Galatasaray's first emblem was drawn by 333 [School Number] Şevki Ege. This was the figure of a spread-winged eagle with a football in its beak. The eagle was a model emblem that Galatasaray dwelled on in the beginning. But when the name did not attract too much interest, Şevki Ege’s composition was pushed aside. Later, Galatasaray’s crest was born and it was greatly embraced.

In 1923, Galatasaray members got together for the club’s fourth traditional general assembly. In a club aged just 18, there was great interest by the young members.

However, this assembly was going to be one for the ages. In that assembly, Galatasaray decided on its unique symbol as a crest.

The birth of our crest became possible thanks to an unobtrusive, quiet and humble young man named Ahmet Ayetullah. Ayet, as he was known by his friends, was publishing a magazine with his close friend Şinasi. Their goal was to be the voice of Galatasaray High School students and the result was a magazine called Kara Kedi (Black Cat). But this was not a usual, printed magazine. This magazine was the result of work by a collective of friends and each issue was hand-written and illustrated personally by Ayet.

As a freshman, Ayet was one of the primary contributors of the magazine with his close friend Şinasi. And Ayet also had unbelievable talent as an illustrator. His pencil drawing skills with his sharp observation skills created a vibrant archive of that era’s İstanbul.

In one of his beautiful works, Ayet created a figure that caught everybody’s attention: He created a harmonious designed sketch using the Arabic alphabet’s two letters Gayın andSin.

The drawing was well-liked by almost everyone. The figure, which reminded everyone the first letters of Galata and Saray, was going to be shown to the club officials.

General assembly made in 1923 was a good opportunity to present the sketch to the board. The quiet and shy Ayet was not expected to present his own work. His bold friend Şinasi was determined to be the presenter of his design.

But he was also really young, he cannot dare to make such an offer in front of experienced members. A well-settled and influential member was needed. One such member named Namık Canko, MD was seated right next to Şinasi and he took the sketch from Şinasi’s hands to present. He said “One of our young brothers, Sinaşi Reşit brought a figure to offer as our official crest. I present it to you and propose it to be our crest.” After the display of the sketch, everyone applauded this idea and design and the figure was accepted as the crest of our club without any objection.

The crest was first used in student organizations. Later it was embroidered on the high school students’ caps and jackets. Of course it was also on every Galatasaray athlete’s jersey since then.