Erhan Dural, who ran to the General Staff Headquarters after the call of President Erdoğan, was recording people singing the national anthem with Turkish flags against putschists, without minding the bullets raining upon them. As Dural’s phone was recording, a bullet hit him in the head. The last footage he shot was his own martyrdom.
Dural went outside on President Erdoğan’s call, along with his wife, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law. When they arrived in front of the General Staff headquarters, he saw that putschists were shooting at citizens without any hesitation. Dural left his wife and sister-in-law in front of the Air Forces Guardhouse and went to the General Staff headquarters.
“For our country, our flag, our future, our children...”
The martyr Dural talked to his brother-in-law, Yüksel Özdemir, on the phone as the fights were going on and told him, “We need to go for our country, our flag, our future, and our children. If we leave this to the morning, it will be too late.”
After this phone call, nobody was able to reach him again. The only thing that was left was Martyr Dural’s recordings of the night. He was known by the people around him as a person who loved his country. It was very well known that he loved President Erdoğan dearly.
The 33 year old was buried in the Pazar district of his hometown pf Rize. Dural was married and had a 3 year old son, named Yaman. He was buried in the Orta Irmak Village.
The name of martyr Erhan Dural was given to an Anatolian Imam Hatip high school in Rize.
