//Ed. Note: Fuad Bey, still at Sarıkamış, complains about
fleas and writing no-more-than-4-line letters. More
Turkish prisoners arrive and crowd Fuad Bey and his
companions. Class-warfare between regular Ottoman
officers and reserves, like Fuad Bey, and officer
candidates, rears its ugly head.//
Fuad Tokad
22 March 1916 Wednesday
Today in the morning my friend Zühdü went
to the Commander with
a Russian soldier and told him about our wants and needs. Out
of
kindness, supposedly, the Commander gave us each five rubles more.
What is
that! They’re only worth about 10 kuruş. We are fed up with
the fleas. Aksenti came again
at night.
23 March 1916 Thursday
Today I was pretty well occupied. I wrote
the family history and chatted.
Late in the afternoon a Cossack and a Russian officer
wearing an
infantryman’s uniform came to our room. Based on his behavior and
comportment, the infrantryman appears to be well-bred. He’s from
the Kop Malazgirt area
and he communicated with signs. In the
evening we chatted and I did some comical
things so we could pass
the time with fun. I wrote to my father another (1+3) number
letter
and told him my Sarıkamış address. I wrote to Veterinarian Nafiz,
as well.
24 March 1916 Friday
After morning tea a Russian sergeant came
and politely told us that
we would move to a place alongside the other officers. We
got ready
right away and said farewell to this room. We stopped by the
Command. An
Armenian aide-de-camp named Açi, who spoke some
Turkish, showed us where to
go and said that the room outside of
the two existing rooms was for us. So we
went and settled in. Two
persons to a
bed. Regrettably, those there didn’t say welcome
or hello
to us. A bit later I went to the officers’
bath with Zühdü and Tahir.
It was quite nice. The baths and showers,
with drains, were fabulous.
I was very impressed.
Mamahatun is west of Erzurum. After taking Erzurum in
February 1916, the Russians kept moving westward into
Anatolia.
Afterwards, a Russian told us that 31 Turkish officers taken prisoner
at
Mamahatun would be coming and later at night the 31 of them in
fact came. They stayed in our
room (most of them). Their clothes were
very shabby. We offered them tea. First the other Zühdü and then I
met one of them, Cavalry Second Lieutenant Tevfik of Edirne,
who I
think I remembered from the War Academy. We went to bed late.
Most
of them were officer candidates. They spent the night on the floor.
25 March 1916 Saturday
We spent today in this tight and very
crowded place. The fleas are
terrible.
At midday the Commander’s aide came, bringing
the letters
we wrote on 23 March. He said that letters of more than four lines
would not be accepted so we wrote the same letters again, squeezing
them into
four lines. Because I couldn’t sleep at night I wrote a letter
in French, too. In the
afternoon they gave us bedding and pillows
made out of wool. We got five beddings,
three of which I, Kazim,
Rıfkı and Zühdü laid beneath ourselves, and the other two
we gave
the the newly-arrived fellows.
Hamid’s Period, Committee of Union and
Progress, Allied Powers
26 March 1916 Sunday
Out of laziness we didn’t give the letters from yesterday today either.
The fellows in the inner rooms – majors, captains,
lieutenants – are all
talking against us reserves, unfortunately. In the evening there was an
incident: Zühdü and I were chatting with two of those who came
yesterday, Hasan
Basri and the lawyer Salahuddin. Salah was chattering
loudly about the Hamid period,
the Committee of Union and Progress
and the Allied Powers, criticizing all of them.
The topic then turned to
the military and an artillery Flrst Lieutenant (probably named
Sayıd)
chimed in. Then the things our chatter-boxes said opend the problem
of reserves
and regular army officers. The reserves were praised and
Hurşid said something untoward
causing the artilleryman to grab him
around the throat. At first we thought it was a
joke but apparently he
was serious and he was going to choke him. Anyway, we
separated
them and the issue was closed. Very regrettable. I went to bed toward
morning.
27 March 1916 Monday
Our room is narrow, an area of about 25
square meters. There are more
than twenty people. Fortunately, during the day we can
go outside the
door where Sarıkamış’s and the Command’s main avenue passes. We
pass
the time watching those who come and go. Today we mailed the
letters we prepared
yesterday. Its number is four. Rumor has it that the
Russians have suffered many dead
on the front line. Forces are coming
and going to the Russians from Kars. Again at
night we talked among
ourselves.
28 March 1916 Tuesday
The letter I gave yesterday was sent back.
Other than health and the
address, nothing else can be written. So I reduced it again
and gave it
to the aide. We complained to the aide that we should go back to our
former
location because this place is too small. He agreed and in the
evening we went back to
our old place. There are eight of us and two
beds. We had another brought in. I snatched
one of the beds and settled
in. Aksenti came again and we talked with signs. Today we
heard that
the 3rd Army Corps has come to the front with Vehip Paşa as the army
commander.
Mehmet Vehip Pasha
29 March 1916 Wednesday
We organized the room. We had two more thin
mattresses brought in.
Zühdü is on the bed next to the door and I’m opposite the
door. On my
left Kazim and Tahir share a bed in the corner. Between where I am and
they
are Fahri has a thin mattress. Hurşid has an area at the window next
to Tahir. Rıfkı and
Mustafa each have two thin mattresses and are
between Zühdü and Hurşid. Since my spot
is by the window I can enjoy
looking at the forest. At night I kept to myself and did
some thinking.
The servant Sasun said that it was written in the Russian newspaper that
Enver
Paşa had died. We got aggravated but we didn’t believe it.
30 March 1916 Thursday
Late in the afternoon Lieutenant Osman and
an engineer officer came
to our room. They were looking for their friends. After lunch a few
fellows
went to the prisoner barracks to select servants. When they
returned they
said that they found one they liked and although he was
at first unwilling to come he
subsequently agreed. At this time when
we don’t have any money this seems extravagant to me. The
servant
will work for pay. We went to sleep late at night. Kazim, who is
envious of my
friendship with Zühdü, came to ask if he could join us.
Zühdü was disinclined but we had
to say ok. Of course, time will
tell whether this will work out.
Ottomans Bombard Batumi
31 March 1916 Friday
In
light of our urgent needs, we sent two fellows to the Command
but
nothing came of it. These fellows also went to see those on the
other side. They heard some nonsense such as we
junior officers
and officer candidates will be housed with the soldiers.
More to the
point, we will be treated as soldiers. I don’t
know. How has this
happened? These rumors and inventions are the product of the
small
-hearted majors. In fact, the instigators for making officer candidates
equivalent with soldiers
by distinguishing between officers and
officercandidates are two soulless men named
Gendarmerie Mehmet
and Çerkez Mehmet. How ugly! In the hand of the enmy. This has
saddened us. But at this time we got news that Enver Paşa’s army
has gone to Baghdad
to attack and that the Ottomans have bombarded
Batumi, which cheered us up and eased our
sadness. Well! The
Commander has said that money will not be given to us and that a
restaurant will be designated for us.
//END of PART XVIII//
