On the night of the coup, father of nine and grandfather of 15, Mustafa Zorova came to the Akıncı 4th Main Jet Base Command after accepting the call from President Erdoğan to go to the streets. He became a veteran when three bullets hit him in the leg.
Mustafa Zorova, a 70-year-old coup hero, had witnessed the coups that occurred in 1960 and 1980. Learning about the events while watching TV at home, he went out with approximately one hundred people after hearing shouts of, “The military is taking over the government like Menderes. Those who love their country are going out to save Tayyip!” Leaving Kazan, the citizens were stopped by 60 soldiers when they arrived at the Main Jet Base Command. One of the high-ranked soldiers asked the crowd, “What are you doing here?” Zorova replied, “We heard that soldiers were saving the government, and that is why we are here.” The commander in charge shouted at the crowd, “So, you came here to kill us.” He got furious and turned back ordering his soldiers, “Kneel, load, close!” Soldiers started firing their weapons at the civilians. They immediately executed the ones who did not obey that order.
“Ranked ones shot”
Mustafa was shot by a high-ranked soldier. Days after the coup attempt, he recalled the events of that night, “After I was shot, I said, ‘I am your grandfather.’ The soldier said, ‘There is nothing I can do uncle, what do you expect from me?’ He took his belt off and tightly tied it on my leg to stop the bleeding. ‘Do not worry uncle, you won’t die from such a wound,’ he said. I told him to call an ambulance. He said, ‘There is nothing I can do.’ I started crawling. Everyone I held onto was motionless, they had all died. Afterwards, that soldier called an ambulance, but the major pointed his gun at the paramedics too. Then I passed out. I don’t know what happened next. A soldier jumped on that major, took his G3, but I don’t know if he died as well.”
“You see, nobody can beat Turks, nobody can beat us.”
“We went out that night for our country. What do I have to do with this anyway, I am a retiree. I am already 70. My grandson came back from his military service that day. I couldn’t even see him. He couldn’t even ask me, ‘where are you going?’ We went like lightning. “You see, nobody can beat Turks, nobody can beat us. We are bulletproof. As long as we have this faith, nobody can beat us. Neither America nor Germany, or even if all 128 strong states came together and attacked us, they still could not take us down. We will stand up with our heads held high, just like we do now. We will say ‘God is the greatest!’ and attack, whoever dies will die. No one can avert us.”
“What if we didn’t go out?”
Mustafa, who kissed the hands of the former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes in 1957, explained how important democracy and the resistance of the people is, “On May 27th, they announced on the radio, ‘Military took down Menderes.’ They said ‘blood was shed in Ulus’ ; ‘They killed all of Ankara.’ Then the TV said that six commissioned officers were killed. But it wasn’t like that, their resources, weapons... I have never seen a soldier pointing his gun at me in my lifetime. I said to him, ‘Who are you, you are my brother,’ ‘Do not shoot, I am wounded,’ why would you keep shooting? The government should stay alert at all times. The inglorious, the corrupt will always prowl. What if we didn’t go out?”
