Infantry Staff Colonel Sait Ertürk, who learned of the traitorous attempt from television, met and exchanged opinions with his friend Kartaltepe Barracks Commander Infantry Colonel Davut Ala and a non-commissioned officer on the night of July 15th. After the meeting, Ertürk and his two friends decided that they should prevent the support of the 66th Armored Brigade Command to the coup attempt.
Ertürk and Ala, on their own initiative, went to the brigade with three police officers and three specialist sergeants and put up one of the most significant fights of the night.
Colonel Sait talked to his wife Ceylan Ertürk at 03:30 AM and told her not to worry about him and that they will go to the spot with a vehicle from the governorship, capture the traitors and turn them in before the morning.
“I command you to surrender”
Two teams of four people led by the two commanders, prevented tanks, weapons and soldiers to leave and stopped the activity in the brigade. Colonel Sait approached the headquarters from behind to avoid running into putschist soldiers, but ran into the traitors. At the time, he was with a police officer and two specialist sergeants. Colonel Sait introduced himself first, “I am the 3rd Army Corps Operations Deputy Chief Colonel Sait Ertürk and I command you to surrender.” The traitors’ response was, “You surrender.” The police officers and then Colonel Sait Ertürk were martyred in the ensuing conflict.
The 47 year old Infantry Staff Colonel Sait Ertürk had the highest rank among the martyred soldiers on the night of July 15th. Two poems were found on his work desk, inside the bag he took with him that night. On the first page of Martyr Colonel Sait Ertürk’s notebook, the following lines of a poem titled “26 August 1922” by Yahya Kemal Beyatlı caught attention:
"Şu kopan fırtına Türk ordusudur ya Rabbi,
(This splinterıng storm is the Turkish army, oh Lord,)
Senin uğrunda ölen ordu budur ya Rabbi,
(This is the army that died for your sake, oh Lord,)
Ta ki yükselsin ezanlarla müeyyed namın,
(So, let your name be risen by the tune of the Adhan,)
Galip et, çünkü bu son ordusudur İslam'ın." (Make it victorious, because this is the last army of Islam.)
“Istanbul would not be here if it weren’t for Sait”
Ceylan Ertürk, the wife of Sait Ertürk, said the following of her husband, “Sait was a real patriot. Being a soldier was everything to him, it was more important than anything else. Some of the commanders who called me to offer their condolences said, ‘Istanbul would not be here if it were not for Sait,” but I would like to add Colonel Davut to this statement as well.
Colonel Sait Ertürk was buried in the Cebeci Martyrs’ Graveyard in Ankara.
The name of Martyr Colonel Sait Ertürk, who played an important role for Istanbul with his fight with the 66th Armored Brigade and prevented the support of the brigade to the coup attempt, was given to the Omurtak Barracks in the Ergene district of Tekirdağ.
