Salih Bozok | |
---|---|
Born | December 1881 Salonica (Thessaloniki), Ottoman Empire |
Died | 25 April 1941 Istanbul, Turkey |
(aged 59–60)
Buried at | Cebeci Askerî Şehitliği |
Allegiance |
Ottoman Empire Turkey |
Years of service | Ottoman Empire: 1903 – November 1918 Turkey: 1920–? |
Rank | Ottoman Empire: Kaymakam Turkey: Yarbay |
Commands held | Chief aide-de-camp of the commander of the Second Army Chief aide-de-camp of the commander of the Seventh Army |
Battles/wars |
Balkan Wars World War I Turkish War of Independence |
Other work |
Member of the TBMM (Bozok) Member of the administrative board of the Türkiye İş Bankası |
Salih Bozok (1881 – April 25, 1941) was an officer of the Ottoman Army and later the Turkish Army and a politician of the Republic of Turkey. He was the chief aide-de-camp of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), the founder of modern Turkey.
Bozok was a close childhood and lifelong friend of Atatürk, both having been born in 1881 in Salonica and having attended the Monastir Military High School together. On November 10, 1938, upon witnessing the dead body of Atatürk in the latter's bedroom of Dolmabahçe Palace, a distraught and stunned Bozok stepped outside and shot himself through the chest with a pistol. However, the bullet narrowly missed his heart, and Bozok did not succumb to his fatal wound until April 1941.
Bozok's life and friendship with Atatürk was depicted in the successful 2010 Turkish film Veda.