Halis even rescues him from drowning in a dream.
Meanwhile, the camp commander gets wind of the Turks
flirting with local Russian girls and forbids it.//
Colorized photo of a church in Vetluga, 1909.
9 August 1916 Wednesday
The weather is not very good. Today passed
more with idle chat rather
than work. I went to see Şerif in the afternoon and we talked. Upon
my
return a sarcastic remark made by the boorish İsmail bothered me.
These days my time
passes rather pleasantly. Lately I haven’t been
subjected to such painful thoughts. I’m always happy
thinking about a
promising future and it’s welcoming hands. If I were to think too much
my
imagination would wallow in lonliness. But I’m not letting myself
get caught up in irritation in the
face of absurdity and crudeness nor in
getting angered by them. Really, there are some very strange
things that
these prisoners have created in this place. Everyone’s level, perception,
life, morals
and nature are different. There are stark differences in
the way people think. May God give Turks
who live for the future a
feeling, an idea, a desire and a soul.
10 August 1916 Thursday
The weather is bad. There was some drizzle
in the late afternoon. Today
we changed the grass in our beds. In the afternoon Halis went to
the
market. Since there’s no sugar available he brought two cakes with a
sufficient amount of lemon
sugar for tea - one for me and one for himself.
I was very much impressed by this. Halis is
always sincere toward me and
acts just like a brother. He never forgets me. For my part, I expect to
hold
a permanent sincerity and a never-ending friendship toward him.
Sometimes I make him mad when I
make joking remarks but he does the
same thing to me…I spent a long time in deep thought
about nature in my
old spot (the one next to Zühdü). A little after sunset I felt a bit
depressed.
Fierce Attacks Have Begun Around Kermanşah,
Bitlis and Muş
11 August 1916 Friday
Although I went to bed late last night I
got up early this morning. The
distress brought on in my being by my long deep contemplation
yesterday
continued for quite a while. Even though I wanted to crush it right away
I was unsuccessful. The weather is bad again. Halis
and I were busy
until noon working in French and writing
letters in French for the other
fellows.
I received a note after lunch. I went to see Şerif to get
some news.
Just at that time there was a downpour that lasted briefly. Then the sky
cleared. News:
the Turks gave the English a beating seven miles east
of Port Said. Fierce attacks have begun at
Kermanşah, Bitlis and Muş.
The Russians are in retreat there while there are Turkish armies at
Rusçuk and Sofia. Romania has had some insignificant skirmishes on
the Bulgarian
border…after I learned this news I
worked on French
for a bit and then returned. Halis and I worked on French
for a while.
Today I reversed Halis’s epaulet but I was disappointed when he wasn’t
happy with
it. At night I listened with pleasure to Osman’s remarks
about philosophy. Then I went to
bed.
12 August 1916 Saturday
I got up late. The weather is bad, it
rained lightly a couple of times.
Halis and I worked on French for a while in the morning. I had him
make
small sentences. He’s rather capable. But all at once he’ll become
distracted because he starts
thinking he’s not capable and he loses the
things he’s already learned. May God save especially we
Turks from
such distress. The German prisoner tailor who has been making Halis’s
jacket for the
past four days brought it today. But the fellow’s ham-
handedness made a mess of the jacket. I
sewed on the epaulets. Again
today I wrote letters in French for the lovesick fellows. I also
wrote
letters today to my father and to the presidency of the Red Crescent in
which I requested that
my father be informed of my health status. At
night we had a lot of fun.
13 August 1916 Sunday
This morning I got up neither early nor
late. After Halis and I greeted
each other he told me about a dream he had. The dream: we came to
the
bank of a river and right away I dove into the water in order to get
to the other side. I was
walking quickly through the water until I
stopped at the place where the current was the strongest
and I began
to be swept away. Although my body was completely in the water I
was still
visible. Halis quickly came to my rescue but even though he
grabbed me and threw me out of the water it
was no use because it
seemed that I had drowned. Then he struggled to get the water that
filled my mouth and my stomach out and he succeeded. After this I
came back to life. I suspected
that Halis added this last remark about
me coming back to life in all sincerity so that I wouldn’t
be upset but
I don’t believe in such dreams anyway. I’m sure that Halis’s sincerity
and love for me
is not hypocritical and that it is serious and real because
he was so upset about my situation in the
final portion of the dream that
he cried out ‘Oh my God! Is he dead?’, causing the fellows who were
sleeping in the room to be disturbed. Given that Kazim, Halis and I
were on the river bank and only
he came to my rescue it’s clear that
I’m very lucky to have such a loyal and faithful friend who
is more like
a dear brother. I too love him with all my heart and soul and I have a
great feeling
of loyalty toward him. Even though I don’t believe in
dreams I interpreted this to be devoid of any
ulterior motive. Because
of Halis’s extraordinary sincerity some hard-hearted person may want
to break us
up, disturb our friendship and crush our oneness of thought
but I hope not because no one can
destroy this sincerity…the weather
has
brightened quite a bit. I went to see Şerif in the
afternoon. Today
Artillery Second Lieutenant Hikmet move to our house from
Adalefinski house (he was my
classmate.) I went to bed late.
14 August 1916 Monday
The weather is almost always bad. It rained
once or twice. Halis’s
distress, which has gone on since yesterday had a terrible effect on me
toward evening. But I tried hard to console him. I helped him resist it
and was able to make
him better. Before noon everyone was in the park
across from our house. Apparently, an
exhibition has been opened in
the city today for war contributions. This seems to be the reason.
Supposedly
prisoners can go too, with the Commander’s approval.
This evening the
annoying sergeant came from the Command. He
passed on the Commander’s message that we
prisoners have been
seen calling to and talking with the Russian girls and that this
activity
is unsuitable. The Commander has ordered that this behavior must
stop. In truth I condemn the young
fellows who have created this
situation. They’re thinking that they can get
acquainted with the
daughters of our mortal enemy even though they’re in this lowly
station of
captivity and they’re hoping to have a happy union with
them. There was even talk of marrying the
tall one . It was nearly
morning when I went to bed. Today I borrowed five rubles.
//END of PART XXXVIII//
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