with lots of news about the War, language lessons and
another play performance.//
Fuad Bey gets news about the fighting in and around Dobruca
(upper right) during the summer of 1916.
25 September 1916 Monday
This morning I awoke uncomfortably because
of a slight noise and I
couldn’t get back to sleep. The weather is overcast. News: ın the
French parliament the subject in question is the disproportionate losses
of the French and the
inability of the allies so far to make any progress.
Nevertheless, even if progress must be made
with the spilling of French
blood and the suffering of its youth, the parliament was still
determined
and a majority were in favor of the war and its continuation. The
Romanians have lost
Dobruca. The Russian newspapers have admitted
that Romania won’t be able to do
anything…we had a new German
lesson. These days there’s a blankness that suddenly slaps my mind and
it immediately erases the things I learn in class, in particular. I quickly
forget the things
I’ve memorized. And secondly, I have a lack of
appetite, too. I don’t know why. I spent today sewing
a vest. I’m
pleased that Halis’s discomfort has eased somewhat. We chatted again
in the evening
and I went to bed early.
26 September 1916 Tuesday
The weather is cloudy. Sometimes it’s as
dark as night. Outside it’s
fiercely cold…in mid-afternoon Halis and I want for a walk to the
riverside but we came back early because of the cold. Again today
I knitted the vest. We weren’t able to have
a German lesson. The
reason was that Tahir and Saffet were both sick. I went to see Şerif
after
the evening meal and we chatted for quite a while, drinking
tea. Here’s the news Şerif gave me: the
Allies are unable to do
anything. The Russians are being crushed at Dobruca. A fully-
equipped Greek division
has asked German and Bulgarian soldiers
for asylum. In Turkey four more army corps
are being formed with
men from 17 to old age. Imam Yahya and Imam Idris have joined
with the
governor of Mecca and they will declare an Arab caliphate.
Darkness fell at five when I came home.
After singing songs and
playing games I changed clothes and lay down. In a dream at night
I had gone to
Istanbul although the war had not ended yet. I spoke
with my father, mother and brother. I
related my adventure to my
father. The war goes on but henceforth I’m a civilian. In particular,
I’m curious about the Tanin newspaper and read it with rapt attention.
Turks Wearing German Uniforms in Fierce
Fighting on the Riga
Front
27 September 1916 Wednesday
The weather is cloudy, like yesterday. A
small amount of rain mixed
with snow fell. Even though I though I had gotten up early, in order
to
go to the bath, it was close to noon by the time I went. I had a good
scrubbing. I was very grateful
to Halis for rubbing my back and ridding
me of dirt. My body is at ease. We ate lunch a bit
late…news: Turks
wearing German uniforms are engaged in fierce fighting on the Riga
front. Russians
fleeing at Dobruca have been chased and pummelled
by a Turkish cavalry division. German
planes are bombing Bucharest
and inflicting damage, with 60 dead and many wounded…the Turks
will
send a force of 400,000 to the Balkans once again…today I
finished Halis’s vest. It looks
pretty good. At night Salah related some
stories and ideas about the new Pan-Turanism of the future.
We passed
the time. In a dream at night I fought with Ethem and scored some
heavy blows. The
funny thing is, though, I’m forever fighting with
Ethem and Salah in these dreams even though
neither one of them is
passing through my mind. I wonder if my dream is trying to warn me
that these two are going to betray me?
28 September 1916 Thursday
I woke up rather late and when I did my
body was aching. The weather
is cloudy again. The Romanians are surrounded. Supposedly the
Greeks have
gone to war against us…Şerif came in the afternoon. We
wrote some French words. We were able to
have a German lesson. Most
of the time we can’t study German because of excuses like
parasites/
noise and other things. But it’s really just the fellows’ laziness, nothing
else. Idleness, neglect,
laziness…at night eight or ten people from our
side were invited to go to the other side. We sat
around for a while and
Kör Mehmet played some comical games. We had fun and laughed for
about two
hours. We sang songs, drank tea. But in my mind I’m quite
troubled. I can’t laugh or sing.
Because I left my good friend whom I
love like a brother alone at home. The whole time I was there I
thought
how depressed he must be from lonliness and I too was depressed.
Ah what a shame that shyness
sometimes puts me in difficult situations
like this…at night when we returned we played a game
and I lost. Then
we went to sleep.
29 September 1916 Friday
The weather is nice. The sun is trying to
warm the air but there’s a light
wind blowing from the north that makes one cold. Right away we put
the
beds outside and sunned ourselves. It’s really annoying that there
are still some fleas on me here
and there. In the afternoon boys from
among the students at the Vetluga Boys and Girls School were
marching
around holding wooden rifles and undergoing training. Supposedly it’s
preparation for
war. They appear to be pretty good. Again another
regrettable incident: Osman and the other married
fellows were having
a heated argument. I didn’t quite understand the problem. Based on what
I heard,
it was about matters concerning our committee and the others.
Osman said such harsh words to
Uzun Mustafa such as no one could
bear. Mustafa couldn’t defend himself and was speechless…in any
event, after quite a bit of screaming they promised to break relations
with one another but to not say
anything or complain to the Russian
Commander…for this reason we didn’t have a German
lesson…tonight
all of the people in our house went to the other house. This time I had
the role of a coffee
house trainee in the play we put on. But it wasn’t
much fun. Only Hikmet played the role of a
girl well. After the play,
we had a cup of tea and went back home.
30 September 1916 Saturday
When we got up in the morning my dear
friend Halis’s illness was
completely gone. The Weather is a bit cloudy, then it clouded
over
completely. News: the English have taken back 113 French villages
after a fierce attack
on the Germans. Newly-introduced German planes
are bombing Romania and Russia. Bulgarian
planes are sometimes
joining with German ones to bombard Bucharest. In fact, one of them
bombed the King’s palace and the Russian embassy, destroying them.
This plane flew so low it
could be identified. The citizens of Bucharest
are afraid…again we didn’t have a German lesson. For
the past one or
two weeks there’s been not interest shown in this subject. I’ve been
feeling
funny for a couple of days. I’m more interested in lying
down and resting than I am in sitting
around. When I lie down I can’t
sleep and I feel numb. We played a game but I didn’t have any luch.
Anyway, we had fun. Tonight we sat and talked for quite a while (two
hours). Osman talked
about funny stories.
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