(Karahmanmaraş Gündem, 4 February 2019)
"Dry Guillotine" was prisoner slang for the penal colony at Devil's
Island in French Guiana and it took remarkable physical and mental
strength just to survive life there. Mehmet Cemil Efendi made the
12-day voyage from France to South America along with 467 other
convicts of various nationalities in conditions not even fit for animals.
In Guiana, Mehmet Cemil Efendi was held in a large 1-story
building comprised of small cells. There were two high, thick walls
surrounding the building and the prison itself was reached after
passing through two iron gates. Each convict was given a number
and, as Mehmet Cemil Efendi (number 45090) wrote in his diary, this
was a political prison called either "Saint Loran" or "Devil's Island".
It was no different than hell itself because it was far removed from
the world's civilization, inhabited by primitive people and set in the
middle of jungles full of wild animals. The convicts were made to
work like slaves in inhumane conditions. Many of them could not
bear the life and tried to escape but were either lost to the jungle or
killed by the prison's guards.
While Mehmet Cemil Efendi was in Guiana longing for his
homeland, the Ankara government made an appeal to France at the
end of 1922, spearheaded by Istanbul representative Adnan (Adıvar)
Bey. Subsequently, the matter appeared in the Turkish press and on
12 February 1926, Bolu representative Nuhzâde Mehmet Vasfî Bey
asked the Turkish Interior Ministry for informtion related to Mehmet
Cemil Efendi's situation. However, since he had twice tried to escape
and was caught, the French resisted releasing Mehmet Cemil Efendi.
Finally, based on an appeal to the French government by President
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Foreign Minister Tevfik Rüştü Aras and
the Turkish Ambassador in Paris, France agreed to drop charges
related to the two failed escape attempts and Mehmet Cemil Efendi
returned to Istanbul aboard the Patris Ferry in 1929.
He was met at the Karaköy pier by 50 relatives, friends and fellow
policemen with applause and flowers from the Beyoğlu Police Station
and a fountain pen from the Istanbul Police Directorate. The next
day Mehmet Cemil Efendi's story was front-page news in the Istanbul
newspapers.
//END of PART TWO//
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