experienced at Kütahya for 10 months, before being sent
to the White Fortress in Salonica, court martial in Greek-
occupied Edirn and on to Athens and the island of Crete.//
a similar report click here for Part X of this series, about
an Ottoman Gendarmerie officer imprisoned by the Greek
army in Gemlik.
The writer battled pro-Greek bandits around Keles, southeast
of Bursa, and was imprisoned at Kütahya.
The statement of Firuz Bey, who was at the Keles area
command:
perform my leadership duties and with my team I worked in the Kocaeli region.
I was engaged in a clash with about 300 rebels who had been assembled by
Tavşanlılı Kabakçı Salih Efe, who served Greek interests, and Topal Saaduddin,
a well-known bandit from Işıklar village in Orhaneli. An 8-hour battle ended
with me being taken prisoner. Our arms were bound as the rebels took us to
Kütahya.
On 26 September 1921 they delivered me to the Greek occupation command.
After we were all thoroughly beaten with rifle butts they stripped me and put
me in jail. On the second night of my incarceration I was brought to the HQS
and beaten non-stop for 3 hours. From where I was I could hear bitter cries of
“God help me!” from someone being beaten with a club. I began to count the
number of blows and after reaching 700, I asked who was that was being
beaten by watch-stander Kurşunlulu Petro. My friends told me they were
Dağıstanlı Mehmed and Bursalı Osman.
After Kütahya, this POW was sent to Salonica (Thessaloniki), left,
Dedeağaç (Alexandroupoli), right - on the shore, and then to Edirne,
upper right.
Every night I was beaten by the guards to the point where I could neither stand
nor sit. All I could do was lean against the wall and accommodate myself to the
cold of the stone dungeon. Midnight passed. Following the sound of the bat
blows, I heard a very bitter and soul-rending voice. Even as the voice gradually
diminished and became silent, the blows continued with all their violence. A
little later the hatch of the dungeon opened and something was thrown onto
the floor. Then the hatch closed again. My marrow froze and my jaw locked
from fright. I couldn’t see who it was in the dark but I assumed that the poor
fellow was dead. Two hours later this unfortunate came to and began to moan
deeply. I later found out that he was Kütahyalı Değirmenci Bekir. Both he and
his son-in-law had been beaten all night.
As the light seeping in through the spaces in the corridors signaled the happy
news that there was a break in the torture, I was able to see the blood from
Bekir collecting on the ground. He could not speak. He could only moan. I
dragged myself over to him. Battered in front and back, this victim of cruelty
had been cut up all over. The blood that flowed continually from a cut on his
foot made by a ‘kasatura’ knife, began to coagulate. My efforts to stem the
bleeding with my depleted body went for nought. Soon, 4 Greek soldiers came
down to the cellar and took poor Bekir out by his bloody arms. Since there
were no beatings during the day, our agitation diminished until evening but,
with the darkness, the time of calamity for us came again.
The nights seemed to stretch on like years, with the deathly silence broken
only by the moans of the tortured. The dawn that awakened everything
allowed the bodies battered by blows to lie upon the broken up stone floor
that was soiled with blood. One night a dead victim was thrown down next to
me and I learned that it was Raiders Commmander Captain Osman. After lying
next to me for half an hour, his body was moved to an unknown place. I
remained in this torture chamber for 60 days. I must mention my companions
in this tragedy, Hoca Ahmed Hulusi Efendi from Turgut and Halil Efendi from
Crete. Hulusi Efendi was blinded in one eye from a blow and both of Halil
Efendi’s arms were left crippled.
The POW's horrific journey continued to Athens and Crete.
During the 10 months I stayed in Kütahya the situation for my co-religionists was
quite horrific, as our bodies were continually ripped from being beaten with barb
wire. Subsequently, I was transported to Bursa and 2 months later to Salonica.
I cannot describe the torture I experienced along the way and in Beyaz Kale
(White Fortress) up until 25 September. While I was being transported to court
martial in Edirne, I was attacked by deserters and guards who wanted to kill me.
I was only saved because of the intervention of a Bulgarian soldier. At the
Dedeağaç station they killed a Moslem and at the Sofulu station beat one of
our co-religionists to death as they looted two wagons of melons. In Edirne I
was held for 5 days with 84 people in a 10-person room, without light or air.
Nor were we given food or water. There were two gas cans for us to relieve
ourselves but the putrid smell caused many, many to pass out. On the sixth
day we were taken to Mora Yenişehir and after staying there for a while we
went to Lucia camp (Athens), and subsequently we were transported to Kandia
town on Crete.
//END of PART XIV//
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