erupts in Fuad Bey's house because the fellows are
enjoying themselves a bit too much for the Arab's taste.
For the moment, life in POW camp seems pretty nice.//
It almost seems physically impossible to write so flawlessly
in such tiny script...
8 July 1916 Saturday
The weather was gloomy in the morning. Then
it got rather cold. After
that it rained, sometimes heavily, sometimes lightly. In the
afternoon I
went to see Şerif. Until evening I worked at sewing Kör Mehmet’s
initials on his blanket. We
had a discussion at night that was about the
trials that Istanbul and Turkey have suffered. Today I
had a huge feeling
of homesickness in my heart. I thought
and thought. I felt just about
exhausted by a dream so in order to ease
this feeling somewhat I wrote
something to counterpose
the dream from fancy to existence. I was able
to obtain some peace in my heart because I
grabbed onto the hope of
faithfulness. My imagination was drowned in sweetness, my heart
thumped
with happiness. My soul was pleased with this. Sometimes
hope becomes sadness and curses
circulate in my mind. In short,
however much I grumble and descend into despair, I
suffer. Just before
waking up I had a dream in which I saw Feyzi, Mehmet Ali and Cemil.
I was
frightened by the length of Mehmet Ali’s ears. Reverting to
the past a bit.
From Batumi to Sivastopol
9 July 1916 Sunday
The weather is bad, dark clouds. A couple
of times it rained heavily.
Then the clouds broke and the sun came out. The weather has turned
nice, like a spring day. News: the Turks have surrounded the Russians
and two Turkish
dreadnoughts have bombarded the shores from
Batumi to Sivastopol. We rejoiced and sang
songs. Salah related the
words of a teacher who would give history and geography lessons to
Turkish children in an imagined
Turan (pan-Turkish)-based future…
today we made a
lottery game from wood and in the evening we
drew lots with Süleyman’s participation but
Zühdü and I didn’t win.
10 July 1916 Monday
Again in the morning the weather wasn’t
good. There’s a mild chill
in the air but we went for a swim in the river anyway. I still
haven’t
been able to learn how to swim. It rained heavily in the afternoon.
Time passed
pleasantly, lots of laughing and playing. We drew lots
again at night. We had fun and didn’t sleep
until sunrise. Osman
talked about Egypt and a few other things. We listened. On the
longest days the sun sets between nine and ten and rises between
two and three in the morning.
The nights last five, six hours but
henceforth the nights will grow longer. Then it will
be dark all the
time.
11 July 1916 Tuesday
I was going to get up late today but I was
woken up for the bath. I
washed up at the bath and came back but even though I lay down I
couldn’t sleep. The sky is cloudy again. Toward noon the clouds
thickened and it rained heavily.
I passed the time pleasantly chatting
and playing games. Late in the afternoon I learned from
Süleyman
that if we ask Osman he may give us lessons. We chatted in the
evening and I
went to bed around midnight.
12 July 1916 Wednesday
We went for a swim in the river again in
the morning. I still wasn’t
able to learn how to swim but
I hope that I can survive danger in
10-15 meters of water. The weather
is cool, cloudy but no rain.
Toward evening we made some jokes
and laughed among ourselves.
But sometimes these went overboard and aroused
indignation.
13 July 1916 Thursday
Again in the morning we swam in the river.
When we came back we
drank tea. The weather Is cool again and cloudy. I passed the time
pleasantly with games and chatting. We spent a lot of time walking in
the garden and doing
exercise. After the evening meal we enjoyed
ourselves with pole vaulting and stone-tossing drills, in which Osman
participated. I
couldn’t sleep again at night. I talked until dawn with
Nuri.
14 July 1916 Friday
After morning tea we went for a swim in the
river. I’m afraid that I
haven’t learned to swim well and that I won’t be able to learn. A
little before noon we
gathered at the table because First Lieutenant
Cemil Bazergan of Baghdad wanted
to say something to everyone.
He began to speak and said that he was uncomfortable because
of all
the noise, violin and harpsichord playing and singing. He add that
since he was ill these
things should not be done around him. Cemil’s
words were quite dictatorial and threatening, as
if to say that we had
to listen to and obey him because he is older than us. With a haughty
manner
he said that he would complain to the Commander about a
paper he had come into possession
of (a letter Süleyman had written
to a girl), indicating that this would force us to do as he said.
Cemil
was angry that we were singing and he criticized our laughing. He
said a few other
ridiculous things. He’s a puffed-up Arab. He has
such a loathsome life that he thinks that sincehe’s sick
everything we
do offends him and hurts him. But actually he’s bothering us. In any
event, we decided to
play music until eight o’clock and to chat
openly and laugh until ten thirty. The weather is nice.
15 July 1916 Saturday
Again in the morning we went for a bath.
When we heard from the
Russian Commander that Cemil Bazergan
would be sent to the
Yaroslav Hospital because of his illness the
obstinate jerk refused
to go, saying he wasn’t sick. What should
have been a happy solution
for both hm and the people he lives with fell through. Think about
just
how ill-mannered and low this fellow is! The weather is nice. We did
exercises in the garden and we
made a trapeze from wood. Following
the evening meal we asked Osman to have a conference
with us about
fear. He said there are four ways to reduce fear (1. Alcohol, 2. High
ideals, 3.
Religious ideals, 4. Ideals of homeland, nation and humanity.)
Osman said that the most
appropriate is ideals of homeland, nation and
humanity and he recommended building a strong bond
to this. I wrote
another card to my father and sent it.
//END of PART XXXIV//
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