Fuad Bey, as he and his fellow inmates do their best to
cope.//
13 ((sic, 3 March))
March 1917 Saturday
The weather is
clear, the cold has eased. News (Tercüman, lead story):
it is written that
these Allied Powers, in
light of the battle victories of
Turkey and its allies, will not achieve their
aim by deceiving other
nations hither and yon into joining the war. They can only do this
themselves. But really, up to
now they haven’t been able to
accomplish anything and, by implication, won’t be able to do so
in the
future. It is written
additionally that they should sue for peace soon. To
support this idea
the current situations of Romania, Belgium, Serbia and
Montenegro, which have all been
deceived into joining the war, are
given. There are a few other observations,
as well…again,Talat
Paşa’s
statements are written about. It is written that up to now Turkey has
gotten 79 million
liras from Germany and together with 42 million of a
future loan to be secured, the words of Cavit
Bey (who said that if
Germany lends another 150 million Turkey will remain its long-term
friend) have been met with satisfaction. There is also mention of the
hunger in
Russia. Today we toured
around the perimeter of the city for
quite a while. Day by day, everything here is getting more
expensive.
Potatos, which were 60 kopeks per pud a week ago have jumped
Up to a ruble and
a half. The same is true for other things.
4 March 1917
Sunday
The weather is
clear, sunny. The cold is rather mild. News (Tercüman):
it is written that
English radicals have
appealed to the government for
a quick peace; a commission has been established for the liberation
of
the Tatars who are the same as Ottoman Turks; the Turkistan Turks
don’t accept it when the
Russians say they’re from Iran. On the contrary,
they take it as an insult and insist that they
are absolutely pure Turks;
a late Armenian millionaire has donated 300,000
rubles to Turkish and
Islamic welfare organizations. According to Russian newspapers, the
English
have taken Kutülamare.
Today Muştak and Hüseyin Efendiler
came. They say that bread is up to 40 kopeks and sugar up to
five
rubles. This expense is that much more of a burden for us prisoners.
We
went out for a walk in
the afternoon and made a few tours around
the city. In the evening I got a funt of potatos from/for table d’hote for
four kopeks per funt. I
roasted them in ashes. They taste good with
salt.
When necessary, one can eat them instead of bread. We didn’t have a
lesson at night. I passed
the time reviewing my diary.
5 March 1917
Monday
The weather is a
bit cold, some snow fell. These days everyone’s
talking about hunger. We’re willing to eat
potatos, in fact we really
want them, but we don’t have any…I don’t know. What will happen?
Again, they came fromt the other houses to visit. Saffet’s dear friend
Salah,
who moved to Malaşova
house a few days ago, came too. The
two friends were reunited, ha!...this eveningthere was a
strange
incident. While Halis and I were playing a game Halis yelled something
and Süleyman
intervened. I didn’t notice. After the game I asked Halis
why he had the sad
look on his face. He
responded tht he got mad when
Süleyman intervened. I got agitated as well, took
the mandolin in hand
,and started to make noise…anyway, after some time passed we spoke
directly with Süleyman.
First, he took a threatening tone, saying very
freely ‘if you cross me you’ll
be crushed.’ We responded in
the same
fashion and then I said to him in the appropriate way that he was
absolutely in the
wrong. He said a few things to prove
himself right
but he was unsuccessful. Although he didn’t admit
verbally that he was
wrong, his face showed that in his heart he knew he was.
6 March 1917
Tuesday
The weather is
still cloudy. There were some snow flurries. News:
supposedly, the Germans are
in retreat on the
French front. The
English and the French are giving this great importance,
wondering
whether it’s a
trick or a plan. In the morning Trabzonlu Hasan moved
to Malaşova and Erzurumlu Hasan came here
from there…we went to
the Kazarma (main barracks) in the afternoon. Again, we each got 50
rubles. So far I’ve received 640.5 rubles. We chatted with our fellow
townsmen
and friends over
there. Upon our return we each gave 27
rubles for table d’hote, along with four
rubles for last month.
The table
d’hote and bread problems have now been solved. Temel and Hurşid
were insisting that
bread go to the other houses. I countered that I
wasn’t willing for this to
happen and most of the others
didn’t agree
either. But even though I proposed that the majority should be
polled on this
subject no one else backed me up with their voice so the
matter remained
unsettled. I don’t understand
how they can say at other
times ‘this should be done this way or that way’ and
yet when the
problem
comes out in the open nothing serious happens. Really,
disunity is not good at all. This really
bothers me, all this grumbling
is quite aggravating. They don’t want anything
agreed to or even
discussed.
But the gossip goes on for days. Damn this situation!...I
had a dream last
night where it seemed
that I had stopped somewhere
in an automobile. My father passed by and I said hello. Then, with
permission, I ran toward my father and cried ‘father!’. But when my
father saw
me he began to move
away immediately. I woke up
astonished.
//END of PART LXX//
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