AZERBAYCANLI BİR MÜLTECİ: MEHMET ALTUNBAY
AN AZERBAİJANİ REFUGEE: MEHMET ALTUNBAY

Summary/Abstract: Mehmet Altunbay from Azerbaijan Gence (1911) was educated at Odessa Military Air School. In 1933 he successfully graduated from this school and served as pilot. He has been awarded three times in Soviet Russia for his achievements in his profession. He rose to the command of the Air Force Academy. However, the KGB was not ready for an Azerbaijani officer occupying such a high position, so he was given a death penalty by the KGB and he decided to escape to Turkey. He and his two friends first went to Iran, then to Baghdad and finally to Turkey. After the exam held by the General Staff, a pilot document was given to him in Turkey. He worked as a pilot in Turkish Airlines between 1945 and 1960. For Mehmet Altunbay, who is seen as a hero among the Turks of Azerbaijan, a cinema film is made in 1967. In 1987 he passed away. This study will focus on the biography of Mehmet Altunbay, one of the Azerbaijani intellectuals who have been in refuge in Turkey during the Republican era.

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