captivity in Vetluga - quite a contrast to the fate of Turkish
POWs elsewhere, as shown by the recent TNT mini-series
on other prisoners and camps in Russia.
As August 1916 ends, Fuad Bey and his companions
stage a play, discuss Turkey's future and pass the time
with language lessons.//
26 August 1916 Saturday
The weather is good, the sky is crystal
clear. In the morning Saffet came
to me and said that there will be a little play tonight and he asked
me to
participate. I accepted his proposal with great pleasure. In the afternoon
we went to the
garden for a rehersal. Today Halis and I went for a walk
for the first time and we sat on the grass
by the river for a long time.
The play started at 9 o’clock, after the evening meal. Salah was an aged
general, Saffet was the general’s capricious daughter Melahat, Zühdü
was the general’s
son-in-law, Hikmet was the general’s wife, I was the
nanny Gülfem and Halis was the doorman Munis. My
role was quite
odd. When I looked in the mirror I laughed like crazy. Anyway, the play
went
off well, almost professional. After the
play we chatted a bit…
then we went to bed. Although my
relationship with Halis went through
some changes over the last couple of days it’s now back to
normal.
Those who cannot bear the friendship between me and Halis are
looking at us in such a way that
if they could they would drown us in
a spoonful of water. I confront these stares with a cynical
smile. Keep
on with your jealousy and meanness, see what it gets you!...today in
the morning the
Commander came with a Russian prisoner inspection
committee. They inspected us and left.
27 August 1916 Sunday
The weather is bad. It rained lightly in
the late afternoon ad then
heavily until after midnight. In the morning a few people from the
majors
group came and Şerif came from the other side. We chatted.
Kör Mehmet came in the afternoon,
as well. At night we had a long
discussion about the country and then we found ourselves in a
state of
laughter. The reason for this was a long letter Hikmet wrote. We really
laughed hard, my
stomach and chest hurt. Then I caught a cough and it
was difficult to get to sleep. That’s how today passed.
Anyway, I don’t
remember having experienced such a merry day in all of my life!
Certainly every day – despite this very exceptional one compared
to the others – are filled with distress
and torment. Dear God, what is
my sin that I should have to face such pain every day. Feel sorry for a
hopeless fellow like me, give poor me who bounces from calamity to
calamity and from misery to
misery and who doesn’t see a pleasant
face, reasons to live happily. Make me laugh. The Turks have
again
taken Muş from the Russians.
28 August 1916 Monday
I got up very early. The weather is bad,
rainy. In the afternoon those
of us who are interested in learning languages got together and
decided
to work on French and German. I requested both languages.
More people requested German
than the others. Süleyman will be
our teacher. Just before the evening meal Süleyman gave us
our first
German lesson. Then after dinner those of us taking German tried to
write a bit.
Halis worked very diligently on German, along with me,
Zühdü, Hikmet, Tahir, Saffet, Temel and
Fahri. At night in the other
room Saffet, Salah, Zühdü and I discussed a number of things about
Turkey. In particular, one of these was about youth. After peace is
concluded a society
comprised of young people will be
established
in Turkey, with a small amount of capital. In the
first stage a school ,
will be set up in a neighborhood near a lightly populated village.
Village
children will be educated here. The village children will not
be able to see or get permission to visit
their parents until they finish
their schooling, up to age 16 or 17. After their primary education
the
school will teach them agriculture. When they finish these children
will be settled in
new villages established on empty land and they will
be given plots for themselves. The children
will pay an annual amount
to settle the debt for this land. These schools will rapidly multiply.
With this understanding, made with courage and fortitude, coming to
a successful fruition,
in just 30 years a great change will be seen in
Turkey. Four people are now involved in
this good-will project and
Halis, Burhan and Fahri are participating, as well. We agreed to
each
contributed one ruble per month for this.
29 August 1916 Tuesday
The weather is bad, rainy. Every day the
sky is cloudy. Again today
passed in an ordinary way. In surrounding where there is nothing
worthwhile to do the empty days of captivity pass with boredom.
In fact, with the effect of this
our undeveloped moral underpinning
acquires a very bad form. Today in the morning and evening
Süleyman gave us half hour lessons in both German and French.
In the afternoon I went to see
Şerif. We talked about the conditions
of the poor and the consequences war. We didn’t play games
at
night. Osman related to us information about a patriotic organization
in Egypt and the
good it has done for the country. He told us about
societies and related information, research and
studies, and he
explained as much as possible what kinds of things must be done in
Turkey in the
future. I listened attentively and learned things I didn’t
know.
We Talked with Salah About the Revolutions
to Come in Turkey
30 August 1916 Wednesday
The weather is bad. It rained quite a lot.
Süleyman went to the market
this morning so lessons were postponed. Prior to the evening meal
we
had a German lesson. We were going to have one in French after
dinner but it didn’t
happen. Henceforth, we decided to have the French
lesson from one to two in the afternoon and the
German one from five
to six in the evening. Halis is working hard on German and I am too.
I’m
glad about this. At night Osman told us that the Earth’s southern
pole is farther away than
the north and that’s why it has a shape like a
top. He gave
us some other information about the Earth. Also at night,
Salah and I
talked about the revolutions that will come about in Turkey.
I said that since I currently don’t have a profession, when I return to
Turkey I will take up
engineering and then go to Europe right away.
But In asked him what I need to do since I don’t
have the means to be
able to go to Europe. He told me as much as he knew and promised to
help
me get a job for 8 or 10 liras per month in a promising
commercial field, since I don’t
have a profession now.
31 August 1916 Thursday
The weather is bad again but it didn’t
rain. After lunch we had a French
lesson. Then Halis went to the market with the other fellows. I
went to
see Şerif. We talked about the war. I wrote a few words down from Uzun
Hakkı’s notebook for
myself. When I returned we had a German lesson.
We’re gradually making progress. At night I
saw my father in a dream.
It seems that he was at a banquet with his friends. There were some
people at the banquet that I love and some that I hate with all my heart.
Then I spoke with
my father. He told me he loved me and gave me some
money. It seems that in the dream I’m
living my civilian life in Istanbul
before I went off to war. God please give life to my mother, father,
brother and all Turks…
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