Mustafa Solak, who was martyred in front of the Presidential Palace at the time of the coup attempt, heard about the coup from a phone call he received while he was sleeping at his home and set off to the streets without thinking twice.
“We are losing the country”
Martyred from the bullets of malicious putschists at Beştepe, Mustafa’s wife Melek, spoke to Yeni Şafak about what happened during that night, “My husband’s friend called him that night, and so we woke up. I opened my eyes to my husband saying, ‘did they stir up trouble again?’ He immediately got up, performed his ablutions and put his clothes on. I asked him where he was going and he replied, ‘I am going to the palace. The country could be lost. If you don’t go, I don’t go, then who will?’ and he left home. Neighbors asked him where he was going and he replied, ‘I am going to the war.’ I spoke with my husband three times that night. During our last conversation, he said that they were going to the mosque. I fell asleep in the living room. I saw my husband falling down on his head in my dream. I woke up wondering and saying, ‘Mustafa’. Then I saw the news on the TV indicating a bomb was dropped at the palace. Then I thought to myself, ‘did my Mustafa die as a martyr?’ I got up and started calling him but I could not reach him. Shrapnel pieces of a bomb dropped from a helicopter hit his neck. He was martyred on the spot. He would always say that he wanted to become a martyr. He would say that he felt sorry for not being martyred during his military service. May God bless him a thousand times. My pride is bigger than my grief.
Mustafa was from Çorum and was laid to rest in Etimesgut, Ankara. He was married and the father of one. He was 43 years old when he was martyred and was a decoration worker.
The name Martyr Mustafa Solak was given to a preschool in Etimesgut, Ankara and an occupational and technical high school in his hometown of Çorum.
