Founding family · Karabağlar tribe
Multiple WWI veterans
The Ay family — descendants of Mutallip — produced multiple WWI veterans, most famously Galip Ay (3 fronts, 7 years British POW) and his brother İbrahim Ay (Iraq front). The family preserves vivid oral histories of unrecognised returns and 7-year absences.
The Ay family holds a unique place in the military history of Mesudiye village. It gave soldiers to two different fronts; one of them lived through 7 years of captivity and, after returning from that captivity, took part in the War of Independence. Considering the village's limited population, the fact that a single family went through such an intense experience of war shows that it bore an extraordinary historical burden.
1879 Rumeli — 1942 Mesudiye
Son of Mutallip
İbrahim Ay, born in Rumeli in 1879, fought against the British on the Iraq front during the First World War. The clashes on the Baghdad–Basra line took place in the region where some of the Ottomans' heaviest defeats were suffered.
Returning from the war, İbrahim Ay settled in Mesudiye village and died there in 1942 at the age of 63.
The story of his return
“After the war ended he walked back from Iraq to his village. As he drew near the house he first hid in the wheat fields and watched his family from a distance.”
1897 Rumeli — 14 February 1967 Mesudiye
Son of Mutallip · 1896
Galip Ay is the name that deserves the title of the soldier who saw the most war in the village's history. In the First World War he served on both the Yemen and the Iraq front; he was then taken prisoner by the British.
Galip Ay, who remained a prisoner of war in British hands for 7 years, most probably spent this time in prison camps in Mesopotamia or Egypt.
The story of the dramas
“Galip, who had been missing for 7 years, was found by his father at a han in İstanbul. After being reunited with his family, he joined the War of Independence on the Afyon front with his horse and cart.”
After returning from captivity Galip Ay took up arms again and joined the War of Independence. He took part in the fighting on the Afyon front with his own horse and his own equipment. This detail shows in concrete form how the villager contributed to the state's army.
Galip Ay, who died in Mesudiye on 14 February 1967, completed an extraordinary life's journey reaching from Yemen to Anatolia.
In the 1980s he played in the right wing position for the Mesudiyespor football team. He represents the family's sporting past in the village.
Galip Ay (the same name, a different generation), one of the current members of the village ihtiyar heyeti (council of elders), represents the family's continuing presence in the village administration.
As one of Mesudiye's 54 surnames, the Ay family is the one that left the deepest mark on the village's military history. Two different veterans in a single family, four different fronts and 7 years of captivity — this picture lays bare how heavy a price the family and the village paid in the final period of the Ottoman Empire.