TNT History Archives: Massawa & Hodeidah, Italians & Ottomans (1913)/Part II

//Ed. note: In May 1913, Oğuz Arslan wrote this article in 
the Istanbul newspaper 'Içtihad', relating - evidently from 
regretful first-hand experience - the sorry conditions faced
by Ottoman soldiers and bureaucrats assigned to Hodeidah
on the Red Sea coast of Yemen.  

He noted, in particular, the contrasting good conditions in 
Massawa, occupied by the Italians across the Red Sea, and
in Aden, southern Yemen, where the English held sway.  In
July of the same year, Arslan visited Massawa - see Part I
of this TNT series.//




Officials Serving in Yemen
Hodeidah

Those assigned to duty in Yemen reach Hodeidah after weeks and even
months of travel, arriving tired, sick and bewildered.  This place, which
Koca Sinan Paşa conquered for the Ottoman Empire in 976 (1560), is a
stark contrast to the matchless beauty of Istanbul, resembling the ruins
of the Middle Ages.  So, coming from Anatolia and Thrace, the soldiers
and bureaucrats are forced to succumb to Yemen's merciless sun and a
life of deprivation.

Assignees to Yemen are government servants and should be supported
by the government, like other civilized nations do for their workers.
These soldiers and officials will continue on in their careers after Yemen,
so the government must provide the means for their improvement and
advancement while here.  In order for soldiers and officials in Yemen to
live the life they are entitled to, there are two requirements:

Firstly, no assignee to Yemen should stay for more than two years. The
other necessity is that rather than sending 3 random people, who will
be unable to work productively and live comfortably with a salary
of 1,000 kuruş, just send one well-qualified person with a salary of
3,000 kuruş.   Only when these conditions are met will duty in Yemen
be "reformed", because its reform is tied to the well-being of its
workers.  Otherwise, I think we cannot ignore the lesson the situation
in Massawa threatens us with. (Italian occupation)



The weather in Yemen has a detrimental and long-term effect on bodies
not used to it, over the course of two years.  And even though there is
essentially nothing to be had in Yemen, whatever there is is expensive.
First of all, a Greek runs the bakery in Hodeidah, and, secondly, the
water is so salty it's like poison. Undrinkable.  Those who can afford
it, get fresh water from Kamaran Island (nearby quarantine station for
pilgrims going to Mecca).  For others, they must buy 5 'damacana'
(demijohn) per month, at a cost of five 'mecidiye' (Ottoman silver
coins).

The temperature in summer ranges from 40 to 45 degrees centigrade
(104-113 Farenheit) and in winter it only rains two or three times,
with temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees centigrade (68-86F).
But the humidity is horrific and flows down walls like rain. A person's
sweat forms into little pieces of salt and one's skin itches unmercifully.
The 'Eziyeb' wind that blows from May to July produces ferocious sand
storms that force one to keep windows shut. 

There are no public baths in Hodeidah so people must bathe at home,

requiring camel-borne loads of water to be brought each day, adding

even more to one's water bill.  Yet, at mid-afternoon on most summer

days, ominous black clouds approach from the east, bringing terrific

thunderstorms, lightning and buckets of rain.   

(

Those who suffer these manifold deprivations and hardships cannot help

but cast their eyes on Massawa and Aden, where the Italians and the 

English, who are occupying our territory, provide the populace with ice

machines!  Yet our (Ottoman) administrators have either forgotten the

needs of their workers or just don't care!

Istanbul, 21 May 329 (1913)

Oğuz Arslan

//END of PART II//

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