POW remained in Anatolia throughout his captivity. Later
in the Greek occupation POWs were transported to
camps in Greece.//
This POW was captured by the Greeks near Bursa,
shipped to Balıkesir, Izmir, Urla, Aydın and back to
Izmir. He was finally sent to Istanbul, from where
he returned to his home town of Edremit after the
end of the war.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
27 Months of Life in Captivity
Your humble servant was on duty
in the Gendarmerie of the National
Independece Army in 336 (1920). I was seized by the Greeks near the
Bursa
Gendarmerie outpost while trying to escape at the time when the
Greeks were
occupying our country. I cannot count
the number of
rifle butt blows I suffered.
They took whatever money I had and beat
me continually, as they brought
me to where my captive comrades were.
They tied my arms so tightly that I thought they had fallen off. My
fingers swelled. I mentioned this to a Greek corporal with us
but he
couldn’t have cared less. We went
in this manner as far as Arıkca.
There
was a brave fellow among us named Musa whom they cut down
in front of our eyes,
adding that “you’re next!” We all bid
him a sad
farewell.
We then came to
Balıkesir and stayed there for 3 days and 3 nights,
during which time they gave
us no bread or water. We were put into
train wagons, 50 or 60 of us in each one, and departed for Izmir. Five
or ten fellows fainted from the
heat. When we reached Izmir they
wouldn’t open the wagon doors, despite our cries. Finally, two hours
later they opened the
doors and paraded us through the local Greek
neighborhood where men, women and
children spat on us and pelted
us with rocks and tomatoes from their
windows. Even our fingernails
were
dripping with the filth they threw at us.
Whatever they could
get their hands on they threw it, as they screamed
“give them to us!
We’ll kill them!”
King Constantine returned to the Greek throne on 19 December
1920 - see mention of this in bold below. This is a picture of
him in Izmir in 1921.
From Izmir we were taken to Urla
island, where they gave us 100
dirhem (a quarter of an okka, which is 2.8 lbs)
of bread and some soup
once every 3 or 4 days.
Although our stomachs were hungry, they still
made us pull up grass in
the fields. Out of spite, every morning
and
evening they made us take baths in the sea, hitting our naked bodies
with
rocks and spiked bats. They didn’t spare
the wire whip blows to
the back of our necks either. We were subjected to this torture for a
month. From midnight to morning we were
forbidden from relieving
ourselves. If
someone got up during the night they would cut him down.
At least 10 fellow went blind from breaking
rocks and the Greeks cut
down two of them.
From Urla, 150 of us were boarded
onto a motor boat to go back to
Izmir.
On the way we were beaten with bats and rifle butts and then
stuffed
into the hold and the hatches were closed.
We were given no
water at all and about 20 fellows fainted from the heat
and two died.
We reached Izmir and they stuffed
us into a place called Lankar at
Punta that evening. They had us roll up our pant legs and loaded
100
kıyyelik (1 kıyye = 1,300 grams) sacks of salt on our backs, while the
Greeks cursed us and hit our legs with wire whips. The red blood from
our legs was flowing onto
the rocks. We were made to work like
this
for 3 days.
Then they took 15 of us
to Aydın, where they made us carry bales of
grass. As torture, they would have the 15 of us pull
train wagons,
while they whipped us with wires.
Four months later we came back to
Izmir.
When we went to meals they would hit us with the sticks that
were under
the pots, knocking down 5 or 10 of us at once. If we didn’t
get food you were
subjected to all sorts of torture and beatings in the
barracks. At that time, 18 Armenians came and wanted to
throw bombs
at us but they were detected and could not succeed. When Greek
King Constantine took the throne,
the Greeks shot up the
prisoner camp and fired at the prisoners as if it were a
fireworks celebration.
We were made to work in this
manner for 21 months. My relatives
were
trying t get me released so one day they told me to go to the police
station. There I was beaten and tortured
and taken in handcuffs to a room
about 10 minutes away, where I stayed for 28
days. They gave me 10
dirhem of bread
every two days. They gave me no meals,
not even
crumbs. A human organ was hung
in the room and painted with blood.
When
I saw this I gave up all hope of living.
They brought in co-
religionist of mine and hung him up with the organ
under his arm,
torturing him with whip blows. All I could do was cry.
I was boarded onto a ferry with
my arms bound. I emerged in
Istanbul.
Since my heart was injured I
stayed in Istanbul and, thanks be to God,
when our wonderful army took our country
back from the enemy I left
Istanbul right away and reached my home town in good
condition.
Nazif Oğlu Mehmed Osman of the
Adalı Oğul family of Mescid quarter,
Havran village, Edremit district.
Birth year: 331 (1897)
//END of PART XXIV//
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