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//