Haydar Mehmet Alganer* , who participated in the Dardanelles Wars with the rank of major , photographed the front with his camera to the best of his abilities. During Haydar Mehmet Alganer's visit to the 19th Division on 17 June 1915, he took a photograph of Staff Colonel Mustafa Kemal while he was in the trench in Conkbayırı and presented it to him. The camera that Atatürk took this photograph of is exhibited in the Çanakkale Naval Museum.

FROM COLLEGE HAYDAR ALGANER'S MEMORY BOOK

"Today, 17 June 1915... I went to the headquarters to congratulate Mustafa Kemal on his brilliant victory at Arıburnu and to see the front.

“We arrived at Mustafa Kemal Bey's headquarters. It was around 12:00. "Ooo," we said, hugging with the sincerity of two old friends. We hugged and kissed inside the tent. He became a colonel and received the Gold Merit and Silver War medals. Staff Izzettin was also there. He explained how he conducted the battles of Arıburnu. (June 17)”.

" Come, let me show you the trenches, " he said. The trenches were quiet. There was only an occasional artillery duel in the distance. He was accompanied by his squire, his commanding officer, and his beloved hunting dog.

While walking around the Arıburnu trenches, he would see the field where they were chasing the enemy from a battlement. In the meantime, I took out my camera that I never left with me and said, "Let me take a picture of you". “ Okay, ” he said. I had just taken the picture when a bullet detonated in the trench we had just left. If we were not in the battlement, we might be injured, maybe we would die."

^* Colonel Haydar Mehmet Alganer

He was born in Istanbul in 1880, died in 1966.

Haydar Mehmet Alganer was born on April 2, 1880 in Istanbul. His mother, Saadet Hanım, is the daughter of Sultan Abdülaziz's French translator and writer Tahir Ömerzade Halis Efendi; his father is Mehmet Reşit Pasha from Cihangir, the founder of Bursa Işıklar Military High School.

Alganer, who took his first step into military service at Bursa Işıklar Military High School and started his career as a lieutenant in 1898 with the registration number 1316-5, is also a schoolmate of Atatürk.

Alganer, who was a major and 35 years old when he was on the Çanakkale Front, was appointed to the 1st Branch Manager of the 16th Corps Chief of Staff in Arıburnu on April 28, 1915. Alganer, who moved to the front as the Chief of Staff of the Corps on May 28, the same year, took charge in the Asian Group around Kumkale on August 15 as the Chief of Staff of the 1st Corps.
Alganer's last duty at the front was on 1 November 1915 as the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Infantry Division, located around Uzunköprü.

Source: Haydar Mehmet Alganer, “Çanakkale Kara Savaşları Günlüğü”; Türkçe Sadeleştirme: Erdoğan Öztürk, Zehra Gülbudak; Yeniden Düzenleyen: Uzm. Şeyda Büyükcan Sayılır; Baskı: Deniz Basımevi Müdürlüğü, 2. Baskı, Mayıs 2010, sayfa 61-62 vd.