What happened to that child next to Atatürk? You will be very surprised...

Sığırtmaç Mustafa from Yalova, who was taken under the protection and educated by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1929, describes his encounter with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to a journalist as follows:

I was only eight years old then. It was a day in the summer months of 1929 (September 16)... I was herding the cattle toward the farm. Suddenly, about twenty horsemen appeared in the distance... The horseman in the lead was coming toward me. As he approached, he dismounted; he was asking for the way to the farm. I pointed with my hand

BECAME A MAJOR

Mustafa Demir, known as Sığırtmaç Mustafa, graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1941 as a Tank Lieutenant (Class of 1941/B) and joined the Turkish Armed Forces.

After I was discharged from the hospital, Atatürk had me sought out again and enrolled me in the 19th Primary School in Beşiktaş. After attending the school in Beşiktaş for about a year, Atatürk enrolled me in the Fevziye High School in Maçka. While in the ninth grade of high school, I took an examination and transferred to the Kuleli Military High School."

He married Rıfkiye Hanım while holding the rank of captain. In 1954, he was adopted as a foster child by Makbule Atadan. Makbule Hanım gave his daughter the name Tacinur. After a while, he transferred to the Personnel branch in the army due to health reasons. After serving in various military recruitment offices, he retired in 1960 with the rank of major due to a heart condition and spent the final years of his life in Yalova. He passed away on January 15, 1987, and was laid to rest in Yalova.

Sığırtmaç Mustafa said in an interview he gave to TRT years later, "May God rest his soul in light. If he hadn't held my hand and ensured my education, I wouldn't have reached where I am today. May God have mercy on him..."