Fuad Bey and his companions. Possible peace talks raise
hopes. Another play is planned but abandoned. The
season's first snow falls.//
1 October 1916 Sunday
The weather is bad, the sky cloudy. Around noon
there was light but
extended rain. For a second at mid-afternoon it snowed. In the
afternoon
some of the majors came to chat at our house. I went to see Şerif and
we
worked for a while…news: yesterday’s news is being repeated. The
Russians stormed a forward Turkish outpost using bayonets (I
wonder).
Supposedly on 16 October all the kings and
emperors will get together
and make a peace agreement . If it’s true…we played a bit at
night. Halis
and I chatted. Halis is sometimes making fun of me. I’m sure this is
nothing
more than just making a joke to pass the time. Because I’m
certain of his sincerity and
faithfulness. Tonight in a dream I was
struggling with Rıfkı, who looked like Tahir. Today
passed a bit
distressingly. Istanbul is coming alive in my memory, making me sad.
2 October 1916 Monday
I got up a bit early. The weather is nice,
sunny. The morning’s frost,
with its snowy shape, dazzles the eye when the sun hits it. But
it’s still
cold. In the afternoon Osman had an argument
with the secretary.
We’ve had enough! On one hand, we’re being harassed and the other the
Russian soldiers see this
and mock us. We had another German lesson,
which was filled with things I didn’t know.
Şerif came by in mid-
afternoon and we wrote some French words. The nights are now
longer
than the days by 40 minutes.
3 October 1916 Tuesday
The weather is nice but clouded over toward
evening. We went to the
Command after lunch. Again we got 50 rubles each. Up to now I’ve
gotten 39.5 rubles. We paid Osman 25 rubles we owed him. Around
mid-afternoon a new
table d’hote committee was elected – Trabonlu
Hasan, Rıfkı. This month we gave 25 rubles
each for bread, meals and
servants. The cost of provisions is rising day by day. Hikmet
objected
to this amount of money which irritated Salah so they had an argument.
Anyway, it didn’t
last too long and Hikmet didn’t participate in table
d’hote. It’s snowing so we know that
winter is coming. Everywhere
is covered in white. Since it was the first snowfall it only
amounted to
a thickness of two or three fingers.
4 October 1916 Wednesday
The sky is somewhat cloudy. The sun peeks
through now and then. All
over (the plain and such) it’s white. News: according to Zarif, the French
are willing to agree to a separate peace. The leaders of Germany, Austria
and Bulgaria are
negotiating with Enver Paşa: by taking soldiers from
every front Romania will be eliminated; Russia
will be forced to agree to
a costly peace after an assault from Riga and the Carpathians, once there
is peace with France; subsequently, in turn Italy and England will brought
to heel. Enver Paşa
promised he will send an army for Romania. May God
grant this. Again we didn’t have a German
lesson because of neglect. In
the afternoon Şerif came and paid the five ruble debt he incurred
recently.
At night we discussed the idea of the tea we drink each day being a
collective endeavor.
We’ll get a samovar and elect a two-person committee.
Tea will cost four kopeks and payment will
be made with chits. Tomorrow
the plan will be proposed to everyone. Today we paid all of our
debts.
5 October 1916 Thursday
The weather is rather nice. The sun shines
intermittently. We went to the
Command at 10 o’clock and although we waited a long time for the
Commander’s representative the secretary ended up coming. He showed
us an order that had come
from Moscow, to the effect that the populace is
suffering because the prisoner officers are
getting everything from the
market cheaply. For the sake of the populace we cannot shop
anymore.
How ridiculous!...they forbid us buying cheaply but in fact they sell us
everything at two
or three times the price. May God save us. When we
returned, after lunch we presented the tea
proposal from yesterday.
Everyone agreed. I’ve started to make the chits…afterwards I went
to
the Kazarma (main barracks) and gave Halis’s and my own boots for
repair. Once again we
didn’t have a German lesson.
6 October 1916 Friday
The weather is nice. The sun is out. All the
snow has melted.
Nevertheless, it’s cold. All the little puddles were frozen in the morning.
I went to see Şerif in the afternoon. Halis went to the market to see his
fellow townsman.
Later I came back with Salah and we thought about
a theater production for tomorrow. This
will portray the participation
of a few young fellows in an imagined war between Turkey and
Russia
after this world war is over, and their lives. But we realized that even if
we were to do
the rehersal more seriously at night it wouldn’t turn out
well because we are all so unfamiliar with the parts. So we abandoned
the idea. I would have had a role as one of the young
fellows…today is
the eve of the holiday. The past is alive in my mind. I was reticent. Then
I
looked over and saw that Halis was too. I tried to console him. He
accused me of being
disloyal because I has supposedly been too
responsive to Burhan and Zühdü’s remarks, giving their
words too much
consideration while responding to Halis indifferently. I was able to
console him by proving that the reverse was true. Apparently, this is a
distressing reality…
//END of PART XLVII//
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