Cengiz Topel

Cengiz Topel
Statue of Topel in Eskişehir, Turkey
Born	(1934-09-02)September 2, 1934 İzmit, Turkey
Died	August 8, 1964(1964-08-08) (aged 29) Paphos District, Cyprus
Allegiance	Turkey
Service/branch	Turkish Air Force
Years of service	1955–1964
Rank	Captain
Unit	112th Air Squadron
Battles/wars	Battle of Tylliria

Cengiz Topel (September 2, 1934 – August 8, 1964) was a fighter pilot of the Turkish Air Force.

Career

Topel was born in İzmit on September 2, 1934, to Hakkı Bey, a tobacco expert from Trabzon and Mebuse Hanım in İzmit, where his father was working for the Turkish tobacco company Tekel. He was the third sibling of four children.

Cengiz Topel was schooled in Bandırma and Gönen of Balıkesir Province. He finished the primary and the secondary school in Kadıköy, Istanbul, where his family moved following his father's death. After a brief time at Haydarpaşa High School, he entered Kuleli Military High School, from which he graduated in 1953. Cengiz Topel joined the Army in 1955 with the rank of a second lieutenant following his education at the Turkish Military Academy.

His interest in aviation took him to the Turkish Air Force. He was sent to Canada for flight training. In 1957, he returned to Turkey and was appointed to the 5th Air Wing in Merzifon Air Base. Cengiz Topel served from 1961 on at the 1st Tactical Air Force Command at Eskişehir Air Base. In 1963, he became an Air Force captain.

Combat mission

On Aug. 5, 1964, Greek Cypriots attacked the Erenkoy and Mansur regions with assault rifles from the sea, as well as with armor-reinforced land troops. They opened fire on Turkish towns and fishing boats on the coast.

After it became clear that the UN presence on the island would remain indifferent to the massacre, Turkey sent its first mission to the island on Aug. 7 with four aircraft.

Captian Topel was sent from Eskisehir in central Turkey to Cyprus on Aug. 8, 1964, as a commander of the four units. They were ordered to conduct low-altitude warning flights over the island as a deterrence against the Greek Cypriot forces' attacks against their fellow Turkish islanders.

The flight team included Captain Cengiz Topel, Lieutenant Izzet Oztarhan, Captain Mehmet Konedrali and Lieutenant Ethem Sancar. Topel's F100F jet was shot down while preparing for its second dive.

Tortured to death

A parachute-clad Topel ejected from his aircraft, landing on a road near the Greek village of Peristeronori between the Turkish settlements of Lefke, Gaziveren, Elye and Camlikoy. He was captured by three Greek soldiers.

Topel reportedly kept the soldiers at bay until he ran out of ammunition.

Though it is not certain what happened to Topel while in Greek Cypriot prison, he did not emerge from the ordeal alive. He was allegedly killed by torture despite the 1929 Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

The Greek Cypriot side claimed that Topel had been wounded and died after being treated in hospital.

Following intense diplomatic efforts, Turkey received Topel's body from the Greek Cypriots on Aug. 12, 1964.

His remains were returned on August 12, 1964, to the Turkish authorities. On August 14, 1964, he was buried at the Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery in Istanbul.

He was first Turkish pilot to be killed in action.

Legacy

A former Turkish Air Force base located near İzmit, currently in use as Cengiz Topel Naval Air Station, is named after him. A monument was erected on the coastal road in the village Gemikonağı near Lefke in Northern Cyprus, where he had landed by parachute. A bronze statue in Eskişehir depicts him in flight suit. A number of places, schools in Turkey and a hospital in Northern Cyprus are named after him.