WHY DID HE NOT KEEP HIS PROMISE?
During the bloody struggle, the Commander-in-Chief ordered the
Fifty-Seventh Division Commander to swiftly occupy the hill
opposite him. Despite the pressure to retreat, the enemy, who
were holding out like a slaughterhouse on the hill, were unable
to break through. Frustrated by this delay, the
Commander-in-Chief immediately telephoned the Commander to issue
a second order, asking how long it would take to retake the
hill. The reply requested a half-hour. However, half an hour
later, the hill had not yet been retaken. Mustafa Kemal, angered
by this situation, asked:
-You know... He promised to take it in
half an hour? Why, why didn't he keep his promise?
The reply reported that the Division Commander, considering this
a matter of honor and grief over not being able to fulfill his
promise, committed suicide.
This voluntary martyrdom, which occurred at a time when the
greatest national cause was at stake, will also, and even in and
of itself, go down in history as a new example of the Turks'
eternal bravery.
The Commander-in-Chief, with a barely perceptible shout, simply
said:
-May God have mercy on him!... Convey
the same order to the commander who succeeded him..."
The hill was soon taken from the enemy in a bloody assault.
.Atatürk's eyes darted back and forth towards Çiğiltepe.
Something was strange there: This hill, standing like a keystone in the
middle of the folds extending to the Sincanlı Plain, had to be taken by
now. According to the orders, the 57th Regiment was to capture it around
10:00. Greek Commander-in-Chief Trikopis, having recovered from the
shock of the initial attack, realized the importance of the hill and
sent fresh forces to that area.
The regimental commander was Colonel Reşat Bey...
He had surrounded Çiğiltepe with his forces. The soldiers attacked the
hill with intense firepower, rifles in hand, but they were met with such
intense fire from the opposite direction that... He couldn't break the
resistance. August 26th gave way to August 27th. Çiğiltepe was still
holding out. But Gazi was impatient… He worried that the passing minutes
would affect other aspects of the offensive plan that had been put into
action. Indeed, because Çiğiltepe hadn't been captured, some of the
other units were unable to move on to the next objective from their
current location.
Gazi couldn't hold back any longer; he grabbed the phone angrily:
Colonel Reşat Bey, who had now surrounded Çiğiltepe with his forces, was
on the phone.
-Reşat Bey, said Gazi.
-Çiğiltepe must be taken
as soon as possible. The hill should have been captured by now. This
delay is affecting the overall operation. When will you take the hill?”
Reşat Bey was shaken by this question. Is it possible that a major
offensive, on which the entire fate of a nation depends, would be
negatively affected because of him? His heart was torn between them. He
replied excitedly:
-Pasha, the hill will be in our hands in half
an hour!
Gazi's voice was heard on the other side of the phone.
-Alright!... I'm
waiting...
This time, Reşat Bey, at the head of his forces, charged the enemy with
even greater determination. The soldiers under his command, shielding
their chests from the rain of bullets, tried to reach their goal. One
soldier died; another immediately took his place; young bodies
demonstrated their unafraidness in the face of death. Colonel Reşat Bey
was a commander known and respected among the soldiers for his honor,
honesty, fearlessness, and, to a certain extent, enthusiasm. Fate had
often brought him alongside Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha in various places.
He knew Reşat Bey's sagacity and the heroism of a man of his word,
having served under Gazi at Gallipoli and on the Eastern Front. He had
witnessed his successes on those fronts and had knowingly entrusted him
with the task of capturing a crucial position like Çiğiltepe.
Reşat Bey, however, was heartbroken. To face them and say, "I failed!"
Responsibility was a burden heavier than death. And half an hour flew by
like water. The barrels were firing bullets nonstop; soldiers, kneeling,
their rifles resting on their shoulders, were struggling to break
through the line of resistance. Then the landline phone rang again. The
person who answered heard Gazi's voice:
-Give me Reşat Bey!
Like a breath of fire falling on a pale shadow, Gazi's voice now rang in
Reşat Bey's ears:
-Reşat Bey, what happened? Why hasn't the hill
been captured yet? You said 10:30... It's 10:45.
-Pasha, the enemy has massed their divisions on the hill and is
resisting. We will take it soon, Pasha.
-Reşat Bey, the hill must be captured as soon
as possible!
-At your command, Gazi Pasha... We will definitely take the hill!
The phone was cut. And again, an attack beyond human strength... The
soldiers were being butchered along the lines; yet, without a moment's
pause, the attack was launched... But no! The enemy stubbornly continued
its resistance... Reşat Bey, at a loss for what to do, felt the
responsibility for all the delays and the resulting negative
consequences resting on his shoulders... His mind wandered back to his
past... Yesterday, today, and tomorrow... Will the entire fate of an
entire nation now suffer the pain of his failure to take the hill? His
heart aches, his head spins… His memory blurs… The honor of military
service, the orders given, and the responsibility to carry them out at
the cost of his life… But, despite all efforts, that responsibility
cannot be fulfilled… Then the promise made to the great Gazi remains
empty, and perhaps it's a burden so heavy that one cannot even look him
in the face out of shame… Everyone has mistakes and sins. You take
precautions, you make a promise to your own conscience, and whatever
that mistake or sin is, you try to cleanse it… But what if this grave
sin sticks to your forehead like a black stain… And perhaps one of the
innocent Anatolian children is martyred in some trench at that moment
because of the failure to fulfill that duty… Reşat Bey's mind wanders in
and out… First, his gaze falls on the revolver that had been in his hand
throughout the attack, its barrel red from the bullets fired… Aren't so
many things in life the result of spur-of-the-moment decisions? After a
while, the phone rings again. It's Gazi on the other end of the phone.
And Gazi orders the person who answers to come to the phone.
The voice on Gazi's other end responds, trembling:
-Pasha... Reşat Bey left you a note and
committed suicide!
-Suicide? What are you
talking about?
At that moment, it was as if the cold breath of death had fallen on the
telephone receiver. Gazi's throat was tight, his eyes misty. The voice
on the other end was reading a note from Reşat Bey:
-My Pasha! I could not fulfill my promise to
you. I could not capture the hill. My military honor has been tarnished.
I cannot live with this stain!
Gazi was distressed; a few minutes later, the phone at Gazi's
headquarters rang.
Colonel Reşat Bey's aide was reporting on the phone:
-Your Excellency, Pasha... Çiğiltepe has been
taken. The enemy has left hundreds of their dead and is fleeing towards
the Sincanlı Plain!
At the moment the enemy abandoned Çiğiltepe and began to flee, Reşat
Bey's lifeless body seemed to smile beneath a simple sheet. He placed
his pistol against his right temple; In a split-second decision, he
pulled the trigger. The bullet exited his left ear, shattering his brain
in that instant… His blood, flowing from his temple to his thick
mustache, mixed with the sacred soil of his homeland.
His body was brought to Sandıklı the next day and buried there. When he
was buried, he had a small amount of his salary that he couldn't bear to
spend. He was single.
He hadn't had time to marry because he was running from one front to the
next. His father lived on Büyükada and was ill. Because of his financial
difficulties, he sent his salary to his father, whose house was
mortgaged, to try to save him from the mortgage. Colonel Reşat's funeral
expenses were covered from the money he had chosen to send to his
father. After the burial expenses were deducted, the remaining money was
sent to his ailing and elderly father on Büyükada, along with the news
of his death.
