to Samara, returning to the scene of his adolescent school
years.//
After boarding the train again at Kharkiv, it was evident from their
clothes and accents that the other passengers were Russians from the
villages on either side of the tracks. As the train neared Penza, though,
Turkish Moslems began to board. I was eager to talk with them and
the fez I wore on my head made it evident that I was an Ottoman Turk.
I noticed that even the middle-class Russians on the train were
favorably inclined toward Turkey.
Passing Penza, the number of Turkish Moslem passengers increased
since we were in the area of the Volga River, which flows from beyond
Nizhny Novgorod in the north to the Caspian Sea in the south, and
which has a large Turkish Moslem population. As the train moved on,
the minarets of the village mosques came into view on both sides of
the railline.
Our train crossed over the Volga bridge in five minutes and we arrived
in Samara. I got off to visit this beautiful city, where I had spent a few
years of my youth. I was happy to see my old friends from school
and the medrese here. One of them pressed a copy of "İktisad"
magazine into my hands. This is an economics-based periodical
written in clear Turkish that focuses on the issues of Turkish Moslems
around here. These days, a friend from my school days was writing
and publishing it.
A ferry took us to the city of Simbirsk (now called Ulyanovsk, a bit
north of Samara). I first to visit a merchant I'd known before. We
caught up after years apart but then he explained that he was upset
about the local imams in Simbirsk, which is very conservative,
opposing reforms. Nevertheless, despite the fierce opposition of
teachers, imams and elders he had been able to to establish modern
schools for boys and girls. We visited the schools together and they
were indeed nice and clean. The students were not there because of
the summer break but there are more than 300 registered.
The mosque we visited, on the other hand, was in disrepair. Since it
was Friday, we entered for prayers and I heard the same sermon I'd
heard 10 years before, from the same imam's mouth. Leaving the
mosque, my friend told me that "you see for yourself the state of our
medrese and mosque, compared to what they used to be. The imams
and the 'müderris' (religious teachers) are very conservative and
mislead the community against reforms. Nevertheless, some
progressive youths ignored them and they're running the boys school
we just saw."
Halim Sabit Efendi's route on this portion of his adventure
took him by train from Kharkiv, lower left, through Penza to
Samara, from where he took a ferry to Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk)
to visit an old friend.
//END of PART III//
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