Governor’s office. On our entering, there were three generals. One was Cemal Tural, and one was Refik Tulga. Refik Tulga was at that time the Second Army Commander and temporary Governor of Konya.
"Cemal Tural said to me: `The people in the east and from beyond our southern borders arc coming and visiting your brother’s grave illegally. The times arc sensitive. With your co-operation, we're going to move his grave to inner Anatolia. Please sign this paper.'
"He handed me a petition written as though by myself. I read it and said: `I have no such wish. Al least leave him in peace in his grave.' But they told me:
" `You have to sign it. Don't put us in a difficult position.'
"We climbed into the vehicle that was to take us to the airfield after signing the petition.... Finally we boarded the acroplane. My family and children knew nothing of this. Of course they were all anxious and frightened.
"We reached Diyarbakir. After a brief rest we boarded a different plane and took of for Urfa. They took me in a military vehicle to an army building.They offered me some food, but I didn’t want it; I was exhausted. We had landed at Urfa in the afternoon. After nightfall they took me in a jeep together with a Captain and some soldiers to the Halilürrahan Dergah. There were two coffins in the courtyard of the mosque.There were a number of soldiers wanderingabout.’’
From other accounts we learn that this was the night of 12 July, 1960. The town had been taken over by the army. There was a strict curfew and no one was allowed on the streets. Tanks and armoured vehicles had been positioned at all key points in the town. The Dergah was surrounded by a tight cordon of soldiers. Acting on the orders they had received, soldiers entered the twin-domed building containing Bediuzzaman's tomb, not by the door, but by breaking the iron grill on the windows. They then began to smash the marble slabs of the tomb with hammers.
Abdülmecid continues: "A doctor came up to me and said: `Don't be too anxious and upset. We're moving Ustad to Anatolia. That's why they have brought you here.' I completely broke down on