demirci Mehmet Efe's

efe Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major multimedia news agency in Spanish language and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was created in 1939 ...

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

units. He was wounded in an ambush in 1919, and he spent the rest of his life in

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

as a disabled officer. Mustafa Ertuğrul died in 1964.

''Ben Bir Türk Zabitiyim''

Ertuğrul was recently rediscovered in

thanks to research done on him and on the shipwrecks off the coast in Ağva BayNot to be confused with the town of

Ağva Ağva is a populated place and resort destination in the Şile district of İstanbul Province, Turkey. History The area around Ağva was a part of ancient Bithynia. During the Ottoman era, Turkmen people were settled around Ağva. Up to 20th ce ...

on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

coast and near

, also significant for its wreckages of submarines dating, this time, from the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and commonly referred to as "

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's lost fleet". See near

Kemer Kemer is a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, west of the city of Antalya, on the Turkish Riviera. Kemer is on the Gulf of Antalya, of sea coast with the skirts of the western Taurus Mounta ...

Antalya Province Antalya Province ( tr, ) is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Antalya Province is the centre of Turkey's tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visi ...

by the skin diver and amphora collector Mustafa Aydemir. A book, based on the account that he had typewritten himself in 1934, on Atatürk's personal encouragement, "Ben bir Türk zabitiyim" (''I am a Turkish officer''), was re-edited by Aydemir and supplemented with photographs and archive documents, notably from France. It was published for the first time in 2004, subsequently running into several editions. Prior to Ertuğrul's account having been made public, easily available information on the officer was restricted to a few lines in the memoirs of

Liman von Sanders Otto Viktor Karl Liman von Sanders (; 17 February 1855 – 22 August 1929) was an Imperial German Army general who served as a military adviser to the Ottoman Army during the First World War. In 1918 he commanded an Ottoman army during the Sin ...

and Field Marshal

Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914 ...

and documents and literature regarding ''Ben-my-Chree's'' sinking. The commander of ''Paris II'', Henri Rollin was taken prisoner by Ertuğrul's unit after his ship's sinking and had also presented a detailed official report on ''Paris II'' and ''Alexandra'' at the end of the war in 1918. Ertuğrul's story requires more in-depth research, with a number of points included in his account awaiting further clarification, notably his mention of another British naval vessel that he claimed to have sunk and believed to be the actual ship commanded by

Charles Rumney Samson Air Commodore Charles Rumney Samson, (8 July 1883 – 5 February 1931) was a British naval aviation pioneer. He was one of the first four officers selected for pilot training by the Royal Navy and was the first person to fly an aircraft fr ...

; HMS ''Dard''.

Decorations and awards

* Ottoman Order of Merit, 2nd class * Subsidize the Navy Medal - given for services and assistance to the Ottoman Navy * The badge of the pilot of the plane that was shot down by him in Çanakkale was given to Mustafa Ertuğrul as a souvenir. * Austria 305 numbered commemorative badge mortars top union Canakkale *

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...

(Germany) * Medal of Independence (Turkey) * Order of merit (Prussia) * Cedit Girid Medal ote 2*

Battle of Galicia The Battle of Galicia, also known as the Battle of Lemberg, was a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914. In the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated and ...

medal * Military Medal for actions at Canakkale, Galicia, the Caucasus, Iraq and Egypt

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aker, Mustafa Ertugrul 1892 births 1961 deaths Military personnel from Chania Cretan Turks Ottoman Imperial School of Military Engineering alumni Ottoman Army officers Ottoman military personnel of World War I Turkish military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class Recipients of the Medal of Independence with Red Ribbon (Turkey) Recipients of the Liakat Medal