17 Nisan 2019 Çarşamba

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

//Ed. Note: A Hungarian doctor prisoner tells Fuad Bey
and his cohorts what captivity deep in Siberia is like.
Meanwhile, the drama of the "3 lovesick fellows" 
continues but the camp commander seems to be 
remarkably understanding about the episode.//

turkish prisoners in russia 1915 ile ilgili görsel sonucu


16 October 1916 Monday
The weather is bad. Again light rain now and then. Kazim was sent to 
the hospital in the morning and admitted. Today Halis went to the 
Kazarma (main barracks) along with Çerkes Mehmet to give the boots 
for repair. At night I began to feel very strange. I got depressed thinking 
about the past, the future and especially my parents. I felt bewildered.
Halis came. After quite a while I was able to compose myself. Halis
kept asking me what I was thinking and showed concern. Finally, I 
convinced him that nothing was wrong. My thoughts are like they 
always are…today we heard that the families of the married officers
will go to Istanbul. I had an idea that I might be able to give them a 
letter to put in the mail at the Istanbul post office. If this were possible,
it would make my family, who haven’t had any news about me for 
nine months, happy. Tonight the Hungarian doctor told us about
what he had witnessed of Siberia and the Kyrgyz. He said Siberia is 
deathly hot in the summer and the winters very harsh, with 
temperatures of -45 degrees. The Kyrgyz there eat only sheep and horse 
meat. Bread is unknown there. Their lifestyle is living in shanties and 
earthworks during the winter and in tents during the summer. They’re 
rich and they love Turks. But they use their wives like prisoners.

17 October 1916 Tuesday
Another day in our lives wasted. The best days of our youth are 
passing in a stifling calamity. In the true sense, since we are living this 
captive life each day we see nothing other than what’s around us, our 
minds are unable to make sound judgements. Our lives pass with 
emptiness. Our hearts beat with pulses that spurt fever. Sometimes 
we’re consoled, as when the hope of our beloved Turkey and the 
Turkish race’s greatness smashes into our thoughts. We think about 
it, find it conceivable and we’re happy with the certainty of this hope. 
We don’t wilt under the ongoing effects of the Russian newspapers 
that want to extinguish our hope and break our spirit. Even if we go 
to sleep with the genuine poison of hopelessness at ever being able 
to live and bring forward enlightenment, we are comforted in knowing 
that we will live with the hope we expect from God and with the
certainty that we will work for this end. God willing, we will happily
return to our beloved country once there is peace. News: our nation 
is on the attack on all fronts. Children and old people, older
than 50 and younger than 16, from opposition countries will return
to their nations. The Germans have invented bullets that scatter up to 
100 meters where an enemy is in a defensive position. The Germans 
are also inflicting damage on the English with their submarines. At 
night the Hungarian doctor came and said he would teach us German. 
Halis had a sadness about him tonight. No matter how much I insisted 
he wouldn’t tell me the reason and he kept on moaning under the 
effect of it till morning. Finally, he was able to say that he was 
thinking about his family.

18 October 1916 Wednesday
The weather is bad and has been for ten days. There’s a light rain 
sometimes. Since we’ve come to this house (Aralsof house) there 
has been some whispering going on. Salah is involved. There’s no
love lost between him and our house supervisor Çerkes Mehmet, 
who is somewhat prideful and domineering. Salah is against him and 
probably should keep quiet. So that’s why they oppose each other. In 
particular, Salah wants to take him down, to break him, and this is 
what he’s thinking about. He no doubt wants to win the day by 
getting everyone to join in his efforts. What foolishness!!...Halis and 
I pay it no mind and don’t get involved. Kazim came from the 
hospital today. There’s no trace of the madness anymore. When we 
asked the Hungarian doctor to teach us German he gave us some lame 
excuses, saying it would have to wait until tomorrow. Whoever we ask 
to teach us language it’s always like this…the Commander came at 
night and said we will come to the Command at 9 o’clock tomorrow.

19 October 1916 Thursday
We went to the Command in the morning at the appointed time. The 
roads are muddy, terrible. We spoke with Osman and Şerif. Osman’s 
wife will go to Vienna. I asked Osman ıf I could give him letter for my
father to be mailed from the Vienna post office. But because the 
Russians conduct such thorough searches I understood that this would 
not be possible. It seems like luck is always against me. Anyway, the
Commander came and it was all about the three lovelorn fools.
He realized that their action was not an escape attempt but done for a 
girl. Then it turned out that money had been given to a Russian soldier. 
The Commander was angry and said that we had trampled  on the good 
intentions he had shown us. He accused us of inhumanity. Responding,
Major Mehmet said that we were embarrassed by what the 
Commander had said. The Commander explained that his words were 
directed at the three people in question. The Commander thanked
Major Mehmet for his friendly remarks. A bit later we came back to 
the house (around noon). I went to bed late at night. The reason was 
that I was thinking about the future and how a young fellow like
me with no profession will find an appropriate one for himself. I’m 
very troubled that my age is increasing and time is passing with 
nothing to do. Perhaps these empty hours are a great opportunity
to work on language, so I made that decision. But I’m alone and I 
can’t do this job without help.


20 October 1916 Friday
The weather is clear, nice. The sky is cloudless, sunny. The sun warms
us. I wrote quite a lot of German words in the morning. The laundry 
came in mid-afternoon but it hadn’t been washed. I tried to sew some 
holes in the clothes. At night we changed the laundry. We got 
permission to stroll in front of the door during daytime. The three 
lovesick fellows were there and their informers came too. Winks and 
nods. Hikmet was able to get a letter again. The swine, he’s married. 
He has a beautiful wife and a child…a crime…but Çerkes Mehmet 
was told about Hikmet getting the letter. As the ‘ustarşi’ (supervisor) 
he told Hikmet that when the girl comes he’ll no longer be allowed to
go down and meet her. Hikmet became angry and (with a comical 
declaration) cried out that he would commit suicide. Çerkes Mehmet 
returned just as he screamed this and the two had a heated exchange.
Hikmet displayed cowardice with his words. He wouldn’t commit 
suicide in any case. He’s a hypocrite and deserves what he got. Too 
bad he’s a Turkish officer.

Çerkes Mehmet’s Adventure

21 October 1916 Saturday
The weather is overcast. All around nature is showing itself. I wrote 
some German words today. News: our allies are on the attack 
everywhere. The Kaiser’s plan is to bring Romania completely under 
his sway. The Russian newspapers believe that this will be very bad 
indeed for Romania. They’re saying Romania will be in the same boat 
as the passive Italians. I’ve been able to free myself of the thoughts
and depressions that come now and then. At night Çerkes Mehmet told 
us about his life and adventure. He was a  Russian citizen but escaped 
and came to Turkey in 1317 (1901). He then joined the Turkish
army. We got a ruble from Salah that he owed us today. I had a shave, 
we chatted…I went to bed.

//END of PART L//


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