Fuad Bey, as he awaits transport to another camp.//
6 March 1916 Monday
Contrary to habit, I got up early and
looked at the beauty the dawn
had spread all around. Sarıkamış’s perimeter and
surroundings are
filled with beautiful forests. I recalled the past a bit. In the late
afternoon two big Russian prisoners, both officers – from among
those same prisoners – visited
us. We talked about this and that,
unimportant things. A Russian barracks
guard named Samun who
knows Georgian and Russian well translated for us. So
then, after
translating the Russian to Georgian, Hurşid, who is essentially a
Georgian and
knows Georgian, relates it to us in Turkish.
Anyway, these Russian officers asked my
name and they understood
that I know French. I wrote the Turkish alphabet fro
one of them.
After dinner this Russian officer invited me to their room and I went.
There
were five officers and a woman there. Four of them were officer
candidates and
one was a captain – the woman belonged to this captain.
Since the woman knew a
little French I spoke with her. But really it
was sign language. Ridiculous. She didn’t
know the language well and
I was just about pantomiming myself. She asked foolish
questions.
They asked about the war and some other things. The woman was
beautiful, her
words were flirty but I didn’t like her. We passed quite
a bit of time. They offered me
two glasses of brandy, one glass of tea,
bread, cheese and chocolate. As I left they
gave me chocolate for my
friends, which I split up and distributed. After chatting
a bit I went
to bed.
7 March 1916 Tuesday
Today was aggravating. Based on everyone’s
decision, we sent a
note about our needs to the Commander and had the details added
by
telephone. While we were telling stories at night a Cossack officer
candidate - from
yesterday – entered with a newspaper in his hand,
as if he were going to give us some
news. Nonsense. Supposedly
the Germans
are helping the Austrians although they are not
helping
us…what good can come from saying such things. Foolishness,
pettiness.
8 March 1916 Wednesday
Toward midday a Russian officer came and
gave us five more rubles.
This is apparently the result of yesterday’s note. After lunch
four of us
went to the market. I had my hair cut at a cost of one ruble. The
barber shop
was sort of nice but nothing special. How expensive!
I couldn’t sleep at night so I
drafted a letter to my father and translated
it into French. I lay down and slept a bit.
Morning came and again I
got up a bit early.
Supposedly the Allies Shot Enver Paşa and
Four Officers
9 March 1916 Thursday
Time passes with discomfort. Food will be
obtained from the
restaurant until the end of the month. Toward evening a Cossack
captain
prisoner, along with two other Cossack officer prisoners and a
young,
handsome duty officer, came to our room again. In the evening, once
again this
captain came with a map and opened it up. What nonsense!
Supposedly the Allies
shot Enver Paşa and four officers and Bitlis and
Trabzon have fallen. Of course
we didn’t believe it because it was all
lies. This captain was praising Fifth
Expeditionary Force Commander
Halil quite a bit. Today I sent the letter I wrote to my
father yesterday.
We didn’t sleep at all. Myself, Rıfkı, Fahri and Kazim chatted a
bit and
then Rıfkı went to sleep. I found something to make a fire with and
boiled
tea for the three of us. Two hours before dawn we went to sleep.
10 March 1916 Friday
One of us named Mustafa went to the
hospital today and stayed there.
He’s lacking in morals and behavior but he is a Turk so
may God make
him better. Interest is low, too. Today’s duty officer was a proporşçik
(ensign). He keeps coming to our room and talks about Armenians, in
particular. He
first said he was Greek, then Romanian but he’s
Armenian. After drinking tea in the
morning I felt the effect of
sleeplessness and lay down until noon. At night I went to bed
early.
One of us name Kazim went to the market today and heard from the
Iranian
grocer that we will be moved tomorrow.
11 March 1916 Saturday
The snow that started at five in the
morning continued until evening.
I find the Russians to be quite uncouth. In
particular, their customs are
very annoying. I get angry because the Russians, both officers
and
soldiers, come into our rooms without permission in a crude manner
and
continually harass us. They stare at us when we eat, when we lie
down, when we sit around –
in short, when we do anything. What
boorish guys. They probably don’t consider
us humans. Supposedly,
Rize has fallen, too. We didn’t believe it. Our transfer news turned
out to be baseless. A year ago was the day
misery and calamity
befell me so my time today passed with discomfort and thoughts.
//END of PART XVI//
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