AHMET FEHMİ TÜRKAN
Canakkale - Saricaeli Koyu

I was born in 1987. The recruitment office sent me to the school of Canakkale Fortified Area, located on the hill near Saricaeli Village. In the school, they formed two companies. I was in the second and we were sent to Kilitbahir where I have stayed for 15-16 months. I was on duty in the telegraph office. With the mobilisation, I was trained in Mecidiye Castle. Military telegraph office was on the shore. Although the war in Ariburnu (Anzac Cove) has finished, there were still enemy ships.

They sent me to War Academy, in Istanbul. I spent seven months in the headquarters. Meanwhile, our army was defeated in Arabia. The armistice was signed. I have returned home. There were British in Canakkale.

I left high school from the second grade. I intended to enter the School of Agriculture in Bursa. I could not. I was a candidate officer in Kilitbahir. I was trained in Istanbul as a candidate officer. I have given lessons as well.

On this duty, I once went to Saricali village. Captain Niyazi, First Lieutenant Husamettin, Lieutenant Suphi and their forces were there to catch the bandits.

That night just after the ezan, the Greeks blockaded the village. All my friends were in the tavern. I told them not to go but they did not listen. They have gone. A friend named Yusuf was with me. Our host had a son; he was seven or eight years old. Yusuf sent him to tavern. He came back and said, the infidels are picking the gendarmes guns. I said Yusuf; ride the horses. We were in house just outside the village... We mounted on our horses; Yusuf was following me. The Greek soldiers were around the village. As we rode the horses with noise, they ran away. They thought that we were attacking on them.

While they were running with panic, we have gone out of the village. We went to Cinarli villages patrol and informed Sergeant Cafer about the situation. Then I went to the post and informed the commander of the battalion. Our commander was Ali Riza Bey; he distributed al the soldiers to the villages around. Later, Ali Riza Bey negotiated with the British commander and taken back the guns that the Greeks seized.

I did not have a rank. Anyway, they trusted me, as I was a sergeant. I was always in the front of the soldiers.