Fatih Altaylı reveals: İlber Ortaylı's final request before surgery has emerged

While the sadness over the recent loss of one of Turkey's most important historians, İlber Ortaylı, continues, the final moments he spent with his inner circle before his death are coming to light. Journalist Fatih Altaylı recounted that the master historian reached out to him before his surgery with a very special request.

It has emerged that Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı wanted to meet with Fatih Altaylı and Celal Şengör shortly before being hospitalized and requested that this meeting be recorded. Altaylı detailed the events in his column.

"LET'S FILM A PROGRAM BEFORE THE SURGERY"

"I said, 'Let's go out to eat.' He said, 'I will invite you.' The next day, he took Celal (Şengör) and me to dinner.

He gave the address of a tradesman's restaurant in Kasımpaşa, a place where taxi drivers and those leaving taverns go to have soup at night, and which serves those working in nearby businesses during the day.

We chatted a lot and laughed a lot.

'You didn't like the restaurant, did you?' he asked.

'I didn't,' I said.

'I didn't either, but that's okay, we're full,' he said. Despite all my attempts to stop him, he even brought dessert afterward.

He called the next day.

'You know I'm going to have surgery. Let's film a program before that,' he said.

'I'm not starting programs yet. We'll film when you get out of the hospital,' I said.

I understood why he wanted to film before the surgery.

'Film it, you can broadcast it later. Let's do the program. Tell Celal, he should come too,' he said.

I called Celal Şengör.

'İlber's command is my duty,' he said.

It was actually a farewell program.

We filmed it. We haven't broadcast it yet."

"HE SAID 'DON'T GO'"

Altaylı also spoke about the moments of his last visit to Ortaylı in the hospital and described their emotional experience with these words:

"A few days before he was moved to intensive care, the previous Sunday, we went to visit him with Celal Şengör, Oya, and Asım.

He looked well.

The next day, I called Murat Bardakçı.

'I'm coming to pick you up, we're going to see İlber,' I said.

But he had undergone dialysis in the morning. We were only able to go in the afternoon.

We sat for nearly an hour.

They gossiped at length with Murat, as they always did. As if I knew these were their final conversations, I recorded a portion of their talk on video for the first time.

We sat for about an hour and then left so as not to tire him further.

'Don't go,' he said.

'You're tired,' we said.

'Come again tomorrow,' he said.

'I'm having surgery tomorrow too. I'll come when I get out of the hospital,' I said.

But by the time I got out of the hospital, he had been moved to intensive care."