13 Mayıs 2019 Pazartesi

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

//Ed. Note:  Fuad Bey is preoccupied with tensions among
his fellow inmates but gets word about the death of 
Rasputin (11 January, in bold below) and British air 
bombardment of İstanbul and environs (13 January, in 
bold below) .//


death of rasputin ile ilgili görsel sonucu

death of Rasputin click here for a detailed account.


british air bomb istanbul 1916 ile ilgili görsel sonucu

air bombardment of Istanbul 1916-1917 click here for
details.



8 January 1917 Monday
Compared to yesterday, the weather is cloudier. Three fellows, only 
with great difficulty, were able to get permission to go to Adlifinski in 
the afternoon. I joined them. When we got there the Mevlid (anniversary 
of the Prophet Mohammed’ birthday) was being read. We listened. We 
drank sugar water and another kind of water mixed with sugar. After
Mevlid the fellows offered us each tea, after which we returned home. 
We baked bread at home today and had a lesson from Franz at night.

9 January 1917 Tuesday
The weather is bad. Lots of snow has fallen. News: according to 
Russian newspapers, the French got word from Switzerland that the 
Germans were preparing an army to attack French territory and so 
the French are considering a separate peace accord with Germany. In 
the event that they do so they will ensure that they emerge without 
damage from this war. In fact, Monsieur Kayu is working on this in 
Italy. Their goal is to have all the reparations assigned to the Russians
and the English. 

Today a really aggravating incident occurred. Halis had an argument 
with the dolt Trabzonlu Hasan. The cause was the ass Hasan. Thinking 
that the matter was closed, Halis didn’t pay it any more mind. For some 
reason, I wasn’t aware of any of this. After the evening meal, this jerk 
Hasan complained to Çerkes Mehmet who then questioned them in the 
servants’ room  in an effort to reconcile the two. Anyway, first Hasan 
confessed that he didn’t say anything against Halis and essentially 
apologized. Halis then said that his words weren’t directed at Hasan. 
Just as the matter seemed to be settled, Hasan treacherously threw
a fist at Halis. I was elsewhere at this time. But I heard a noise. Even 
though I rushed outside, Çerkes Mehmet had already separated the two 
of them. Anyway, Salah came and begged us to let them try to reconcile 
again, saying that Hasan was sorry and ashamed. He brought Halis
over to Hasan. Then the lowlife, vile Hasan made an apology, saying 
‘forgive me’ but without any shame at all. But this remains in our heart 
and won’t be forgotten. For sure, the day will come when we’ll lower 
a much heavier blow on him. Oh, fortune what’s stopping me? I
should have crushed that lowdown fellow. God, you’re heaping 
calamity after calamity on me.  Pity me and damn crude fellows 
like these for attacking us…

10 January 1917 Wednesday
Although I went to bed quite late at night, I woke up very early in the 
morning. I’m continually aggravated. I don’t know what I’ll do. Oh 
God…captivity, then this crudeness. I’m thinking, I’m thinking. It’s 
probably because of this callous Hasan. Consequently, we’ll have to 
take revenge on his neighbors. Dear God, when will you give us this 
opportunity? When will you let my beloved Halis’s revenge be taken 
and his wrangled nerves set at ease? In any case, grant us this 
opportunity soon. Because since we didn’t take revenge the last time 
we suffered for it. In any case, I await approval of this request from 
your majesty. The weather is still cloudy but it’s not so cold…the 
Romanians are being followed. As the Romanians abandon Romania 
they’re sending greetings to their homelands. The Russians are 
welcoming them and consoling them. The German Emperor has gone 
to the front and gave a speech, saying ‘look at us. How shall we make
ourselves known to our enemies.’ In the afternoon, we walked around 
a bit. We got a new lesson from Franz at night. Again, I went to sleep 
late at night and thought quite a bit. I get upset when I think about the 
fellows from Trabzon and my mood goes sour. Because none of them 
has any sense of humanity. One’s a trouble-maker, one’s a lout, one’s 
just ignorant, the other one’s a runny nose insect, sticking his nose in 
everywhere. God willing, all their noses will one day drop
and they’ll cringe in degradation.

One of the Ministers in St. Petersburg was Recently Murdered

11 January 1917 Thursday
The weather remains bad. Lots of snow has fallen. News: a Russian 
newspaper has written something. We had heard something about the 
murder of a minister in St. Petersburg recently. Finally, it was 
determined that this man was a mujik but he had engaged in 
improper relations with some of the wives of important people 
(Kinyaz) and as a result he had started to touch on a number of 
matters of state.  Finally, a relationship with on Kinyaz’s wife 
became known and when the Kinyaz became aware of it he 
immediately had the mujik killed.  This mujik had done quite a 
few things. He had an effect on some of the changes that 
occurred in the cabinet. 

In the afternoon I went to the other house for a visit. We chatted for 
quite a while.  The lowdown fellows have broadcast the minor incident 
in our house all over. We had a lesson again tonight. But these days I’m 
not able to work on my lessons. Lots of aggravation…oh, oh, let there 
be revenge! Let there be revenge! I will never be able to forget this. 
However it happens, let there be revenge! Today I heard that there is 
some propaganda about to be spread against the jerk who manages these 
lowdown fellows and they’ll be run out of here. This could happen.
When it does I want to fight with this heartless fellow and take revenge. 
Tonight I sat for quite a while. I’m really aggravated.

12 January 1917 Friday
The weather is still bad. Today since morning I’ve been in a very bad 
mood. Until evening I passed the time feeling this way. Halis and Burhan 
didn’t come for the German lesson at night. I too was more or less bored. 
So it was just Saffet and me.  Franz had us write a short letter. Up to this 
point I hadn’t said a word to Saffet. He went outside for a stroll. Then he
came back. I still didn’t say anything. When I finished the letter I got up 
and left. After sitting in the big room for a bit I went to my spot. Saffet 
caught me and asked me why I hadn’t said anything to hime. I didn’t 
reply. He kept on insisting and wanted to understand but all I said was 
‘there’s nothing wrong.’ He kept this up for a while but after a bit he 
gave up and left. I’m mad at Saffet because he’s close friends with Salah, 
not just casually but really close. The fact that he’s always whispering 
with this trouble-making, depraved fellow proves this. These whispers 
are without a doubt both for and against me. Later, Saffet told Salah 
everything. I’m angry and this anger came to the boiling point
today. That’s why I didn’t say anything…and he didn’t come over to 
us even once and say something about the incident of 9 January. When 
I think of these things I get irritable.

13 January 1917 Saturday
The weather has improved. Just a few clouds. It got cloudy again toward 
evening. News: the Germans are on the attack again. Terrific battles in 
Champagne and Riga. The Russians captured a few Turks and Bulgarians 
from Riga. There’s an offensive again in Romania. It seems that Manastir
has fallen to the Germans. In Iran the Russians took Sultanabad but the 
Turks mounted a counter-offensive and got it back. The was there is quite 
fierce. An English plane bombed the area around Luleburgaz and 
destroyed  a bridge over the Meriç River. Wilhelm has told his soldiers 
‘our enemies don’t accept the peace proposal. We will press on until we 
force them to accept it by the force of our swords and the strength of our 
bayonettes.’  I’m aggravated and bored today. I lay down for quite a while. 
Halis is angry about my mood. I had a hard time just passing time. After 
the evening meal I felt somewhat better and got busy with German. At 
this point Saffet, not able to bear it, came over to me and asked some 
questions about German. Of course, I didn’t leave his questions
unanswered. I went to bed very late. At midnight the bells are ringing, 
announcing that the new year has come to the Russians.

//END of PART LXI//

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