After I have arrived at Canakkale, they conscripted me as an infantryman. They gave me to 27^th Regiment. Our dispositions were above Anzac Cove. I was in 27^th Regiment’s 2^nd Battalion, 1^st Squadron. Regiment’s commander was Sefik Bey, battalion’s commander was Halil Bey, and squadron’s commander was Hasan Efendi. I have fought for nine months in the front.

Our squadron’s position was in Karatepe. On the day, the enemy has landed, 1^st and 3^rd squads were in Maydos. Only we were in the Anzac Cove. Later 1^st and 3^rd squads came. The enemy attacked on us. We made a counter-attack. All the officers in our regiment were shot. Eyup Sabri of Lapseki has taken the command. He was a sergeant...

Enemy’s positions were so close. They were bombing our trenches. Later, we have enclosed our trenches with wires. From then on, their bombs failed to reach our trenches.

Before the enemies have ran away, they dig a tunnel and filled it with dynamites. When they have exploded the dynamites, we lost a squad. Nobody could have survived. The land has came out like a minaret. It was horrible.

I have made the rifles of 27^th Regiment. As I have told you, I was a carpenter... In fact, I was an infantryman but, because I was a carpenter, I was affixing the rifles. One day, after an attack that we have made against the enemy, we caught a rifle with periscope. There was a tunnel just beside our position. In that tunnel, by looking to the rifle I have fixed mirrors to our rifles. They have given each squad one of my rifles. I have fixed two mirrors on the both ends of barrel. Thus, you could see the enemy, without looking out of your trench.

On 18 March, the enemy forced the straits, with his battleships. After he failed, he landed his soldiers on the Anzac Cove and then to Kumkale.

The Hungarian hotwisers were very useful. They were heavy and short. They were firing up strait and hitting the battleships. We have seen them from the forts. The enemies were throwing themselves to sea.

When they have attacked us, we replied to them. I was wounded from my back. Look, I still can not walk. Shrapnel pieces hit me, one side of me has broken into pieces.

When I had injured, I was sent to Demetoka Hospital. I have stayed there for three months. After I have recovered, I returned to my squadron. The commander did not allow me to fight. He charged me for the mirrored rifles...

I saw Ataturk in the Anzac Cove. He was with the other commanders. He was a huge man. All the regiments paraded in front of him...

Enver Pasha, the Minister of War came one day. I saw him as well...

As I told you, I have wounded. Moreover, I became ill. They sent me home. I have stayed home for three months and returned to Canakkale. This time I was given to 24^th Regiment. We went to Istanbul. They gave us new uniforms and sent us to Arabia, by train. After we passed the mountains, we have taken off the train and walked for seventy days. I could not walked. My legs were already injured in Canakkale. They have taken me to hospital. During my first month in the hospital, the British attacks were begun. The shells were hitting the hospital. The tents began to burn. We left five-hundred people in the hospital and ran away.

My regiment was in Jerusalem. I went there as well. Somewhere around Jerusalem, there was Sultan Abdulhamid’s palace. We converted the palace into a hospital, but the British attacked again. The Germans have built a bridge on the river and we withdrew by using that bridge. We regressed through Sam. However, Sam was under siege. They have taken fifty of us captives. There was such a famine in Sam. No bread, no food. I was clever, there was bread in the pantry of the hospital, and I filled sacs with bread and gave it to people. Later, the British brought bread. The people mobbed the bread.

The British has divided us into convoys of thousands. We have walked for eight days and arrived at Egypt. There were twelve parts enclosed with wires. I was in the fourth wired area, where I have stayed for two years.

It was in our first days; a lame British officer came. He was walking with a stick. We were standing. He had a translator. The translator shouted:

-Is there anybody from the 27^th Regiment?

I have thought, “they can not kill me” and stepped forward.

- I am. I said.

The lame officer came nearby; he kissed my hands and eyes. I think he was the commander of the captives. God knows; he made me comfortable. He gave a private tent to me. Moreover, he said, “take two friends of yours.”

Later I have learnt that he was wounded in the Anzac Cove. He was so scared. The translator told that the British were very frightened cause they thought the Turks would killed all of them. Anyway, he has paid me twenty pounds salary every month. He has given me eighty boxes of cigarettes every week. He told me “sell them and make money.”

He has been coming to my tent so often. I made him a chest out of German cloaks and coated with velvet. Like Turkish dowry chests. Also, I have made him two pairs of half boots by tearing the British boots. All of them were hand made. I even fixed the nails using my hands. He gave me two Ottoman golden coins. He has written, “made by the prisoners” on the chest and taken to Britain. He talked rarely.

Until one thousand prisoners remained, he did not release me. Later, we came to Istanbul. Then I have returned to my village...

In the prison, we were eating horsemeat. The British gave us lamb only once...