İçeriğe atla

Mesudiye Village biography

İbrahim Ay

WWI Iraq Front (1879 Rumelia – Apr 1942 Mesudiye)

WWI veteran on the Iraq (Baghdad-Basra) front. Brother of Galip Ay. The "Aradığın kuzu burada" recognition story is preserved in village oral tradition.

Born in Rumelia 1879, brother of Galip Ay, son of Mutallip. İbrahim Ay served on the Iraq front during WWI, fighting against British forces on the Baghdad-Basra line.

Surviving the front, he walked home from Iraq — a journey of months, on foot, with no transport. Arriving at Mesudiye ragged, with overgrown hair and beard, he hid in a wheat field at the edge of the village, watching his children Rasim and Suude tend lambs in the harman (threshing field).

The story of his recognition — narrated as "Aradığın kuzu burada" ("the lamb you are looking for is here") — is one of the village's preserved oral histories. The neighbour Salih İnce recognised him first, took him home, and intercepted his father Mutallip with the celebrated line.

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