August 30 scandal from the Ministry of National Defense: They used Rutkay Aziz instead of Atatürk

The Ministry of National Defense celebrated Victory Day on August 30 yesterday with a short film titled 'The Seal of Independence: The Great Offensive'.

The Ministry also shared this film on X. While explaining the importance of the Great Offensive in the film, the Ministry used photographs and film footage from its own archives. However, as if that were not enough, the film also included scenes depicting the Great Offensive from the series 'Kurtuluş', which Ziya Öztan directed for TRT in the 90s.

According to the report by Olkan Özyurt from 10haber, a detail that could be called a scandal caught the eye in the film's editing.

In the film, instead of the original footage of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on the ridges of Kocatepe, a moment from the 'Kurtuluş' series where Rutkay Aziz portrays Atatürk was used. The footage of Atatürk on the ridges of Kocatepe in the 'Kurtuluş' series is inspired by a photograph that is also in the archives of the Anadolu Agency.

While the Ministry was sharing the video on its social media account, it specifically included the note: “Commander-in-Chief Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha personally directed the battle from Zafer Tepe and gave the order to 'attack' to the Turkish army at 14:00 on August 30.” However, how should one explain the use of a scene from a TV series when there are dozens of original images available of Atatürk personally directing the battle? One possibility is that the footage of Rutkay Aziz was confused with that of Atatürk.

The Ministry of National Defense possesses a comprehensive archive. This archive contains original film and photographs belonging to the War of Independence and Atatürk. The Ministry occasionally shares footage from this archive with the public. But this time, due to a 'work accident', they used Rutkay Aziz as Atatürk. If you would like to watch the Ministry's film, it is here…

26 Ağustos’ta başlayan Büyük Taarruz’un en şiddetli safhası 30 Ağustos’ta yaşandı. Süvari birliklerimiz düşmanın kaçmasını engellemek maksadıyla taarruza başladı. Düşmanın büyük kısmı cepheden ve her iki yandan kuşatılmış ve gerisi de kapatılmıştı. Başkomutan Gazi Mustafa Kemal… pic.twitter.com/CkUwZ892eK

— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) August 30, 2024

News Source: 12punto