Ahmet Nurmambet

Ahmet Nurmambet was a Dobrujan-born Crimean Tatar regarded as an officer who had a brilliant career in the Romanian Army. He was the father of the well-known traditional folk singer Kadriye Nurmambet.

Ahmet was born in 1893. His uncle, Col. Refiyîk Kadír put him on a path to a military career and in 1900 he was already a student at the Military secondary school in Iaşi. Upon his graduation in 1909 he entered military service ranked as second lieutenant of cavalry.

He served through World War I in mounted unit 12th Roşiori Regiment fighting on the front in the battles of Oituz and Mărăşeşti.

After the war, with the reorganization of the Romanian Army in the twenties, his regiment joined the 40th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Infantry Division, which was initially stationed in Constanta, but later was transferred to Pazarjik, now Dobrich, Bulgaria. In Pazarjik he met Pakize from Kavarna. They married in 1931 and they had two children: Kadriye and Ğengiz. When, at the beginning of World War II in 1940, Romania ceded Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria, he was appointed commander of a garrison north to Medgidia where he moved with his family.

Ahmet continually distinguished himself during his military career and he was awarded military orders and medals. He died in 1953.