mostly concerned with relationships with his fellow
Vetluga inmates, but news of the revolutionary tumult
shaking Moscow came to him, as well.//
17 February 1917
Saturday
The weather was
clear and sunny until mid-afternoon. Then it started to
cloud up. The cold increased, too.
News: supposedly 17-year old
children in Turkey are becoming soldiers. In
Russia children taller
than
two yards and four fingers (in other words, 145 centimeters) are being
taken in as soldiers.
The American Government has sent a telegram to
its ambassador in Switzerland concerning
reestablishing political
relations with Germany. The English government and the Germans have
announced that they will accept these negotiations to discuss interests. I
changed my laundry today.
There were in terrible shape. Again, I found
a flea on myself. It’s not just
me. Many fellows have
the same problem.
My God, what kind of a situation is this! We still haven’t been able to
save
ourselves from this misfortune. I had my hair cut today. Today
passed more or less in torment.
We read some German at night. I went
to bed before everyone else.
18 February 1917
Sunday
The weather is
clear and sunny. The cold has increased. News: German
submarines have been seen at the Cape
of Good Hope, in the Indian
Ocean and in the Far East. They’ve found secret waystations for
shelter.
This blockade is not just for Europe, it’s worldwide. Very good. In
the
afternoon we
toured a part of the city but because of the bitter cold we
came back early.
19 February 1917
Monday
The weather is
clear, sunny and it’s rather cold. A Russian who came
from Moscow says that there’s quite a
major revolution underway there.
The problem came about this way: like
everywhere else, sugar is
distributed to the public from on place. Most people have to wait days
this. So it happened that they
came continually for four mornings and
stayed till evening but there were many people who left
empty handed.
When this occurred the crowd, whose patience had run out, immediately
began
to loot. But even though the Moscow government sent soldiers to
suppress then the soldiers
refused, saying ‘these are our mothers, fathers,
brothers. We can’t fire on
them.’ The police were then
brought in and the
police fired on the crowd. When the soldiers saw this they fired at the
police and killed them all. This wasn’t the end of it though. They raised
the
flag of rebellion and
threw the scene into tumult, shouting ‘we want
peace!’…the outcome is unknown. Tonight we read
some German again.
20 February 1917
Tuesday
The weather is
clear like yesterday. The cold is minus 28 degrees. When
I got up I heard that Salah has gone to
another house. I’m glad to hear it.
In his place Uzun Şerif and Şakir Efendiler came from the
other
(Adlifinski) house. Besides this, Hamit Efendi moved here from
Malaşova. It is said that
two more people will come here. Çerkes Mehmet
reallywanted Şakir to leave. In fact, he said to
me ‘if Şakir stays here our
situation will be worse than before and he asked me not to tell anyone
this.
In any event, Şerif stayed and Şakir went. I’m aggravated again. The
reason is that Halis is
being much too nice to Ethem, wo has come to live
here and whom I don’t like at all. Halis knows
very well that I don’t like
him and about the incidents that occurred between
us before. But I
don’t
think it’s appropriate for me to
say anything more to Halis about this. In
the same way that I
always want to commiserate with my dear friend, I
think it’s right that we talk about problems
that arise between us here not
with others but with our conscience. At night we had a tea party
for
Hamit Efendi. We didn’t have a lesson.
Cavid Bey has
Become Finance Minister
21 February 1917
Wednesday
The weather is
overcast. The cold has eased. News: (Tercüman) Cavid
Bey has become Finance Minister.
According to reports of the Russian
newspapers, Cavid Bey has borrowed 150
million liras, with the
Germans playing a big role. This money will be spent on roads, railroads,
factories and agriculture.
The rebellion in Moscow has gotten more
violent. In fact, the call-up for
transport for newly-selected
soldiers has
been delayed in this connection. The soldiers here have been dispersed
too. We
couldn’t have a lesson again tonight. The time passed with idle
chatter. We had a tea party for
Şerif at night.
22 February 1917
Thursday
The sky is
somewhat overcast. The cold is not so bad. The Russian
municipality gave us
each a funt of sugar for 28 kopeks. But it’s
in
powder form so we still have to get sugar from the market for
((kırtlama)). Time is qute boring, captivity is bearing down. We can’t
go to
the market nor can we
visit the other houses. Everything is
forbidden except now and then we can go out for a walk
with a bunch
of guards. And that only after begging and pleading. Ah, let there
be peace! We read
some German at night. I’m starting to feel progress
slowly but surely. Hopefully, this
servant will stay here for a while
(Max).
23 February 1917
Friday
The weather is
like it has been. Another thing happened in the morning:
there was a complaint about Max, who is
giving us lessons. He was
sent to the Kazarma (main barracks) in the afternoon. Gendarmerie
soldier Mehmet came in his place. I felt bad about this. Supposedly, the
reason was that he can’t make tea well. But this is a lie and
our interests
weren’t given any consideration. The real reason is
this: Süleyman
wanted to send a letter to his fiancé via this soldier. When he didn’t
agree
Süleyman instigated a complaint and as a result he was moved
from here. In any
case, there will come a
time for Süleyman and he will
fall. In the evening, he moved to another house at the request (to
the
Commander) of his housemates because he couldn’t get along with them
there. Salah, as well, has started to have trouble
fitting in there. After
Şerif left I was glad that Salah didn’t come
again. At night all of a
sudden I felt a great despair. I started to think
about my situation, my
condition, the things I’ve gine through, my parents, my brother and the
future.
The despair has been
building gradually. Zühdü tried to console
me but the despair didn’t go away easily…again, we
baked bread in the
oven.
24 February 1917
Saturday
The weather is
clear. The cold is -23. News: English troops in
Mesopotamia are being
withdrawn. Again (Tercüman)
writes that in
response to our allies’ attacks, the Russians are
counterattacking
and retaking their
positions…we had a lesson with Gustav at night but
we didn’t get much benefit from it because we
can’t understand him very
well. His pronunciation and ability are lacking. Max was much better
than him. But what can we do, chance always puts many obstacles in
the way of benefit and
((nefiham)). Patience and fortitude are essential.
25 February 1917
Sunday
The weather is
clear and it’s very cold. Some serious news: starvation
has begun to show
itself in England and
Russia. In fact, in recent days
even the Russian newspapers have written about death from
starvation.
In England workers understand that they’ll go hungry because of the
submarines and
they’re asking what’s being done to counter this.
However much the government says that
everything possible is being
done, the workers know this is empty talk and cry
‘we want peace!’
Anyway, large and small rebellions are taking place all over Russia.
Very good.
A letter came from
Istanbullu Hakkı today. He writes that
troops are constantly moving to the borders, that the
soldiers are made
up of 17-year old children and that they go to the front amid
guitar playing, as
if they were going to a wedding. We didn’t have a
lesson at night. We didn’t do anything at
all. Halis and I commiserated
a bit. My soul is a bit aggravated again today.
//END of PART LXVIII//
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