25 Temmuz 2020 Cumartesi

TNT History Archives: Turkish Police POW in French Guiana (1919-1929)/Part III/FINAL

//Ed. note. Mehmet Cemil Efendi's years in 
the Devil's Island prison system are barely
mentioned in this article but the book about
him entitled "Türk Kelebeği" ('Turkish 
Butterfly' - referencing 'Papillon') may 
provide more such details.

In any case, his life after returning to Turkey
was equally eventful, for better or worse.//

devil's island history click for the Wikipedia page.

mehmet cemil eryürek – HAMDİ ÇÖREKCİ

Mehmet Cemil was born in Manastır (Bitola in today's Macedonia)
in 1900.  His father was Lofçalı (from Lofça, Bulgaria) Police
Superintendant Tahir Efendi and his mother was Batumlu (from
Batumi, Georgia) Lütfiye Hanım.  Mehmet Cemil went to primary
school in Manastır and then to Fatih Rüştiye (high school) in Istanbul.

Faced with financial problems, the family sent Memet Cemil to the
İmalat-ı Harbiye (military industry) school to learn a trade but he was
left back twice and expelled.  Nevertheless, thanks to his father's 
influence, Mehmet Cemil joined the Istanbul Fire Department.  But
because so many policemen had been sent to the army during World
War I and had either been killed or wounded, there was a shortage so
Mehmet Cemil, again thanks to his father, became a policeman on 
12 April 1919 at a salary of 500 kuruş.

He was assigned to the Istanbul Police Department's 3rd Bureau on
probation and became a full-fledged policeman on 24 October 1919.
But as the result of the the Mondros Armistice that was signed a 
year earlier ending the War, control of Istanbul had passed to the 
Great Powers and the Istanbul police had been similary absorbed.  


Roads to the Great War: The Occupation of Constantinople
Great Powers occupy Istanbul - French troops arrived on 12
November 1918 and the British the following day.

After his decade in French custody, in France but mostly in French
Guiana, Mehmet Cemil Efendi returned to duty as a policeman
assigned to the Pangaltı police station in Istanbul.  Subsequently,
he served briefly as an intelligence staffer on the Cumhuriyet Ferry 
but because of a French woman's slander against him he was 
removed from this duty.  Since he knew French well, though, 
Mehmet Cemil Efendi found work as a passport official in the 
Cebelibereket (Osmaniye) and İslahiye Customs Directorate 
offices near the border with Syria.

Mehmet Cemil Efendi married Fatma Mehiha hanım of Samsun and
took the surname Eryürek when the surname law was enacted in 
Turkey in January 1935.  He became the customs chief in Erzin
town in Adana's Dörtyol district on 15 February 1937.  However,
Mehmet Cemil Efendi was brought to court for breaking and entering
into the home of one Mehmet Gür on 9 April 1940, sparking bad
memories of Guiana and bringing on depression that put him into
Bakırköy mental hospital in Istanbul for two years. 

Mehmet Cemil Efendi's wife divorced him on 3 July 1940 and he
died on 22 August 1944 while on duty in Güvem town in Ankara's
Kızılcahamam district. 

Henri Charrière - Wikipedia

//END of PART THREE/FINAL//


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