Major Halis Ataksor, also known under the alias as 'Halis the Blind', by many surrounding him for loosing his vision in one eye during the Balkan War, was born in 1876 in the Turkish City of Kutahya. His father from the 'Aydinian Tribe'in South-Western Turkey was Hamlaci Muhtar. His mother from the 'Germinian Tribe' was Havva Naime.

After completing the Turkish Army Academy, he pursued his career as a ranked officer. Accepting this responsibility as a ranked officer, Halis was soonafter involved in four major wars that the Ottoman State

were involved, namely: The Tripolitanian War between the Turks and the Italians; the Balkan War, the Battle of Gallipoli and finally, as an inspector in the South Anatolian region during the Turkish War of Independence as a Mardin Region Inspector against the French. Halis, also had the opportunity to meet and write articles for Ziya Gokalp's periodicals. Ziya Gokalp, at the time, was and still is inTurkish Literature a great scholar and philosopher.

Because Halis was born in a time of war, his whole life was spent in military defense. He was however quinti-lingual, that is, he spoke and understood precisely five different languages(His own language inclusive): Ottoman, French, German, Arabic, and Persian.

He understood Western and Eastern cultures extremely well. At the same time, Mustafa Kemal who laterwent on to become the founder of the modern Republic of Turkey, was serving as commander of the 19th Division.

Because Mustafa Kemal was promoted to higher challenges in his military career,Sefik Aker who was commanding under the 27th Regiment, filled in Mustafa Kemal's vacancy in the 19th Division.

Due to the administrative transfer, the 27th Regiment Commandship was also under vacancy.Sefik Aker, described Captain Halis as 'very worthy and courageous'.[See Askeri Mecmua Canakkale, Ariburnu Savaslari 1- Kanuevvel 1935 sayi 40 sayfa 55]

Captain Halis then found a shining opportunity to brighten his career and his history by pursuing newer challenges by taking command of 27th Regiment's 3rd Batallion. Shortly within his service as a Major under the 27th Regiment, he was severely injured from his arm in battle, thus being eligible for transfer duty. According to literary legends and many sources that wrote about him, he was stubborn (in a patriotic way) when it came to leaving, due to his conviction of nationalistic creed. He was a man that never thought twice about dying for his country. However, after a short period of going through a 'stubborn' period, his close friends plotted a 'friendly' conspiracy to capture him and take him to safety due to a risk to his life. The conspirators succeeded in the plot to capture Major Halis to safety by constant persuassion. The 'worthiness and courageness' phrase coined by Major Sefik Aker Bey regarding Major Halis, is evidenced in literature. Commander Lieutenent Mucip (Kemalyeri), another ranking officer praised Major Halis in numerous lines in his book entitled How the Spirit of Gallipoli Was

Born And The Azerbeijian Wars:

"During our short stay in the Anzak Cove the messenger corresponded notifying us of our current status. As time went by, our current situation was disintegrating getting worse than worse. Thereafter during our stay in the Anzak Cove, Commander Halis emerged.

I was only 20 years old at the time and his mere presence rejuvenated me.

The enemy too, was slowly probing our status. Shortly after, he gave each soldier to carry out specific orders - once he gave me my orders, he made the following statement to all that were present: 'It appears as if the enemy will drift away into the seas'.

His face however was transforming to a more yellowish color. Ironically, his vicious eyes were slowly dwindling, yet I saw the cloth of his left arm ripped severely through his bruising skin and saw the blood dripping down towards his fingertips. I attempted to make some sort of sense of this paradox description, but felt no need for it given the circumstances. But curious me, just felt the need to ask:

'Commander - you are injured'.

He then said: 'Not to worry - it happend on the way here.'.

I felt it neccessary to get the surgeon. I was stopped by Commander Halis and he ordered me to not speak of what truely happen. He ordered me to:

 '...dare not mention anything to the soldiers of my injuries'.

He was hurt in combat. Perhaps the reason for him saying this is not to lower the soldiers confidence.

Despite the severity of his injuries, Commander Halis and a few soldiers were in patrol eyeing

for any sudden possible attack. As each minute passed by, I felt his pain and saw that he was

begining to loose focus. During his exchange with us, I could feel his sophistication but in reality

he too was scared and this concerned me. He then gave the following order:

'All men must stand there ground and under no circumstance must they withdraw back -

Only send a messenger for your current status and if our situation worsens, then I will have reinforcement' "

The literature about Commander Halis is not only limited to the preceding work. Many other authors such as Sevki Yazmanand Abdurrahman Ozgen have written books on the Battle of Gallipoli, and mention Major Halis in afew sections of their respective books. A noteworthy citation comes from Ahmet Uzun, son of Halil born in 1883 -

focused much of his attention on the place of Sebdul Bahir made the following assertion:

"As we were situated at the port, we noticed an enemy boat nearing to our surprise.

They were approaching with such comfort and ease as if they were entering there fathers' backyard.

Nearly 20-30 enemy soldiers were present in this boat. We soon discovered that these soldiers were situated here occasionly in an area close to ours. Major Halis quickly was notified of this unusual incident and upon his arrival towards where we were stationed, he vehemently stated:

'Why? Even if you are situated in comfort while off-duty, you must not allow soldiers comfort.

If I were to see such comfort granted one more time by you, then I shall kill you myself.

Furthermore, if you were to see a scant of deception on my part, then I expect you to kill me!'"

The setting: The Anzac Cove, Gallipoli. The enemy began preparing and scheming an attack.

There was an incident which is worth these lines. While Major Halis was on his horse maneuvering the enemy through bunkers, he was severely shot in the leg. After being shot, ofcourse, he was infuriated due to a failure in tactical.

He then ordered the soldiers to affix knives on the tip of there rifles and to attack the enemy bar handedly. The next thing was a reverberation of 'Allah-Allah' much like 'Hurraa'. A newsletter at the timeentitled 'History Speaks' (Tarih Konusuyor) described the situation that took place during this exchange. Perhaps one of the most talked about encouraging reverse-psychology tactics applied by Major Halis was being subliminalized to the soldiers. Apparently this tactic by Halis against his soldiers was an encouragement:

"As the canyons and bullets were pouring towards our side, Commander Halis arouse to his feet.

I could not believe what I was seeing. A very dangerous, yet peculiar sight - Commander Halis was standing in a middle of a bullet shower. Seeing this, I rushed towards him and yelled 'Commander - why are you setting yourself as a target' to which he replied:

 'My damn tummy is too fat. I am getting exhausted standing up and down. It does not matter anyway - the enemy is going to kill you and I anyway - right? This is the exact reason why I am standing up."