TNT History Mini-Series: Bekir Ağa Prison - Turks in Turkish Hands/Part VI

//Ed. note: Süleyman Sırrı described the prison jobs he and
his fellow prisoners were assigned to do, after being beaten
for most of the night.//


                       Resting in between work shifts.


We Also Did Work

They didn't leave us idle in the prison.  Each day we had to sweep the

barracks thoroughly, wet it down and clean the bathrooms.  Rıza Nur

Bey wrote this about me in his book "Cemiyet-i Hafiye" (secret 

society): 

"One night I awoke to screams.  In between bat-blows, someone was 

furiously crying out.  Whack! Whack!  Gradually, the terror and fury

of the screams began to diminish with exhaustion.  For a few moments

the blows stopped but then the beater's terrifying announcement of 'not 

done yet!' was heard.  Soon after, the sound of the bat-blows began 

again but even as they continued the moans and groans subsided."

"After I woke up I counted 100 bat-blows.  Because the victim had

passed out, there were no more screams.  Then, the blows stopped. I

looked at the time and saw that it was 3 o'clock in the morning.  Yes!

That brutal beating had kept me awake.  I still don't know how I made

it through that night."

                        Required reading.

"Morning came and I began to hear the sounds of relief eminating from 

a group of prisoners with rags and cloths coming to clean my room, 

after having wiped down the corridors.  One of them was about 19 or

20-years-old, his face the color of a yellow camelia flower.  His eyes

reflected the vicious terror he had experienced, the fear of death was 

evident on his face and his movements betrayed his frayed nerves."

"I realized that this young fellow was the one who carried the gas

container for the gasman each evening.  Whenever he came he would

look into my eyes beseechingly, as if hoping for help from me.  Later

I learned that this fellow was Sırrı, a teacher.  Another fellow was 

'Unlikeable' Simali, who had an unkempt beard.  It was apparent from

his eyes and his manner why he'd gotten the moniker 'unlikeable'." 

"In any case, while wiping the floor in my room 'Unlikeable' Simali 

looked up at me and asked in French 'when will we be freed?'   I asked

him who he was  and he replied 'I'm here for the same reason you are.'

I didn't say another word."

Each day we would spend two hours wiping and sweeping the barracks

and in the evening we'd fill the lamps with gas.  The rest of the time I'd

just sit and think about horrible things.  The thought of dying at such a 

young age was driving me crazy.     

                Smoke break: "Smoke 'em if you got 'em."

//END of PART VI//

Anti-Armenian Insult Staged for Asylum Effort in Germany

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 28 January 2020)


    It didn't work this time. Try insulting some other group.

On 20 January in Pertek district of Tunceli province, the words "Geber
Ermeni dölü" (kill the Armenian descendent) were painted on the front
door of the house of Kumru Akkaya (66) and a Kalishnikov rifle bullet
was left there, as well.  The incident caused an outcry in Pertek and
police quickly nabbed the perpetrator, who confessed.

Suspect Yurdal Daş (23) was arrested on 23 January.  In his statement
to police, Daş explained that Kumru Akkaya's son Yusuf İnan Akkaya,
who is also Daş's brother-in-law, called him from Germany and
instructed him to paint the insult and leave the bullet at his mother's
front door, thinking that such an incident would improve Yusuf İnan
Akkaya's chances of getting asylum in Germany, where he has been
since 2015.  (!)

Also, Daş, who works as a waiter at a restaurant in Pertek, exchanged
Whatapp messages with his sister in Germany (presumably Akkaya's
wife), in regard to the plot.  Akkaya is wanted by Turkish police for
"insulting the President".  He claims that Alevis (shiites) are persecuted
in Turkey and this is part of the basis for his asylum request in Germany.
The bullet was sent to the police crime lab in Diyarbakır for analysis.



Pertek is just north of Elazığ, the site of the recent earthquake
on 24 January.

Racehorse May Become GOAT*, Thanks to a Goat

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 29 January 2020)

//Ed. note: * Greatest Of All Time//

another horse story click here for a recent TNT report about
a less happy horse story.



               Fast friends (one a bit faster than the other).

Racehorse 'Hasfırtına'' was born on 15 March 2016,  the foal of
parents 'Torok' and 'Sollevare'.  The foal was bought by businessman
İlhami Türe, who was living in Germany, and brought to Izmir to be
prepared for racing.  Hasfırtına seemed to have the 'right stuff' to be
a champion but the horse loved the outdoors and couldn't adjust to
the racetrack stables, kicking in the stalls and unable to sleep.

So after coming in first in his fourth race, Hasfırtına failed to win
the next 11.  The stables still wrankled the horse and even his
groom staying there with him failed to make him comfortable.
At their wits' end, Hasfırtına's minders got the idea to make a goat
the horse's friend and in October 2019 'Taner' the goat began living
with Hasfırtına in the stables at the Şirinyer Hipodrom racetrack in
Izmir.


                               The stables' odd couple.

For a few days the two creatures ignored each other but on the fifth
day they became friends and are now inseperable.  Hasfırtına
calmed down and another fortuitous friend appeared in 17-year-old
apprentice jockey Muhammed Mir Bilgin.  Hasfırtına was taken
to Bursa for a race and Taner rode with him in the horse-carrier. With
Bilgin in the saddle, Hasfırtına won the 1,800-meter race. 

Hasfırtına and Bilgin won three straight races but at a 1,900-meter
race in Izmir on 29 December, with champion jockey Halis Karataş
up, Hasırtına could only manage fourth place.  So Bilgin returned to
the saddle for a 2,100-meter race at Şirinyer last Sunday and
Hasfırtına took first place among 14 horses. 

Hasfırtına's trainor Serdar Seren Görgü explained that "my
predecessors got the idea to calm Hasfırtına down with a goat friend.
The two animals are always together, except, of course, when
Hasfırtına is training.  They're very happy together and 'Taner' even
comes along for races outside Izmir.  Muhammed (Bilgin) and
Hasfırtına get along famously and the horse wins easily with
him in the saddle.  In fact, sometimes I think that during a race
Hasfırtına will laugh and say to Muhammed 'we're going to win it!'













,

TNT History Mini-Series: Bekir Ağa Prison - Turks in Turkish Hands/Part V

//Ed. note: In addition to describing the various types of 
torture he personally saw in Bekir Ağa Prison, Süleyman 
Sırrı also included passages from Rıza Nur's book 
"Cemiyet-i Hafiye" (Secret Society), which was published 
in 1912. Rıza Nur was in Bekir Ağa Prison at the same
time as Sırrı.

Rıza Nur had been given a death sentence but was 
pardoned by Cemal Paşa, one of the CUP leaders, and 
sent off to exile.  Years later, he was implicated in an
assassination attempt against Atatürk.  He fled Turkey
and returned after Atatürk's death in 1938.//
 




                                  'Domuz topu' (hog-tied ball)

Methods of Torture

The interrogation team had completed its duty.  We were all talking
among ourselves, relating how we were beaten and what other kinds of
tortures we experienced.  We even mimicked our torturers and made
each other laugh.  In this regard, the 'domuz topu' (hog-tied ball) stood
out.  One's legs are forceably folded and tied to the hands making the
person actually look like a ball.  But since not everyone's legs can be
easily folded all the way back, it is quite painful and makes breathing
difficult.

After being put in this ball position one is randomly smacked with a

bat all over.  Most of those who suffer this torture faint.  A can of water

poured over the head wakes one up, a cigarette is offered and then the

'kazıklama' torture begins, whereby the prisoner is made to kneel and 

a piece of wood the size of a wrist is placed between the legs.  If they

want to intensify the torture a bit more, just tying the prisoner's hands

behind his back is sufficient.

These tortures were implemented on all of us.  In fact, the sole of 

one fellow's foot exploded and a small bone flew off.  Another one's

big toe was torn off by a bat blow and blood spilled all over the floor. 

The toe was picked up and saved by Gendarmerie soldier Mustafa

Efendi, who was one of the beaters, and it was later displayed in the 

Parliament by Lutfi Fikri Bey (a CUP opponent).    

                       Lutfi Fikri Bey

Gendarmerie soldier Mustafa, who was a prisoner just like the rest of 

us, was forced to make us beat each other. One day I saw that another

beater, named Ömer, had his hand bandaged.  I asked him what had

happened and he said that he hurt his palm while beating prisoners.

Nevertheless, Salim Bey (prison warden) told Ömer to wrap a cloth

around the bat's handle and keep on beating the prisoners.  Ömer did

this but his hand became so badly hurt that he had to bandage his
hand, in addition to the bat handle. 

The large-link chain that was bound to 'Glasses' Mustafa and Hacı Kemal

was from the warship 'Mahmudiye'.  So when either of them had to relieve

himself three people had to help carry them to the lavatory.  When these

poor fellows were in the 'kazıklama' position the 100-kilogram chain was

wrapped around their necks.


                      Appropriate technology for torture.

In his book 'Cemiyet-i Hafiye' (secret society), Rıza Nur Bey wrote:

"There was a deep silence during the night.  I would stretch out on my

bed like free people do but plunge into terrible dreams.  Now and then,

from what seemed like beneath the floor, came earthquake-like sounds

that were actually the soul-rending clanking of the chains filling the 

entirety of the dungeon.  After these sounds passed, would come cries 

and screams, then moans and death-like groans."

"Once, I got up and asked a guard what these sounds were.  He told me

that a dog was dying, but it wasn't a dog.  It was a few innocent fellows

enduring torture and screaming and wailing from it.  Without a doubt,

these sounds were coming from desperate men, fed up with life." 

Another story from Rıza Nur Bey's book: "I awoke from a incredibly

horrible dream. In this woozy state, the cracking sounds of blows being
struck brought me to my senses.  My God! Some poor fellow was being
beaten to a pulp, shaking the walls of the entire dungeon. Together with
the bat-blows, the screams and moans of this fellow created a cacophony
of desperate and exhausting sounds."

"My hair stood on end from the terror it induced.  I was shaking violently. 
From one side came the terror of the bat-blows and the terrifying barking
orders of the tyrants inducing them.  From the other side, came the
prolonged sighs and moans of the victim bound to two parallel columns
in the dead of the night.  I thought of the overwhelming power of a just
God and this tyranny here on Earth.  Slowly I looked towards the
heavens and away from this den of terror."

//END of PART V//