TNT Animal Kingdom Edition: "Loving Animals is the Best Medicine"

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 5 March 2019)


                                       "Rover" & friend

Retired teacher Fevzi Uyar (70), who lives in Samsun, has dedicated
his life to street animals. Uyar tries to look after 200 street dogs at 15
different points, in an approximately 40 kilometer area around
Yılandere and Gürgendağ.  Every month Uyar buys 3 tons of chicken
bones and 400 kilograms of dry food for the dogs.  As he makes his
rounds among the dogs, they come up to his car to greet him.


           Fevzi bey getting his daily dose of medicine.

Uyar believes that people who love animals love other people, too.
Nevertheless, he lamented that "the bones we leave for the dogs are
stolen. It's a shame that so many people are immoral, and without any
conscience or religious convictions. Elders like us, though, are to
blame because we haven't taught the young about these things. 
Retirees should adopt a pet so they can get out and take a walk with
their dog a couple of times each day.  I have heart and blood pressure
issues but getting out in the mountains and the country does me good.
Loving animals is the best medicine." 


Yılandere and Gürgendağ villages are in the hills 
south of Samsun city.

Mosaic Replica for Original's Long-Time Guardian

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 4 March 2019)

anavarza antique city click here for background.


                     Like having the Prodigal Son return...

In Adana, Hatun Dilci (80) served as the safeguarder of Anavarza
Antique City for 34 years.  When the first excavations were done,
the 4th Century A.D. Tethys Mosaic, with figures like Eros, the God
of Love in Greek mythology, and fishes, was found and 3 years ago it
was transported to the Adana Mosaic Museum. Now, a same-size
replica of the mosaic has been put back where it was first found, in
the garden of Hatun Dilci. 

Hatun Dilci encountered the mosaics during an excavation in her
garden in 1964, in Anavarza, which is located in Dilekkaya village
in Adana's Kozan district.  In 1969, she and her husband were hired
to keep an eye on the mosaics.  16 years ago, Hatun hanım retired
and turned over her duty of warding off treasure hunters to her son.


                                  The Tethys Mosaic

Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Sabri Tari and Museum
Director Nedim Dervişoğlu visited Hatun hanım to thank her for
years of protecting the mosaic site from bandits and treasure hunters.
In addition to placing the Tethys Mosaic replica in her garden, the
officials also presented her with a plaque of gratitude.

Hatun hanım said she was very sad when the Tethys Mosaic was
taken to the museum 3 years ago, noting that "I cried for days. But
now they've made a replica and brought it here. What I did to protect
that mosaic, I couldn't even begin to tell you!"


 

From Cold Shoulder to Raging Inferno

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 4 March 2019)



They came to Istanbul for work - Murat Kayacan (17) from Ağrı,
Muhammet Gür (23) and Yunus Akyüz (20) from Siirt, Eren Ersin
Büker (25) from Manisa, Ramazan Demir (23) from  Diyarbakır and
Özkan Elmas (24) from Hatay.  The men lived in a second-floor
flat in the Temel Apartımanı building on Jurnal Street in the
Asmalımescit neighborhood of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, and they all
worked at nearby cafés and bars.

Last week Elmas argued with his housemates, who began to give
him the cold shoulder.  Elmas decided to return to Hatay and bought
an airline ticket for a flight yesterday.  At 9 o'clock yesterday
morning, while his housemates were sleeping after completing
their night shifts, Elmas set a fire in the flat, called the fire department
and then rushed to the airport.


                         Lone survivor Ramazan Demir.

Only Demir was able to flee the fire.  Because of bars on the windows,
the 4 others were trapped inside and died.  Demir told police that
Elmas had started the fire.  Checking Elmas's phone records, police
saw that it was Elmas who had called firefighters.  His phone signal
was detected in Hatay, where Elmas was taken into custody. 


                                 The vengeful arsonist.

TNT Matchbox Diary: A Turkish POW in Russian Prison Camp (1915-1918)/Part XXXII

//Ed. Note: Money woes trouble Fuad Bey as June 1916 
ends.  Nevertheless, 2 Austrian POW soldiers are sent
to Fuad Bey's house as servants (!) for the officer POWs
there.  An Arab Ottoman captain causes an uproar in the
house, too.//

 
                  A Russian Orthodox church in Vetluga.

21 June 1916 Wednesday

After morning tea, I worked on completing the family history that I 

couldn’t finish at Sarıkamış. We played games a bit and chatted. We 

heard that in the afternoon we would go to the Command and get some 

money as an advance. Our salaries will be given to us on Friday. After

lunch we went to the Command, our names were read off and they 

gave everyone an account receipt with our names on it. Then they took

it back. They did some other things we didn’t understand. Then they 

calculated the 60 rubles we got  as three salaries at Sarıkamış and 

although this was really 50 rubles they cut 30 rubles from us saying it 

was extra. So, in short, we went empty handed and left the same way.

We’re being very badly affected by the lack of money. Since we 

didn’t have any evening bread, we borrowed from someone and ate.

22 June 1916 Thursday

The weather is somewhat overcast. It rained a bit too. We heard 

something today that really irritated us. This is it: one of the married 

officers, secretary Şakir, petitioned the Command for permission to 

speak with his family. In order to get his petition accepted he bragged 

about providing his utmost services to the Russians in Erzurum 

(seeming to mean spying). When we heard this we were outraged and 

wrote a note to be given to the committee. In the note we demanded 

that he be expelled or punished. Everyone signed it except Tahir for 

some reason. After signing, it was given to the head of the committee, 

Osman. In the evening the Commander came. He thanked us for the 

calmness our group had shown by wisely avoiding some unnecessary

actions and he rebuked the other senior group by implication. He gave

permission for the children of the married fellows to come to see their 

fathers.

23 June 1916 Friday

The weather is bad again today and continued that way until late 

afternoon. We went to the Command before lunch to get salaries. After 

they made some calculations they took 54 rubles from those who had 

received three salaries at Sarıkamış and 45 rubles from those who had 

gotten two, for table d’hote and other things. They cut these debts in 

one fell swoop.  So although we had hoped to get a salary, we each 

had to give four rubles extra. Again we’re broke. Upon returning home 

we were able to find bread money by borrowing from here and there. 

Had I not found any money I would have gone hungry. We got two 

more servants in our house today. They’re Austrians. One Austrian, 

one Hungarian.

24 June 1916 Saturday

The weather is nice, clear. In the afternoon nine of us went outside for a 

walk. We watched the Vetluga River shore intently and sat on a 

somewhat high ridge. There was greenery on all sides. We passed by the 

public garden (park), which is a simple place but it has a good view of 

the plain. There are no flowers here, just  trees, grass, fixed chairs and 

plane trees. I passed the time in the house, sometimes with games and 

sometimes with gymnastics. I also learned the game ‘King and Minister’.

25 June 1916 Sunday

The trials of captivity. I’ve been separated from my family for a long 

time. I wonder whether they’ve gotten my letters and I reflect on my 

situation and the future. Sometimes I’m sad and sometimes I’m 

consoled.

 

                                        The Vetluga River

26 June 1916 Monday

The weather is gloomy but  there’s no rain. A light breeze spreads a 

sweet coolness. Today passed with chatting and game-playing. As 

the result of yesterday’s application, we each got a three-ruble 

advance. I gave two of these for table d’hote and one to pay a debt.

I’m broke again. The amount of time we’re allowed to walk around 

in the evenings has been increased from one and a half hours to three 

hours. A nice Russian gesture.

News: Erzurum has passed to us. We hopt to God that this is true and 

rejoice. We sat around quite a while at night. After everyone had gone 

to sleep I talked a lot with my bedmate Nuri. We talked about Turkey,

progress and the future. We went to bed as the sun was rising.

"Şah Mat" ("Checkmate" - playing chess)

27 June 1916 Tuesday

The weather is cloudy. Toward evening it rained heavily. I wrote 

another letter in French to my father  today concerning my health. Dear 

God , let them learn about my health and I about theirs because I’m 

worried. Of course who knows what they may be thinking. In the 

afternoon Şerif came and we worked on Russian a bit. Then we 

passed the time with games and chatting. I played chess and I learned 

a lot. I won right away because of the mistakes that newcomers

make. Today another terrible thing: from now on getting oil and eggs 

from the market is forbidden. The cause of this unreasonable thing is 

the impertinence of a sergeant in the Command. This sergeant is one 

of the noteables around here…damn it!...dirty rascals.

28 June 1916 Wednesday

The weather is still cloudy. Late in the afternoon there was some 

drizzle.  I passed the time playing games and chatting. Also, I’m 

thinking about my parents a lot because I’m the one hope for those

poor people. They haven’t had joy and happiness up to now and now 

they have no news from me. Who knows how they must be worrying. 

Dear God, let at least one of the letters I’ve written reach Them and 

free them from worry. This is my wish. 

Halis and I mended fences tonight. I proved to him the problem that 

had come up against him was completely unintentional. He accepted 

this.

Ottoman Turkish and Arab soldiers on the Sinai front in 

Egypt.

29 June 1916 Thursday

The weather is still cloudy with occasional drizzle. Today there was a 

big outrage and the reason was that Captain Hamid ripped up the netting

protecting us from the mosquitoes, on the pretext that it was shabby 

and ill-cared for. He threw it on the floor in an insulting manner, looking

at our faces with a hateful look. With the aim of defending us, Salah 

asked him politely why he had ripped up the netting. The situation got 

worse and the rascal was seething. He began to dress us down in a

very judgemental fashion. In the evening the committee met and the 

matter was presented to everyone. It was clear that Hamid was in the 

wrong but when it came time for him to apologize he blindly refused. 

Finally he said that he didn’t recognize the committee and that he 

didn’t trust anyone. In fact, the mannerless rascal had the nerve to 

insult us by saying ‘you’re disregarding your own consciences and 

lying.’ We protested this and the meeting broke up. This man is an 

Arab anyhow. It’s impossible for Arabs to mix with Turks because 

of their bad ways. Damn such rascals! 

News: the Turkish army has crossed the Russian border and seized 

two important positions or cities.

//Ed. Note: From another Ottoman-language source of 

37 reports about Turkish POWs in Russia, this Captain 

Hamid wrote an undated letter, describing his situation at 

Vetluga:

"Letter sent by Artillery Captain Bağdatlı Hamid Hakkı 

Efendi, a prisoner in Russia: The commander of the 

Vetluga command in the  district of Kostroma would not 

give prisoners their letters.  We were held in inhumane 

conditions and under duress.  Even though we received 

a salary of 50 rubles, the value dropped to 2 kuruş.  

Purchase of officer prisoners’ food was taken care of by 

the guards so a third of our salaries went to the guards.

Petitions sent to the commander were ripped up and 

thrown away."//

30 June 1916 Friday

The weather is nice. We gathered again at night and decided 

unanimously that Arab Captain Hamid must leave us because it 

wouldn’t be possible (as the result of yesterday’s incident) for him to 

live with us anymore. 

News: on the Riga front, the Germans have taken an aggressive

posture. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to measure the duration of the 

night accurately. The shortest night is about five and a half hours 

from sunset to sunrise. At this time there’s no other star visible in

the sky other than the shepher’s star that rises toward morning. I 

gave myself a haircut. Zühdü’s obstinacy left my mustache in a 

mess.

//END of PART XXXII//