15 Nisan 2019 Pazartesi

TNT Matchbox Diary: A Turkish POW in Russian Prison Camp (1915-1918)/Part XLIX

//Ed. Note: In the aftermath of the "3 lovesick fellows" 
getting caught, there are big changes in store for Fuad Bey
and his companions.//


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11 October 1916 Wednesday
Everyone is full of regret. Once again, we’ve been made a laughing 
stock in front of the Russians.  These lovesick fools with the letters 
they’ve written are sacrificing their mothers, fathers and even their 
homeland for the sake of their sweethearts. What unfeeling fellows! 
Everyone is telling them what they think. After the weather cleared 
the sergeant-major came from the Command. He screamed that since 
we knew what had happened we should have beaten these fellows. 
Just before noon the fat Russian secretary came and took their 
statements. The Commander came in the afternoon and went out with 
Osman, although Osman was not guilty at all…the day passed with 
torment. In the evening the sergeant-major  came and told us to get 
ready because we were going to trade houses with the majors.  So 
we got ready and waited. We wondered about a thousand things – 
would our dreams had been destroyed. Deciding that if we were 
to think such a thing, we would prefer to hug each other under 
Russian bayonettes and drown in the river. The sergeant-major 
returned again very late. He said that we will go to the other house 
tomorrow. Henceforth, we can’t go anywhere. The same for the 
married fellows. We were all very upset and regretful about all of
this. Everyone spoke very harshly to the three lovesick fellows…

12 October 1916 Thursday
Morning came. The sky took on a light color and spread the effect 
of the light. There was a gloominess all around. We were in a sad 
state. We drank our tea. As the rain came down we moved to the new 
house. Leaving Halis with our things, I gave the basket and blankets 
to the sergeant and came to the new house. There were eight of us, 
including Osman. Each of us picked a place. Then the others, 
everyone came. They separated Osman from us and took him to 
another house, which made us sad. A bit later Saffet, Salah, Hakkı,
Ethem, Tahir and Nuri went to the newly-opened house (Malaşova) 
but then Saffet, Salah, Hakkı and Ethem returned. In their place, 
Erzurumlu Hasan left. Our ustarşı (supervisor) here is now Çerkes
Mehmet. A Hungarian doctor who is a prisoner came to our house 
too. The divisions have been made into three rooms, all a bit 
different from each other. The name of the house is Aralsof house. 
In the little room: Çerkes Mehmet, the doctor, Hurşid, Hasan, Rıfkı; 
in the middle room:   Saffet, Salah, Mustafa, Hakkı, Ethem, me, 
Halis and Fahri; in the big room: Trabzonlu Hasan, Burhan, Zühdü,
the secretary, Kazim, Mehmet Ağa, Süleyman, Captain Hikmet and 
married Mustafa. Our place was by the side of the window. Hakkı 
also wanted this spot and even though first Ethem and then Saffet 
asked us to vacate this spot for Hakkı we were able to refuse because
Halis,my honored friend, needs to be by the window.  They were 
mad at us because of this. Our time here passes with boredom. We 
can’t go anywhere and there’s no one to give us language lessons. 
Everything is up in the air. In the evening  the secretary and sergeant-
major came from the Command. They searched the three lovesick 
fools very thoroughly but they didn’t find anything other than a letter
and a few envelopes.

13 October 1916 Friday
The sky is cloudy and dark. An order from the Command: we cannot 
go anywhere. The Commander won’t come to the house. Supposedly,
it’s pressure but it means nothing to me. It’s just that I feel bad because 
we’ve become a joke for the Russians. These kinds of things merely 
expose the shortcomings in our personal upbringing and society. Yusuf
and his friends came from the other side for a visit. Salah is requesting 
that they come here, in consideration of the married fellows here going 
over there.  Yusuf didn’t agree to this, making an excuse. He’s right 
though. The aim would be preventing Çerkes Mehmet’s self-enjoyment. 
Çerkes Mehmet, who appointed himself our ustarşi (supervisor), issued 
a notice of regulations for the house just yesterday, requesting that we 
implement them. This is good but the title was a bit heavy-handed…
nevertheless, as far as I’m concerned it’s fine but if it doesn’t relate to 
law, the nation, honor and a person then…Salah’s aim seems to have 
been to dominate everyone by bringing in Captain Yusuf…Tahir and
Nuri came today and sat with us for a while. We went to bed late.

14 October 1916 Saturday
The weather is cloudy. There was a light rain until evening. The rock 
paths and sidewalks are composed of dirt on their surfaces so they’re 
all steeped in mud. Only the main path is covered with a thin layer of
bricks that have been brought in from outside. The poor construction 
of streets and roads has lead to the creation of little pools. The weather 
is cold all the time, especially in the mornings when it’s freezing…
since I didn’t have anything to keep me busy I spent most of the day
in bed. Boring. We bought a lot of carrots today and ate them as though 
they were fruit. But fruit can be found here. An apple, though, is very 
expensive. Because I ate the carrots on an empty stomach I got an ache.
The married fellows in our house (the secretary, the captain and the tall
fellow) made a request to the Command and they went back to our old 
house and settled in there. Since no one came to our house in their stead
our individual places have expanded. Fahri from our room and Rıfkı 
from the small room moved into the vacated room. In the evening we
got tobacco and cigarette paper from Kazim (we already had matches). 
We gave him cash for a part of the deal and deducted the rest from his 
debt to us. He still owes us 160 kopeks. Salah paid his debt today. Just 
one ruble remains outstanding. Zühdü’s debt is 87 kopeks…we bought
one and a half rubles worth of chits for tea. We chatted a bit and then I
went to bed. I had an odd dream at night, as if I’d become a regular 
army officer.

15 October 1916 Sunday
The weather is still bad. Light rain now and then. Cold…I spent the day 
in bed with nothing else to do. I had no desire to do anything either. 
This evening there was another strange incident. Everyone went to the
big room and the Hungarian doctor went, as well, in a big rush. We 
wondered what was happening so we ran there too and saw Kazim 
stretched out on his bed, staring at the ceiling. I waited but for a quarter
of an hour he didn’t close his eyes at all. They tried to scare hime out 
of it with hand gestures but to no avail. They had him smell ammonia 
but he didn’t even notice. Whatever was done he didn’t feel  anything. 
He was lifeless and couldn’t be revived either. We notified the 
Command right away and the Commander came soon after. He felt 
sorry for the young fellow. Then he advised us to behave ourselves, 
respect our elders, support our comrades and not allow fights to occur
among ourselves. He said with regret that he didn’t know of any army
like ours where the soldiers could not get along with each other. In 
other words, the Commander meant to say that Kazim’s situation was 
the result of our inability to coexist together…in any event, the 
Hungarian doctor gave his diagnosis: ‘melancholic, hopeless love’. 
Kazim lost half of his life because of the effect of this. He had written 
some crazy things in his notebook…the last thing he wrote was that 
he was mad at someone he didn’t name and planned to kill. Salah and 
his pals were worried about this ( because he had been opposed to 
their affairs. Essentially, it was he himself who inflamed the situation) 
and they didn’t sleep until morning. A lot of things were said about 
Kazim, about whether what he did was fake or real. Based on what I 
witnessed I believe it was real. I listened all around. Everyone had an 
opinion…I tried to get a notion from this. Halis and I talked about it
quite a bit before going to bed.

//END of PART XLIX//

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