türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Hürriyet Newspaper, 14 August 2019)
Tale of Turkish POW in Russia click here for the first
installment of a 75-part TNT series about a young
Turk captured by the Russians at Erzurum in 1915.
Russian POW Camps click here for the first of a 9-part
TNT series about Turkish POWs in Russia.
Reunited, 105 years later...
Yusuf Şavak was a 17-year-old recruit when he went off to the
Battle of Sarıkamış in eastern Turkey during World War I in 1914
and never returned to his native country. Now, his son Sultan
Hamid (51) has come to Turkey to meet with his long-lost relatives.
Şavak was living in Ulukale village in Tunceli's Çemişgezek district
when he was called up for duty on the Turkish-Russian front.
However, during a battle he was taken prisoner by the Russians and,
although he lived to age 92 in Russia, he never returned to Turkey.
Before he died, Şavak gave his son Sultan Hamid a letter which
contained his last wish - that Hamid go to Turkey and meet the
relatives. So Hamid took his wife Fatima and 3 children with him
from Russia and went via Istanbul to Elazığ, where his forefathers
are buried. Next, Hamid found his relatives in Erzincan and met
with them, ending a 105-year break since Şavsak went off to the
war in 1914.
Hamid explained that "my father Yusuf Şavak was just 17 when he
went off to the Battle of Sarıkamış and was taken prisoner by the
Russians. He lost his feet to frostbite and while living somewhere
between Armenia and Azerbaijan he tried to contact his family in
Turkey, but without success. Later, he was taken to the northern
Caucasus, where he married and had 12 children (!). He died at 92
in 1989. But he wanted me to seek out the relatives in Turkey and
wrote down their names in a letter. So I came first to Istanbul and
then, with some difficulty, tracked down my relatives in Erzincan."
The Battle of Sarıkamış took place west of Kars
in late 1914-early 1915. Şavak came from Tunceli,
lower left, and his son Sultan Hamid first sought his
relatives' graves in Elazığ, extreme lower left,
ultimately finding his kin in Erzincan, left center.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder