fellow prisoners and provides some details about their
arrests.//
Resenli Niyazi (second from right in front) and brothers-in-arms.
One day they brought in an elderly fellow with his feet in chains. After
he was thrown into a cell, I rapped on the gate and asked him why he
had been arrested. He told me to go away, but I explained that he would
need our help to go to the lavatory, because the guards wouldn't be of
any assistance. I added that we had been in the dungeon a while and
knew the ropes, so to speak.
This old man then explained that he was in a coffeehouse in Manastır
talking about (Resneli) Niyazi Bey ( a CUP leader in Macedonia), when
he was overheard saying something untoward about Niyazi Bey. They
spent travel money to bring this poor old man, who did nothing other
than spend his time in the coffeeshop, to Istanbul.
Another strange incident: those who broke the fast during Ramazan
were arrested and brought to court martial. They mistakenly arrested a
(Christian) Armenian for this offense and, like everyone else, he was
subjected to the 'falaka' (feet caning) treatment. When he declared that
he was an Armenian they said that he was really just renouncing Islam
in order to avoid a beating. So he was beaten some more and thrown in
with us.
He was somewhat of an unusual fellow and sarcastically said to us
"since I've become a Moslem by the court martial's bat-blows, give me
a Moslem name.", which made us laugh. But since he couldn't convince
them of his Christianity, he remained in jail.
On the other hand, they arrested a 'hoca' (devout Moslem) who recited
a religious passage they didn't like and said some other sensitive
things that upset them. He was brought in and, despite the turban he
wore on his head, he was subjected to the 'falaka'. Later, he was taken
to court martial for interrogation, where he asked his interrogators
whether they knew the passage he had recited. They scoffed at this,
saying "everyone knows that passage from the Koran!" The 'hoca'
thought better of contradicting them and was sent back to us. He told
us "I'm convinced you will all be executed because these low fellows
don't know what's in the Koran and what isn't."
Let me relate yet another strange incident. They brought in 6 'hocas'
from Anatolia. At that time I was in the Bakkalkapı jail. You couldn't
open their mouths with a knife, they were so scared. Nevertheless, I
asked them why they had been arrested and they explained that they
had joined together to oppose a theater group coming to their region of
Anatolia, giving sermons to this effect. The theater group complained
to the governor, who declared that the hocas were endangering public
security so he had them sent to court martial.
On their way to Istanbul, one of the governor's men who accompanied
them told them they would all be hanged. In turn, we told them about
out situation and how we made the best of it, even enjoying ourselves
at nights with dances organized by my father-in-law. This had the
effect of assuaging their fears.
The Political Science Faculty building on the campus of
Istanbul University, where the Bekir Ağa Prison building had
been until it was torn down in 1950.
//END of PART VIII//
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