From Constantinople to Venice; Horses of Saint Mark

From Constantinople to Venice;

The Horses of Saint Mark’s Basilica

Those beauties are made in a Greek island and taken to Constantinople in the 5th century, symbolizing the grandeur of the Byzantine Empire.

 Situated at the Hippodrome they have witnessed the imperial horse races for over 800 years!

During the Forth Crusade they were brought to Venice,in 1204 and installed  over the entrance of the San Marc's Basilica.

Later Napoleon brought them to Paris in 1798 and after his defeat at Waterloo the horses were brought back to Venice in 1815.

Sanat tarihinde bunca eser arasinda beni en cok etkileyen iki eserden biri Louvre muzesinde ki Samatros zafer heykeli; biri de San Marco Bazilikasindaki Atlar olmustu. Bir at heykeli bu kadar mi sevimli yapilabilir?

Bati dunyasi bu heykelleri San Marko Atlari olarak taniyor cunku 4. hacli seferleri esnasindan Istanbul yagmalanmis, bugunku Sultanahmet meydaninda bulunan Hipodromun giris kapisini susleyen heykeller gemilere yuklenerek Venedik’e goturulmustur.

Peki heykelleri kim yapmis? Lysippos adli bir Yunan heykeltras rivayete gore Cesme’nin karsisinda ki Sakiz adasinda yapmis. Bugun yaris arabasi nerede bilmiyorum ama orijinalinde quadriga denilen dort atla cekilen yaris arabasi da vardi.

Atlar, hareket halindeler ve dizginsiz, ozgur, guclu ve zarif bir sekilde kosuyorlar. Kosarken baslarini birbirlerine dogru cevirip sanki digerinin yuz ifadesini okumaya, ne yapacagini kestirmeye calisiyorlar.

Konstantine Istanbul’u insa ettirdiginde bu heykelleri  Yunan adasindan getirdip Hipodrom daki giris kapisinin uzerine koyduruyor. Zaten yapilis tarzi itibariyla atlarin bacaklari kisa ve asagidan yukariya dogru bakildiginda  guzel gorunecek tarzda yapilmis.

Ilk uc hacli seferi istenilen sonuclari elde edemeyince, ozellikle Fransizlerin istegiyle Avrupa da bir Hacli ordusu daha kuruluyor. O donemde Venedik cok zengin “Queen of Adriyatik” diye nam salmis. Bu orduyu kuranlar askerleri ve gerekli savas techizatini Constantinople’a kadar gonderecek gemileri Venediklilerden temin etmek istiyorlar. Venedik yeterli miktarda gemiye sahip, orduyu ve gerekli malzemeyi Kutsal topraklara, Kudus’e kadar goturmek icin o zamanin parasiyla seksen bes bin mark istiyor. Boyle bir parayi hacli ordusunun toparlamasi mumkun degil; dolayisiyla bir anlasma yapiliyor.

Venedik diyor ki “siz Kudus e giderken yol uzerinde bugun Hirvatistan da bulunan Zara( Turkce de Zardar, Dalmacya nin baskenti) sehrini benim namima alin,  sonra Constantinopol’e ugrayin, tahta bizim adamimiz Isaac II yi gecirin, boylece Roma nin en buyuk rakibi Constantinopol’u biz  ele gecirelim; odemeyi bu sekilde yapin.” Orduyu Constantinopol’e gondermek istemelerinde daha evvel yasanmis Katolik Orthodoks kavgalarinin da etkisi var; cunku daha evvel  Isaac tahtini kaybetmis, Ortodoxlar da Katolikleri Istanbul da epeyce katletmis.

Zardar

Bugun Ayasofya’da mezari bulunan ve Don Brown’un eseri Inferno da adi gecen Enrico Dondola  bu ordunun basina geciriyor. Hacli ordusunun Zara'yi ele gecirmesi cok kolay oluyor; ondan sonraki durak Constantinopolis. Sehir halki kendilerine- guya Hristiyanlik adina toplanmis- bu hacli ordusunun saldirmasina cok sasiriyor. Hacli ordusu Halic tarafindan surlari delip sehre giriyor; ilk is rahipleri oldurup rahibelere saldiriyorlar. Klise mecburen Papa’nin otoritesini kabul ediyor ve Bizans da katolik devri basliyor...

Papa bu yakip yikmalara, bir Hristiyan sehrinin zarar gormesine biraz kizmis gorunuyor ama sehrin yagmalanip alinan mallarin Italya ya getirilmesine de ses cikarmiyor. Hipodrom daki pek cok bronz heykel eritilip para yapiliyor ve gemilere yukleniyor ama Venedikliler bazi eserlerin eritilmeden getirilmesini istiyorlar. Bu sayede atlar kurtulmus oluyor.

1204 yilinda bronz atlar  once Venedik'teki limanda bulunan cephanelikte 50 – 60 yil kadar bekletildikten sonra San Marko Bazilikasina getirilip her yerden gorulecek sekilde girisin uzerinde teras kismina monte ediliyor. Bizans'in ihtisamini simgeleyen bu guc sembolu atlar simdi artik Venedik gucunu temsil ediyor. Doclar bu terasa cikip meydandaki halka hitap ettiklerinde halk bu manzarayi da gormus oluyor.

Atlarin bir daha ki kacirilmasi Napolyon zamaninda oluyor. Napolyon Italya yi ele gecirince bu heykellerin Paris’e goturulmesine karar veriyor. 1798 de Paris'te Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel’in uzerine yerlestiriliyor. Bu defa atlar Napolyon’un zaferlerini kutluyor. Bu sefer arabalari da var, suruculeri de. 

Peace riding in a Triumphal chariot

Bu saltanat 1815’e kadar suruyor. Napolyon Avusturya’lilara yenilince atlar da Venedik’e, San Marco’ya geri donuyor.

Macera burada da bitmiyor. Birinci dunya Savasinda Roma'ya Ikinci Dunya savasinda da Padua'ya koruma amaciyla gonderiliyorlar.

82 de hava kirliliginden zarar gormemeleri icin Klisenin terasindan iceriye tasiniyorlar. Bugun disarida replikalari var.

Atlarin orijinallerini gormek isterseniz Venedik’te San Marco Klisesine gidip, dik bir merdivenden ust kata cikarak gorebilirsiniz.Biletleri onceden internetten almakta fayda var zira disarida uzun bir kuyruk oluyor.

Le Jardin

Le Jardin / Bahce

Des milliers et des milliers d'années 
Ne sauraient suffire 
Pour dire 
La petite seconde d'éternité 
Où tu m'as embrassé 
Où je t'ai embrassèe 
Un matin dans la lumière de l'hiver 
Au parc Montsouris à Paris 
A Paris 
Sur la terre 
La terre qui est un astre.

Jacques Prévert

Binlerce, milyonlarca yıl yetmez,
sana anlatmaya
sonsuzluğun içinde bir saniyeyi
senin beni öptüğün zamanı
benim seni öptüğüm zamanı,
Sabah kış güneşinde, bir bahçede
Montsouiris Parkında
Paris'te
Dünya'da
Uzayda bir gezegen olan Dünya'da...

Şair Jacques Prévert
Çeviri Elif Mat 

QUANDO TI BACIO

When I kiss you...
Seni optugum zaman...

El Beso (Pinacoteca de Brera, Milán, 1859)

Quando ti bacio
non è solo la tua bocca
non è solo il tuo ombelico
non è solo il tuo grembo
che bacio
Io bacio anche le tue domande
e i tuoi desideri
bacio il tuo riflettere
i tuoi dubbi
e il tuo coraggio

il tuo amore per me
e la tua libertà da me
il tuo piede
che è giunto qui
e che di nuovo se ne va
io bacio te
così come sei
e come sarai
domani e oltre
e quando il mio tempo sarà trascorso

Erich Fried

Gustav Klimpt- Il Bacio

Seni optugum zaman,
Sadece dudaklarini degil;
sadece karnini, vucudunu degil;

Senin butun sorularini,
Butun arzularini,
Dusuncelerini,
Suphelerini...
Cesaretini,
Bana olan sevgini,
ve benden bagimsizligini da opuyorum.

Bana gelen kucuk ayaklarini
ve simdi, uzaklasan adimlarini…

Seni opuyorum
Simdiki halini,
Gelecekteki halini,
Yarinlarda ve otesinde,
Kalan omrum boyunca ….

HORTENSE Josephine'in kızı ve Hollanda Kralicesi

Hortense

Josephine’in kizi ve Hollanda Kraliçesi

Hortense de Beauharnais

Hollanda Kralicesi Hortense; (Ortans okunuyor) 1783- 18837 yillari arasinda yasamistir. Napolyon'un eşi Josephine’in ilk evliliginden olan kızıdır. Kendisinin enteresan bir hayat hikayesi var.

Sonradan Fransa İmparatoriçesi olacak olan Josephine'in güzel kızı Hortense 1783 de Fransa da doğmuş, babasi  Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais bir asilzade ne yazık ki Fransız İhtilali sırasında giyotine gönderilerek öldürülüyor. 

Annesi Hortense'ı  önce bir yatılı okula gönderiyor; orada müzik ve sanata ilgi gösteriyor sevilen bir öğrenci oluyor.

Bu arada Josephine Napoleon' la tanışıyor.  Napoleon ona aşık oluyor Josephine de Napolyon'u kendisi ve çocuklarının geleceği için  bir "kurtarıcı" gibi görüyor.

 Napoleon'la Josephine'in aralarında yaş farkı olduğu  ve daha önceleri Josephine pek de iyi bir şöhretle anılmadığı için Napolyon'un ailesinden itiraz geliyor; fakat Napolyon Josephine'in kendisinden  altı yaş daha büyük olmasına ve çıkan dedikodulara aldırmayarak onunla evlenme kararı alıyor. 

O sıra küçük bir kız olan Hortense, bu evlilik ihtimalinden pek memnun olmuyor ama Napoleon; ona cepheden güzel mektuplar yazarak gönlünü alıp, ikna ediyor. Gerçekten de sonradan yazdığı hatıralarında Hortense, Napoleon için “kardeşimle beni bir baba sefkatiyle kabul etti”diyor.

1806 da Napoleon kendini İmparator; Josephin’i de İmparotoriçe ilan ediyor. Daha evvelki "Cumhuriyet" yönetimine son veriyor. Josephine' le beraber  Versay sarayında oturmak istiyor ama Josephine,  "Marie Antoinette' in hayaletinden korkarım" diyerek kabul etmiyor. Onun yerine kendisine Malmaison isimli başka bir malikane alıyor; çok zevkli dekore ediyor. Buranın masrafları Napolyonun Mısır seferinden elde ettiği gelirle karşılanıyor.

Ancak bu mutluluk fazla uzun sürmüyor. Napolyon'un  bir veliahta ihtiyaci var ama ne yazik ki Josephine’in başka çocuğu olmuyor. Bu duruma  bir çare bulmak isteyen Josephine; kızı Hortense’ı Napoleon un erkek kardeşi Louis Bonapart'la evlendirmek istiyor. Bu çiftin bir oğlu olursa onu veliaht ilan edip sorunu çözmek istiyor.

Malmaison Şatosu

Halbuki Hortense başkasını seviyor. Louis bazı hastalıkları olan; geçinmesi zor ve kıskanç birisi. Ama emir büyük yerden ve Napoleon’un da bu fikre razı gelmesiyle Hortense; Louis ile evlenmek zorunda kalıyor. Evlilik ilk günden sorunlu başlıyor Hortense sürekli mutsuz ve sürekli ağlamaklı. Annesi kendi ve çocuklarının geleceği için Hortense'inmutluluğunu feda etmiş oluyor.

Louis’nin Hortense’la olan evliligi sorunlu ama kendisi çok akıll birisi ve Napoleon bütün kardeşlerini olduğu gibi onu da  çok seviyor ve mevki sahibi yapmak istiyor.

Napolyon un askeri başarıları birbirini kovalıyor ve hemen hemen tüm Avrupa Fransa’nin idaresine geçiyor. Bu fırsattan istifade ederek, Napoleon kardesini Hollanda Kralı yapıyor ve dolayısıyla Hortense da Hollanda Kralicesi oluyor.

Hortense' ı en çok üzen şey Paris’ten ayrılmak zorunda olması çünkü hem Paris' teki saray hayatını çok seviyor hem de Louis ile aynı çatı altında yaşamak istemiyor. 

Genç ve zarif Kraliçe istemeyerek de gitse Hollanda da sevilen bir Kraliçe oluyor. Bir kez daha hayatı kendi istemi dışında politik zorunluluklarla değişmiş oluyor.

Hortense' ın Louis ile olan evliliğinden iki tane oğlu oluyor. fakat Josephine’in planı bir işe yaramıyor. Çünkü onun bütün bu gayretlerine rağmen başkaları Napoleon 'u Josephine den ayrılıp, başkasıyla evlenmeye ikna ediyorlar. 

Napolyon “Fransa’ya karşı görevim” diyerek o güzel evleri Malmaison da Josephine' e ayrılmak istediğini söylüyor Bu kötü haber üzerine Josephine sinir krizi geçirerek bayılıyor.

Marie Louise

 İkinci hanım  Avusturya Prensesi Marie-Louise. Marie Antanouette in yegeni Napolyon önce bu işte bir uğursuzluk olabileceğini düşünüyor. Ancak çevresi. onu bu evliliğin Fransa' nın çıkarları bakımından iyi olacağına inandırıyor. 

O devrin şartlarında bu enteresan bir durum,çünkü daha evvel Napolyon yönetiminde Fransa Avusturya Macaristan İmparatorluğu yla büyük savaşlar yapmıştı ve yeni gelin Marie Louise Napolyon korkusuyla büyümüştü.

Ama dengeler değişiyor Napolyon Josephine' i sevmesine rağmen, Marie Louis' le evleniyor. Hatta çevresindekilere “bir uterus la evlendim diyor.” 

Bu ikinci evlilige rağmen Josephine’e olan sevgisi devam ediyor, onun İmparatoriçe unvanını korumasını istiyor, hayat boyu arkadaş kalıyorlar.

 Napolyon bu ikinci evlilikte istediği veliahta kavuşuyor.  Ama Napoleon’un Rusya yenilgisi sürgüne gönderilmesi ve Fransa' nın yasadığı çalkantılı dönemlerden sonra Marie Louise çocuğuyla birlikte Fransa dan ayrılıyor Avusturya' ya geri dönüyor. 

Bu çok arzulanan veliaht hiç bir zaman Fransa Kralı olamıyor ama ilerde şans gene Hortense’a gülüyor; onun oğlu Napoleon III adıyla 1852' de Fransa Kralı oluyor...

Elif Mat

That Freedom Talk

Halil Pasha and Patriot playing chess at Dr.Munir's home, Goztepe  Istanbul.

1919

Halil Pasha and Patriot were playing chess, as usual, after having lunch. For hours they were thinking without moving from their spot. Pasha was rubbing his chin. Patriot’s fists were on his knees, he was biting his moustache.

Jamil was watching the game. At first, he wasn't interested but now he was as interested as the players. He looked at Dr. Munir, who was reading. Jamil thought it was good that Dr. Munir was reading and not watching the game. He would have been surprised how involved all of them were with the game when the country was in so much trouble. He would have been surprised at how we can forget our troubles which are just like vultures waiting for our death.

The Doctor didn't like people thinking for hours in front of a chess board. He called that kind of thinking ‘unproductive thinking’. He used to say, ‘A chess game is not even an exercise in thinking. The real job of the mind is to find out the truth, to understand the truth completely and change it. The game of chess is wasting the mind in an unnecessary task, making the mind tired and thus preventing it from performing its real job for a short while. This is the worst kind of laziness; to use your strength for something other than your real purpose and occupy your mind at something seemingly more important. Playing chess is a good example of that kind of waste.”

Jamil lit another cigarette. Dr. Munir was sitting at the bench and reading a history book written by Naima with great attention as usual. His old fur was across his shoulders and his glasses were on the tip of his nose. Another man would have looked old with those types of glasses, but he looked like a child with them. He raised his head and looked outside for a while; then looked sad, as if he didn't like what he saw. Jamil met him in the Hospital at Damascus. He never saw him reading there. He wondered, ‘didn’t he have books available to him at that time or he did he think reading while everybody was dying was not appropriate?’

Abdulhamit

Patriot made a move on the board. After that, he went back to his deep thinking. Pasha didn't move a finger, as if his opponent didn't do anything.

Gulnihal came in to the room, silent as a cat, and left the daily papers by the doctor’s side.

Jamil took one of them, as if he didn't really want to. He checked the headlines. He yawned and stretched. He had been stuck in this house for two and a half months since February 6^th, the day Rashid the Circassian, former Governor of Diyarbakir, had died. Maksood was right. They put an arrest order for Jamil for helping a criminal escape and battery and attack to a police Officer while on duty. The injuries of the Police Officer were serious.

Worst of all was that the man Jamil had beaten had a brother who was a Police Chief at the Beyoglu Station. They were Albanians. He turned the situation in to a blood feud. He wanted to find Jamil. Even prison was not an option for him. This might end in one of the party’s death. His house and his neighborhood were under watch. Haji, the shopkeeper, was asking the whereabouts of Jamil. Some sales ladies or beggars came and knocked on their door. Some days, people came to their door pretending that they were looking for a house to rent. Salime often saw people in front of their windows or looking through the walls of the yard.

There was a search warrant for Jamil because he was considered a criminal. But other Unionists were under watch as well, even though they hadn't done anything wrong. The members of the Freedom and Accord Party and the Officers who were supporting them were after the Unionists. They were spying on them.

The Military Court Marshall headed by General Ali Fevzi was investigating ‘Young Turk’ activities as far back as 1888. Another Court Marshall headed by General Nazim was investigating the war crimes and Unionists role in them. They already hung Bogazliyan District Governor Kamal and Governor of Urfa  Nusret; so it was getting serious.

The general state of affairs was getting worse every day in the Country. In the east, the Armenian State was being found. Kurds wanted a large area to be separated from the Empire and were seeking support from the Foreign States. There was some talk about the British, French, Italian and Greek occupation of various parts of the country. All the railroads and ports were under Allied Armies’ control. It was not possible to stay in Istanbul for a long time and there were not many places in Anatolia to seek refuge either.

Dr. Munir put his book down and started to read the papers. Halil Pasha was not doing well at the game. Dr. Munir said, “That’s bad!”

“What’s bad?”

Dr. Munir put the paper down and looked over his glasses, “President Wilson approved Greek Occupation of Izmir and surrounding areas!”

“No way!”

“That’s really bad. Our Caliph couldn’t even negotiate the Mandate Solution. Maybe it would have been better to accept the Mandate of one of the Occupied Forces and keep the country together. But no, they wanted to divide the country, regardless!” He looked at Jamil and said, “You can’t go to Kuschu-bashi Ranch and rest now. It looks like you are going to be a Zaybak fighter after all, instead of being a farmer.” He was pensive. There was a wink in his eyes. He said to Jamil, “You were asking Pasha yesterday whether we could have avoided the war at the time. Pasha didn't give you a definitive answer. I wonder what he thinks about the current situation.”

“I told you before Doctor, there was no way of avoiding the war!” Halil Pasha said.

“Yes, there was a way!”

“What was that?”

“Abdulhamid would have found a way!”

“Do you think that we were wrong to dethrone him?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“I don’t understand, Liberty is not a crime. We brought Freedom to the country.”

“But who wanted the Freedom?”

Halil Pasha was serious. “What do you mean ‘who wanted the Freedom’?”

“You will say that the People wanted Freedom.”

“Yes”

“That was a weak yes, my dear Pasha! We were just a small group of Military Officers and Government Employees!  How did we know the ‘People’ wanted the ‘Freedom’ when there were no widespread political organizations in the vast Empire?”

Halil Pasha looked like he was going to answer to this immediately but he hesitated and tried to laugh. He said; “You Freemason, you Pig! Let’s say you are right for a minute, let’s say the people didn't ask for Freedom. Let’s say we didn't even know what Freedom really meant for the country.”

“That’s right, even we didn't know...”

“Let’s say we didn't know. Damn it! The country was collapsing. We wanted democracy to save the country.”

“How did we know that democracy was going to save the country?”

“Enough already! There was that Freedom talk everywhere, we took it and used it against Abdulhamid!”

“Then we got disappointed and we didn’t know what to do.”

“Yes.”

“We asked, ‘Now that we had our revolution, what are we going to do with it?’I resigned from the Party, and you, I mean the rulers of the Party, started to look for new recruits, hoping to manage better in the future!”

General Halil Kut

Halil Pasha nodded. He said, “We didn't think about human resources until we started ruling the country! We didn’t know that it was necessary to have a cadre, a core group of trained personnel to run the country. We thought if we could bring back the Constitution, then all the Ottoman population would work together for the good of the country. We thought everything would change for the better. After thirty- two years of autocratic government, we thought all those who opposed Abdulhamid were our friends. Those people were the best people in the country. We thought everybody would work hard and within a year we expected to see the results. Especially our intellectual friends in Europe were optimistic. They opposed Abdulhamid and they were clever enough to find solutions to all the difficult problems that we faced. Then we found out some were not knowledgeable, some lacked experience. They wanted to help but their methods didn't work. Some thought about their personal gains. Within six months we understood that we were in trouble. This shows you two things. First, we were not total fools and we were working in good faith. We brought back the Constitution and we didn’t take positions in the Government right away. We didn't think about taking advantage of our positions and robbing the country, like the ones before us. You know that better than anybody.”

Halil Pasha was silent a while as if he was expecting an answer, then he sighed and continued. “We realized soon that we needed people for the executive and administrative positions. However, there was no time to prepare. I thought about this problem a lot! We should have chosen the Cabinet Members and administrative personnel before the Revolution, so that they would be ready to take responsibility soon after. We weren't prepared and we didn't have time to think about that after the Revolution either. Our ship was in the middle of the worst storm that the world had ever seen. From mast to the bilge, the ship cracked and showed the signs of eminent dismantling. Do you remember Vehib Pasha? When he returned from Diyarbakir he was full of joy. You have seen him, he was so happy to have found the sociologist Ziya Gokalp. He was saying, ’we found our light, He is going to direct us.’ At the time nobody knew Ziya Gokalp. You call him a ‘phony’ but remember how we treated him then. We thought we really had found a treasure and gave him all the resources we could. We thought everything he said was important. The youth of the country were our only hope, yet we have let Ziya Gokalp educate them. He had complete authority over recruiting the personnel and training them. If you think he misused his power that wouldn't be fair to him. He did the best he could. He was not trained for a job like that. His knowledge was limited. That’s why he listened more than he talked and he often looked pensive. You used to say that he was dozing off. As he was trying to train the youth he was also working hard on his own education. He fell off the cliff like everyone else with the collapse of the Empire. He tried to form an ideology from three contradictory ideas: Ottomanism, Islamism and Pan-Turkism. When you take that road, you have to accept that it will result in failure, and we failed.”

\

Halil Pasha rubbed his face. “We governed the country 9 years, 8 months and 12 days. In this short period of time we had so many disastrous wars. Even in those hard times we had the best people working for us in the country. They all came together under the Unionist Party’s roof. Even today, whoever wants to do anything in this Country in this dismantled state, they will only find the Unionists for the job. If they refuse to employ Unionists; they can’t accomplish anything!”

“You are right in that respect, Pasha!”

“I am right on the other subject to. They imply that we could have chosen not to enter the War. Did we have any liberty especially in an important matter like that? We didn’t have enough time to even consider building a Primary School properly. You know very well how the Officers of the Third Army joined the Party en mass. In a couple of years everybody was concerned about having a Democratic Constitution. It was because we were losing Roumeli. In fact, we should have known that we had already lost that territory after the Balkan Wars.  After the Reval Entente, what was left of the Empire? We could have just given up and waited for the execution or taken action without thinking about the outcome. We chose the second option. Even though we didn't have hope, we wanted to fight. At first the English supported us because they didn't want Germany to have so much presence in the Ottoman Empire. We didn't know that was the reason why we were successful in the Young Turk Revolution. The Freedom came too easily to us. We thought it was our own power. We had reached our goal of saving the Constitution. Then things took a turn for the worse. Germany’s policies changed and we were disappointed. The rest was just slipping down the hill fast. We were relying on Islam but that didn't work either. Democracy didn't work for us... Everyone wanted to separate.  We chose wrong paths and became ruthless. We only found Anatolian Turks with us. And we were aware of the conditions that the Anatolian Turks were facing. The Empire needed other resources. The Germans started telling us pan Tooranism stories at that desperate moment. We believed in those stories like it was our survival. We wanted the support of Turks in Caucasia and Central Asia. There was no other choice at the time. It was too late when we finally realized that they were different from us.”

From the book: The Tired Warrior
by Kemal Tahir

Translated by Elif Erkmen

Unionists are Commitee of Union and Progress Members
Turkish Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti

HANNAH WAITING

After two years she is still waiting for her baby girl Grace and husband Franz to return home. Well, they can’t because Franz is dead and Grace is adopted by Tom and Isabel.

Hannah iki sene sonra hala denizde kaybolan kizi ve kocasini bekliyor. Herkes ona artik umudu kesmesini soyluyor ama anne yuregi umudunu kaybetmiyor.

Tom ve Isabel de kasabaya izinli olarak geldiklerinde ilk defa Hannah’nin varligindan haberdar oluyorlar.

Hannah kasabada zengin bir adamin kizi ve o devirde bir universite mezunu olarak taninmis birisi, fakat toplum tarafindan biraz dislanmis cunku bir Alman'la evleniyor. Savas sonrasi Avusturalya da kimse Almanlari  sevmiyor. Yolda gorseler karsi kaldirima geciyorlar.

Bir gun Anzak askerlerini anma torenleri sonrasi pek cok genc sarhos oluyor ve yoldan tesadufen gecmekte olan Franz ve ailesine saldiriyorlar.

Hannah uzerindeki hirkayi bebege sariyor ve Franz’a “Hemen bebegi al, sen kac” diyor. O da Deniz kenarina kosup bir tekne bulup tehlikeli sulara dogru aciliyor….

From the book: The light between oceans

pictures: Monet and Edward Munch

NERIMAN

NERIMAN

Neriman walked purposefully ahead. Under black clothes her figure was youthful and attractive. She was walking towards danger bravely, unable to calculate the risks.

Jamil was wondering whether Neriman was thinking about Rashid Bey; how he was cornered and had to kill himself. This situation was as dangerous as that. Did she realize the connection between these two events? Jamil thought that if she did she would be scared, for sure. How could she not? Her heart must be beating violently. If she is also scared for me then it is even worse.”

Jamil thought about the times when they didn’t have enough ammunition and he had to economise when the war was at its most fierce. He was furious in those moments. He felt the same anger now. He made a fist and punched his left palm,”If anybody touches her...”

When he walked up to the carriage his voice was cool. “Are you available?”

“No, I am waiting for the Doctor.”

When he heard this he was relieved. Then he turned the corner. Neriman was still checking house numbers looking for the address.

Jamil reached for his cigarettes but he thought better of it. Even though nobody was around he was careful not to show his face.

Mercilessly the wind was still blowing and hitting the woman in black, who was walking with difficulty.

Neriman found the forth house from the corner, climbed the three steps and rang the bell. When the door opened she said a few words quietly and entered.

The light was dim. Jamil couldn’t see the far side of the street. It was as if there was a grey curtain in front of him.

Jamil still wanted to smoke. When he followed Neriman to the street, his anger grew even more; it was as if his skin was being pinched from everywhere.

His shrapnel wound in his shoulder ached. He felt depressed. He felt alienated from the world like he sometimes had experienced before.

The soldiers in his Batallion were often proud of him when they saw Jamil not ducking his head while under intense fire. He was always standing tall. Look at him now; he is afraid of smoking even though nobody is watching. If somebody would tell his Batallion that their ‘Jehennem’ was afraid of smoking, the soldiers would not believe it. They would just laugh.

He was trying to see Neriman trudging through in the blowing snow. He thought about the desert storms that turn the day into an orange coloured pitiless night.

In a sand storm it is easy to ambush the enemy. That’s why both sides wait nervously while their hands are on the trigger. The slightest motion would cause random machine fire.

He felt like he had put Neriman in harm’s way, in front of those machine guns, in front of the trenches on a night like that. And he was standing behind, hiding. He thought about the other option of bringing a prostitute here for this job. His face changed with disgust. “That would be even more humiliating.”

He held his breath and checked both sides of the street wondering. “When did we turn into cowards? Was it a slow process or did we change instantly as though being ambushed? Why did we change? Using women, in a dangerous situation like this; in our own country, hiding in Greek houses; we are wearing women’s veils and trying to find a place to hide in. All these years, so much killing and so many losses... Why? Was it all for nothing?”

His anger was making him feel tired again, making him feel numb.  He was stomping his feet to warm up. He was shaking, not because of the cold, but because of the emptiness he was feeling inside. ‘Whose fault was it? Didn’t we do what we were supposed to do? Didn’t the rulers of the country know what they were doing? Why didn’t they calculate the risks? Why didn’t they realize that they were wrong?  When have they realized their mistakes?  Did they ever realize at all. Couldn’t they cut their losses? At what point did they know they kept putting us to harm’s way?’ He thought about all this and set his mind to finding out all the answers one day. All of a sudden he was curious about a lot of things that he normally didn’t think about. ‘Why did they use us as a distraction with the knowing that it was going to end this way? How was this possible? The people trusted the country’s rulers  and they took advantage of that. They were merciless. Was it that easy to let people die? He paused. “I sent Neriman. I sent her to the danger. I took advantage of her trust in me.’

Then he forgot about being cautious and lit a cigarette anyway.

That’s why he had such a difficult time explaining all of this to Neriman.”This is just like lying to a kid and taking his gold in exchange for a nickel. It is fraud! Why didn’t I have mercy on Neriman? Maksood was against the idea. I thought ‘even if she gets caught we will get her out of custody soon.’ She is not used to this kind of business. I didn’t care if she was scared. Oh! She must have been really scared. She can’t even touch my gun. Is she crying under her veil now? Her teeth must be chattering. She must have hid her fear from me. She might have even hated me!”

When he saw Neriman coming, by reflex he wanted to run towards her. Neriman was walking like a man, confident. She was taking large steps without worrying about her skirt getting all muddy. “Thank God, she wasn’t afraid. She is like a lioness!”Omer had old lady’s clothes on. He was walking slowly using a cane. Jamil was happy and relieved, ‘We did it! Look at Omer, such an actor!’He was just about to go to Neriman and link arms with her, but saw Neriman looking to her left, fearfully. She stopped walking.

As he had been waiting on the corner the whole time, he didn’t pay attention to the grocery shop in the street. A man got out of the shop and came towards Neriman. He said, “Hey lady, let me see your face, take off your veil!”

Neriman took a step back and screamed, “Jamil!”, and then she pulled herself together and yelled at the man, “Don’t touch me! How dare you!”

Binoculars of General von Kress

THE BINOCULARS OF GENERAL VON KRESS

Feb, 1919  Istanbul

General von Kress

The Artillery Captain Jamil who was nicknamed ‘Jehennem’ by his Officer friends in the Palestine Front, laughed while still peering through the binoculars. His cousin Neriman took her eyes away from her knitting and looked out of the window as well.

 “What are you laughing at?”

 “It is nothing.”

“Come on darling, tell me. Why did you laugh?”

“Would you get scared if I yelled all of a sudden, ‘Charge’?”

“I would get very scared.”

“I was just reminiscing”, he explained as he put his binoculars down, “I thought our boys were on the offensive towards the hills and I was supposed to give the order ‘defensive fire’ to protect them.”

“What is defensive fire?”

“It is bombarding the enemy trenches with gunfire so that they duck and can’t find an opportunity to fire.”

Neriman remembered the March 31^st incident. “You positioned your guns over those hills on March 31^st. Do you remember?”

She quickly glanced at the portrait of a young officer on the wall and said, “I asked Nazmi if they fired, would the bullets pass over our heads”.

“They would.” Jamil responded. He started to fumble for his cigarettes in his pockets, while trying to avoid looking at the portrait. “Nazmi’s cannons were to the left and mine were to the right. Poor Nazmi was worrying about the enemy. He was saying, ‘What if Abdulhamid’s soldiers won’t fight back?’”

“Did he want them to fight back?” Neriman asked.

“Of course he wanted them to fight back so that he could fire at the palace and Abdulhamid would watch his palace be demolished around him.”

Abdulhamid

“Could he have destroyed the palace?”

“I don’t think so. We became artillery men without even firing one shot. We didn’t participate in any manoeuvres before being sent to the war. A novice artillery man likes to brag, even if he doesn’t have any real experience, he just bullshits.” he explained as he took a long drag from his cigarette. “It has been 10 years since March 31^st when Nazmi was 22 and I was 23.”

“How old was I?”

“How old were you?” He put his binoculars down and put his hand under her chin as he gently tilted her face towards him.

“Let’s see! You were just turning sixteen and beautiful as always,” he pulled her face closer to his.

“Don’t do that.” Neriman protested at first, but then she eventually gave in and let him kiss her. As the kiss progressed, Neriman held her breath and stepped back. “Have you lost your mind, Cousin Jamil? Let me go.”

“Don’t call me cousin!”

“What if someone comes into the room? My mother is getting suspicious. She already asked why I am taking showers so often, in this cold weather.”

“You should have said, ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness,’ or you could have announced that we were getting married!”

“Let go of me.” she poked him with her knitting needle gently. “My mother was talking to Sarayli Hanim yesterday. The veterinarian Salih’s son-in-law finally came back; he was a prisoner of war. There was a lot of excitement in their home. His son was still a baby when he left and now the boy is turning five. He didn’t recognize his dad and he was saying ‘I don’t want this man in my house; I want him to go away.’ My mom took the opportunity to warn me by saying, ‘it is hard for the boy, they should have given him some time to adjust and they should have prepared him.’ Did you know what Enver said? He said, ‘why doesn’t my mom cover her hair in the presence of Jamil? Is it appropriate?’”

“What a boy!”

“He is used to sleeping in my room. He is afraid you will be sleeping in my room instead of him.”

“He is a smart kid and already understands how marriage works. I think he is just joking around.”  His hands were caressing Neriman’s face, then down to her chest and from there down to her legs. “I am thinking about something else.”

“What is that?”

“I am thinking about my friend who will come today. He will be staying for a couple of nights.”

“Will he be staying here?”

“Yes, what should we do for sleeping arrangements?”

“Let go of me.” Neriman was closing her legs reluctantly while saying, “Take your hands off me. Never mind your friend; you should be worrying about us.”

“What is there to worry about?”

“I’m worried that I’ll get pregnant, Jamil.  I can hardly sleep at night worrying about.”

“I would like that, because if it happens we will get married right away. You should tell your mom. Tell her we need to get married soon. If she asks why, then tell her, it is God’s will.”

“Don’t joke about it. You should be thinking about me.”

“Why don’t you do the thinking?”Jamil teased her.

“Me?  You are the man! You are the strong one.  You are the one who is supposed to think of our future!” she paused for a moment and then said, “Let go. I want to ask you something. Is your friend an officer as well?”

“No, he isn’t.”

“So, why he is not here yet? You said, he would come around nine o’clock. It is nine thirty already. I will be upset if he doesn’t show up. I worked so hard, preparing food. Please don’t drink when he comes, it is only lunch time.”

Hearing the door closing downstairs, Jamil took his hands off her. Neriman took the binoculars. “You think he will come? Are you sure?”She looked out of the window. “I like binoculars. When you are not here, I sit here and look outside. I imagine I am seeing the places that I haven’t seen before. I can see the faces of people from far away. Are all binoculars as powerful as these?”

“Some, not all of them.”

“Did you get them just before the war?”

“No, they were a gift from General von Kress.”

“Who is he?”

“Von Kress? He is a German General. He was our commander in the Gunnery School. We went to the Suez Canal together.”

“Why did he give them to you?”

“Because our Batallion burned a ship on the Canal.”

“That’s cheap. For a big job like that he should have given you something better. Is your friend coming from those hills?”

“I don’t know.”

“What kind of a man is he?”

Jamil was almost going to answer this question by saying ‘I don’t know’ as well. Chewing his moustache he tried to hide his smile, because he had never seen this ‘friend’ before. The person who was coming was a big shot Unionist, former Diyarbakir Governor, Rashid. He was of Circassian origin. Rashid was a major war criminal, responsible for the Armenian deaths. For this reason he was put in Bekiraga Prison. Twelve days ago he escaped.

“Oh! Look outside Jamil! They are after someone; the policeman pulled his gun out.”

“Let me see!”  Jamil took the binoculars; “Where are they? Does he have a gun? Something is shining in his hand.”

“Yes I am sure that he has a gun. I saw it. Is he a thief? If he runs away, will they shoot him?”

The person, whom they were after, had a black coat on. Jamil was trying to see his face. He was wearing glasses. He leaned on a tree for a minute than started to race down the slippery hill.

The policeman was no longer able to see him and he signalled the others to circle the Bulgarian Cheesery. Then he crouched down and came to the bottom of the hill. When he realized that the man in the black coat was determined to escape, he aimed his gun, braced his legs, supporting his right wrist with his left hand he fired. “Oh Jamil, he is shooting at him. He is going to kill him in front of our eyes. Oh, my God, he shot him!”

After the gun shot was heard, the man lost his balance, he spread his arms out to steady himself, and then he stumbled. “Is he shot? Is he dead? Poor man!”

Jamil used the same steady deep voice that he used when he was talking to the nervous recruits who were coming to the war zone for the first time: “Quiet. Don’t panic, nothing happened.”

The man skidded down from the hill. There was a lot of snow on the ground and he was negotiating his way carefully. The police appeared behind the Bulgarian Cheesery and opened fire. The man reached for his gun.

“Did he get shot, Jamil? I think he got shot in the stomach”.

“I don’t think so” Jamil was about to say, ‘he is grabbing his gun’ but he changed his mind. He said, ‘he is not shot’ instead.

The man stood up and aimed his gun towards the Police Officers. He was not nervous at all; he was calm as if he was at the firing range practicing. He fired two shots. He retreated to a tree in the middle of the field and scrambled to shelter himself behind some old fences.

“Jamil, look at him! He is wearing glasses, he is not some thug.”

 Governor Rashid

The Tired Warrior

by Kemal Tahir

Translated to English by Elif Erkmen

Tom

The Light Between Oceans

TOM

Tom Avusturalyali. Birinci dunya savasinda Bati cephesinde uzun sure savastiktan sonra sag salim ulkesine donebilen ‘sansli’ askerlerden.  Yeni yasaminda bir sehirde is bulmak kalabaliga karismak yerine uzak sakin bir yerde Partageuse kasabasina yakin Janus Adasinda Deniz feneri bekciligi gorevine talip oluyor.

Is arama surecinde Isabel’le tanisiyor. Isabel’ in de iki agabeyi savasta can vermis; acili bir aileye mensup; fakat  hayat dolu, sakaci bir kiz. Tom Deniz fenerinde ise basladiktan sonra da mektuplasiyorlar. Bir dahaki geliste Isabel, Tom’a evlenmek istedigini soyluyor ve evlenip Janus adasina gidiyor. Adada onlardan baska kimse yok.  Kucuk bir ada yuruyerek butun etrafini dolasabiliyorlar. Bir kac tavuk, bir kac koyun ve 3-4 ayda bir gelen erzak teknesi var. Teknenin kaptani Ralph ve yardimcisi Bluey tek misafirleri onlar gelince birlikte yemek yiyorlar, sohbet ediyorlar.

Baslangicta cok mutlular ama sonrasi huzun. Isabel cocuk istiyor fakat bir turlu istedigi bebege kavusamiyor. Uc defa bebegini kaybediyor. Her seferinde buyuk uzuntu yasiyor. Doktor yok, hemsire yok, arkadas yok anne baba yok, ustelik mektupla haber vermis ailesine bebek geliyor diye,onlarda hevesle bekliyorlar ama  ucuncu bebek te olu doguyor. Isabel kendini kayalardan atmak istiyor, bir turlu teskin edilemiyor.

Aradan iki hafta geciyor, iste o anda olu dogmus bebegin mezari basindayken mucizevi sekilde bir bebek aglamasi…Kulaklarina inanmiyor…Nerden geldi diye sahile kosuyor…meger bir tekne karaya vurmus icinde guzel bir bebek ve sarisin bir adam… Bebek saglikli ama ne yazik ki babasi olmus…

Hemen yardima kosuyorlar, Isabel bebegi alip sarip sarmaliyor karnini doyuruyor, Tom olen adamin cesedini kiyiya cikariyor ve hemen yetkililere haber vermek istiyor…Tom her isi cok dogru cok dakik yapan biri, “ kurallar boyle hemen haber vermemiz lazim, yakinlari arar bu insanlari” diyor. Isabel yalvariyor; bu cocuk bize ‘Tanri’nin hediyesi’, biz bakalim diyor. Zaten yeni dogum yapmis sutu var bebegi kucagina alinca aralarinda hemen anne bebek bagi kuruluyor. ‘Ne olur bir gun sonra haber ver diyor…’

Cocuga Lucy ismini veriyorlar…

Kitap: The Light Between Oceans/ M.L. Stedman
Resimler: Emil Nolde