evidently from a famous Ottoman family, who was captured
by the Greeks in the Gulf of Izmit while running guns to
Turkish nationalist forces, probably in 1922 or earlier.
These POW reports relate to both military and civilian Turks
and were written and compiled in June 1923, after the POWs
had (somehow!) endured captivity and returned to Turkey.
TNT has transcribed/translated the reports and will be
presenting them all in the near future.//
Ali Sami Bey was captured off Darıca, at the western end of
the Gulf of Izmit and jailed in both Mudanya and Bursa,
lower left for 5.5 months.
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While Smuggling Ammunition
What Happened to a Young Turk:
Herewith the statement of Ali Sami, 31 years old, the son of
the late
Şahabuddin and the grandson of the late Ottoman Secretary Mustafa Nuri
Pasha, residing at villa number 8 on the
avenue in Vaniköy:
Question: Please tell us where and in what manner were you
captured by
the Greeks? Were there
others besides you who were captured?
Where
were you taken, what are the names of the camps you were held in
and
how many people were there?
Answer: I was in a
boat off Darıca taking war materials to Izmit when
I was captured by Greek
warships. First, I was beaten and
degraded for
5 days on a military ship named ‘Dafni’. After that, I was delivered to
the battleship
‘Averof’. I suffered the most extreme
torture for 13 days
before being taken to the command at Mudanya. There were 5 others
with me when I was
captured and we were all thrown into the Mudanya
prison. The number of prisoners in a small, filthy
room was 10 or 20
times its capacity. Each day, hungry and thirsty, we were
made to work at
forced labor for the army in work that wasn’t fit for animals,
under the
whip of the vicious Greeks.
The local Greeks, although they
are Turkish
citizens, would harass us in the camps and on the streets. The stories of
the Inquisition could not
compete with the treatment we suffered.
Question: Are you
aware of anyone of our prisoners who has not
returned and is still in
Greece? Might you know their addresses?
Answer: I saw with
my own eyes that quite a few of my compatriots in
the camps died because of
hunger and illness. Unfortunately,
since we
could not even greet each other, there was no way I could have learned
their addresses. Perhaps when the
statistics are prepared I can take some
measures to find out about them.
Mustafa Nuri Pasha
Question: Don’t you
know anything about those of our prisoners who
died there? If you do know, what are their particulars
and the causes of
their deaths? Was it
from illness and if so, what kind of
illness, or was
it from physical privation?
Do you have any information about this?
Answer: Although I
know about the deaths of many of our prisoners, I
do not know their personal
particulars. But none of them died from
hunger and filth - I assert and accept that they were essentially murdered
in
this way. Every prisoner was hungry and
consequently a candidate for
death. It
would have been a miracle for a Turkish prisoner to have been
able to call for
a doctor.
Question: Under what
reasons and factors were our prisoners jailed, who
were they, how many of them
died, where were they imprisoned, what are
their identities? Do you have any information about this?
Answer: It is
certain that the civilian prisoners were all taken prisoner
because of the
Greeks’ vile and vicious actions. The
dishonorable Greek
fiends took children 7 and 8-years old, stole oxen from the
fields, grabbed
young girls from their homes.
Poor old women who appealed to the
despicable occupation command at
Mudanya for their loved ones were
subjected to similar treatment. As for myself, after being held at the
Mudanya prison for
2.5 months without trial, I was transported to the
Greek General Staff prison at Bursa. I don’t know if my fellow prisoners
were
tried but none of us prisoners were given a hearing or a court
appearance,
being treated like a herd of animals despite our complaints.
With regard to deaths, I can say most
emphatically that while I was held
in the Mudanya prison 15 to 20 of my fellow
prisoners were killed and
there was no health care whatsoever, such as a doctor or a hospital.
Other than having seen the bodies taken to
filthy carts on the street, I
have no information about them, nor do I know their families or
addresses.
Question: What kind
of treatment were you and your friends subjected to
during your captivity? What
did you eat and how was your clothing and
lodgings? What kinds of deprivation
did you suffer or what did you
complain about?
Answer: The number of
atrocities that I and my brothers suffered during
5 months of captivity cannot be counted. The involvement of the local
Greeks and
Armenians who volunteered to the Greek army exacerbated
our situation and made
our torture routine. With regard to
food, at the
Mudanya prison they would slip a few broken and dried bisquits
through
the window in the morning – enough for 5 or 6 people, yet there were
70
or 80 of us. I can say truthfully that 2
or 4 times each week we got no
water and I defy anyone to say otherwise. As for international norms and
laws, as
opposed to the honorable Turkish army, the Greek gangs were
clearly in
contravention of these so I see no need to say anything further
on this
matter.
Question: Is it
possible for you or your fellow prisoners
to substantiate
your experiences in captivity and the related
information?
Answer: Our
experiences in captivity were quite grave.
There wouldn’t
be enough books to hold the details. I only wish that God will allow our
great justice-loving government to uphold the rights of, and take revenge
for, us
poor souls and that our martyrs, who
gave their lives for their
country, will never be absent from our hearts.
Question: Will you sign your statement?
Answer: Yes, I sign it.
Police Officer Number 2702 Sufut (statement-taker)
Ali Sami, grandson of the late Mustafa Nuri Pasha, in Vaniköy, Istanbul
Nice article. Thanks for sharing it.,
YanıtlaSilTesekkurler.