Haji Nizam and the Sub Governor came for a visit

Haji Nizam and Sub Governor are invited to talk to Colonel Bekir Sami

Selahaddin and Jamil are preparing the room for the visit.
May 1919 Akhisar

When Selahaddin left he lit a cigarette. He looked at his rifle which was propped against the bed. ‘We need the hand grenades,’ he thought.

Right after they put the desk and the seven chairs by the door, Rashad came running upstairs. “They are coming, Sir! Unfortunately they are supporting the Liberty Party. The Sub Governor is with them and their leader is Haji Nizam. He has a large turban and hooked nose, no beard.”

The Sub Governor had a black beard, hunchback; he was around forty years of age. His face looked yellow, maybe because of a sick stomach or maybe because of fear. His clothes looked old. Lieutenant Farouk was guarding the entrance. He saluted the Colonel in the traditional Ottoman way and let Haji Nizam go first. Haji Nizam didn’t smile. He had thin lips; he looked like he had a stubborn and revengeful personality and looked at Lieutenant Farouk in a hateful way. Farouk had his bandoliers on. He was carrying his pistol and his Mauser gun. He looked very slim but he was standing tall. The Commander was standing. He had his fists on the desk. The men didn’t look at him and went ahead and sat in the chairs putting on airs.

Selahaddin offered them cigarettes and coffee. They didn’t want anything. Then Kamil came with nine people who were supporting the resistance. After them, the police chief, the supposedly, impartial Mayor, civil servants, various judges and prosecutors, a doctor… Tax Office, Land Titles, and Census Office Managers, even officials from the Agricultural Department came…”

The Sub- governor was stuttering and having difficulty speaking. He came from his sick bed on Haji Nizam’s request and told them he had to follow the orders of the Government in Istanbul. “The Greek Metropolitan Bishop and other Greek notables were going to come but we told them that it was not necessary at the moment. After this meeting if you still want to talk to them, you can call them. The Madrasah teacher Haji Nizam also agrees with me.”

“Good...That’s better. First, I would like to talk to you. Then, if it is necessary we will talk to the Greeks as well.” Bekir Sami answered. He didn’t sit. His rifle was propped against the desk and he was pressing his fists against the desk as he was looking at each person in front of him intently. He checked the papers in front of him and continued, “Thank you for coming here, Gentlemen. You know the situation.  They were not true to their signatures. There is nothing in the Truce Agreement about the Greek Occupation of Izmir. Not only did the Greek Army land at Izmir, they also fired on innocent people. They killed the Officers and military personnel who had surrendered. Worse than that, they started their march inland. It looks like if we don’t stop them they will continue their walk. When an enemy army occupies a country, they destroy the national values, the religion and the honour of the nation. We saw that during the Balkan Wars. Istanbul has been under enemy occupation for months now.  The enemy brought their armoured ships to the Capital and Istanbul under the firing range of those guns. Truce Agreement doesn’t give them any such rights. I was in Istanbul three days ago, I talked to the War Minister before I came here. It is our duty to protect our country. The Minister of Interior Affairs has ordered our friends who came here to resist, no matter what. He said even if the Government orders us to surrender we should never listen to the Government orders and resist until the end. If we are arrested we will say that we rebelled against the Government. The Allies don’t approve the Greeks armies getting out of Izmir city limits. We have to take action now and stop them. We have to save our country! According to the reports that I received the enemy is coming with small troops. They are afraid. They can only proceed if we don’t stop them. It is no use to surrender. We didn’t resist the Izmir occupation and they still killed our people and raped our women.”

The ones sitting by Rashad and Kamil’s side were nodding their approval of the Commander. Haji Nizam didn’t look up the whole time. He was staring down at the floor. He didn’t even move. And it was not clear if he was indeed listening. When Bekir Sami stopped and waited for an answer he looked up. He said, “What do you think Akhisar should do, Commander?”

Colonel Bekir Sami

“There are two courses of action; one is to surrender and if you chose this, there is no need to talk any further.”

“What is the other way?”

“We have to stand up and stop the enemy. I am receiving telegrams that are informing us that from Antalya to Bandirma there are uprisings. I received word from Alasehir this morning; people are already taking action and organizing. They are forming associations. They are protesting the Occupation of Izmir. Their leader Mustafa has three hundred armed men.”

“How has Mustafa been able to gather ammunition?” sub Governor asked.

“Alasehir Sub- Governor gave the guns to them from the Gendarmerie depot.”

The Madrasah Teacher and the Sub- Governor looked at each other. The Governor looked away. The Madrasah teacher Haji Nizam spoke in a testy voice as if he was putting down a student, “We don’t know what goes on in Alasehir. You say that but maybe it was different for them. Akhisar is so close to Manisa. Yesterday they said that Manisa fell and we didn’t get any other news after that. Maybe the enemy will not proceed as far as Alasehir but they will come here for sure! It is easy to be brave when you are far away from the enemy. We thought about this thoroughly. If we can’t be sure that we will win we don’t want to risk our families and the honour of the women. Whatever happens, happen, but we don’t want to provoke anything.”  He looked at the group led by Rashad. “Is that right? Didn’t we think about this and come to that conclusion?”

“We didn’t reach any conclusions yesterday, Haji. We said we would consider all the possibilities.” Rashad answered.

“Yes, you said, “Let’s think about it.” But all the others agreed with us. Everyone should speak for himself.”

Rashad’s face was turning yellow. “I am speaking for myself. Our friends said they would think about this as well. Today we came here to discuss the matter in detail.”

“We should have discussed all this earlier, Rashad; much earlier, before the Balkan wars, before the Great War and to be honest, before dethroning our Great Emperor Sultan Hamid!” Nizam protested.

“There is no need in dwelling in the past. Nizam, we have important matters to discuss.”

“In fact, it is high time we discuss. Who is to blame? Not the Greeks, obviously. It is the Unionists who deserve the blame. They rebelliously cry “Liberty” like the snake hissing. They sent our Sultan to the exile. Do you think you could get away with that?  The Unionists actions caused internal conflicts in the Army. The small Balkan countries defeated us. The Unionists declared war on powerful nations. The result is defeat once again. Our sons have been perished in the Caucasian mountains because of cold, in the desert because of heat. We lost so many in the Gallipoli War. What happened?  The enemy is walking straight ahead towards us! Our country is occupied! You think the Unionists could get away with that? Why are you silent, Rashad? I wait for an answer! You guys were not the silent types before. Where is that drunk leader of yours?” He turned to Bekir Sami, “Commander, they had a Unionist leader in town, he drank day and night. He used to come to town square and swear at the people.”

“He wasn’t swearing, Nizam. Why do you pretend you don’t know where Hussein is? He is martyred in Bagdad. Don’t you know that?” Rashad asked.

“No. We don’t call the drunks martyrs. The martyrs are the people who died for their religion. He didn’t go to war that was ordered by the Caliph. Your war is not just. It was a war for money.”

Bekir Sami tried to change the subject, “Don’t talk about the old matters now Haci Nizam!  There is no use in that. We have to give our attention to the present danger. The enemy is at the door!”

Haji Nizam looked at him in disgust, “You say we should take action. What can Akhisar people do? Even if we agreed, how many soldiers do you have?”

Greek Army landing in Izmir

“My soldiers…My soldiers are the 17^th Army Corps.”

“Where is this 17^th Army corps?”

“They are retreating from Izmir. They are retreating with all the weapons! Do you think the whole Ottoman Army is down to the Akhisar volunteers? The reason I organized this meeting is….you have to resist so that I can form the front with that knowledge. You have to back me up! If there is nobody to back me up and I don’t trust the people it won’t work!”

“We are not going to resist. We talked to the local Greeks, we made a deal. If Turkish Army comes we will protect them. If the Greek Army comes they will protect us!”

“You are wrong. The same thing happened in Menemen, when the Greek Army entered the town all those deals didn’t mean anything. The Greeks got drunk and started to go after their neighbor’s daughters.”

“These are all the Unionist lies! We know all about Menemen. The lamb and the wolf are peacefully together there. You are not from here. You are a stranger. You don’t know the customs around here. If we are going to rebel we won’t be the first. Manisa is a bigger center. They have to go first. The regiment is there. Not just one, a couple of Regiments are there. The Cavalry, the Infantry…the Artillery…machine guns are all there. When Manisa starts to fight then we will join. Don’t worry, we will do what we have to do. We are not any less than any other town.” Haji Nizam insisted.

Bekir Sami’s face turned red. His temper was well known in the army. He was trying to keep it in but he was about to explode. “I know you are not any less then the next guy, but we don’t have time. The War Games are not like any of the things that you learn from those dark coloured books of yours, Hodja Effendi! It is a completely different situation. When your neighbor’s house is on fire you can’t be safe. You have to run to help your neighbor immediately. I don’t have any time to spare here. I feel sorry for your families and your belongings. But if you don’t think about them yourself, I won’t either! Sit down and wait! When worst comes to worse you will cry but to no avail. We will form the front here whether the Akhisar people want to support us or not! We will fight. Once the war breaks out nobody can protect anybody. I wanted Akhisar safe from the invading army!”

“What if we are invaded? Whose fault is that? It is the Unionist’s fault! What did the Unionist say? They said the nation has to obey the Government like a wife who has to obey a man. We could never complain of the civil servants or the security forces. You always use an iron fist. What do you expect from us? This nation has been scared of its own police force for so many years. How can we go fight with the enemy now? The enemy army has all the weapons, we don’t have any weapons, we don’t have any army, and how can we challenge them?” Haji Nizam just perked up and looked like a vulture with his hooked nose. He looked like he was going to eat a dead animal. He raised his hand to prevent Bekir Sami from talking. “There is no need to talk more, Commander! I only have one question for you. If you answer me you can have the Akhisar Soldiers.”

Bekir Sami was hopeful for a minute. He pressed his fists on the table and asked, “Yes? What is your question?”

“Can you swear that the 17^th army corps is not dismantled already? Can you swear that you have enough manpower and arms to defend us? Swear on your honour!”

Bekir Sami looked confused. He must have not thought about this kind of confrontation before. Everyone in the room understood that he was feeling cornered. He opened his hands and he swallowed hard.

The Madrasah teacher, Haji Nizam must have come here well prepared. He was using the old rotten Madrasah logic. He must be good at this. He tried to sound friendly, “I am not asking you to protect us to the bitter end. I’m asking you if things turn out to be worse can you promise us to help us retreat with all our families, our animals and all the things that we can carry. I want you to swear that you can help us…On your honour!”

Bekir Sami was not the kind of person that can easily swear on his honour for the things that he could not be fully sure that he could do. Anybody who sees him for the very first time could guess that. Nizam  waited.“Do you think the people of Akhisar are right, Commander?”

“They are not Nizam, because you are not the one to talk about honour!” Rashad stood up to stop Bekir Sami from hitting him.  “Please, Commander! Let me handle this son of a bitch… Haji Nizam! How can you talk of honour? I am going to kill you. You pimp!  Don’t we know why you were terminated from your job at the Manisa Madrasah? What do you know about the honour? We are going to hang you! We don’t need you here! Damn you! On a day like this….” Nizam and his friends stood up and left. They were waiting for the opportunity and the light in their eyes showed that they were so happy to finish this meeting without promising anything.

Rashad spit after them. He was shaking with anger. He tried to smile. He looked at the Officers in embarrassment as if he was to blame and was asking for pardon. “I am sorry, Commander. I shouldn’t have spoken in front of you like this, but I couldn’t stop myself. That dishonourable man! We don’t need them. They won’t do us any good. Whatever happens! I will tell you now. If the Greeks invade Akhisar we will have more troubles with our own people than the enemy. We should have hanged them all when we had the opportunity! These Gavours support the Liberty Party, they won’t listen to us!”

There was a man sitting at the back with a red Fez and tie. He interrupted Rashad’s speech, “It is not good. You call each other Gavour.”

“If he acts to support the enemy of course I will call him Gavour. You are not supporting any of us, Doctor. Tell me. What do you think?”

The middle- aged man introduced himself, “I am Reserve Officer Dr.Nejati. I think our nation is really unlucky. There are two political parties that are at odds with each other. You think they are two different parties but they are like two halves of an apple. If one is hawk the other is dove; then they change roles. That’s why we are so unlucky. If the Liberty Party was in power during the Balkan Wars and the Great War maybe we could have avoided the war altogether. That would be the correct action.  The Unionists made us enter into war stupidly and we were defeated because of them. Now we don’t have any other choice but to defend ourselves. However this time the Liberty Party is in power and they don’t want to fight. They don’t even think about that, we got it all mixed up. We should have had Liberty Party when we needed peace. And we should have the Unionists when we need to defend ourselves….I am sorry these are not the things that you want to hear. With your permission we should leave now and try to do some damage control because Nizam will cause a panic in the town.” He looked at the door and lowered his voice, “I don’t know what Rashad and Kamil think about this but I am not hopeful about Akhisar. Take this into consideration, Sir. Frankly, don’t count us in!”

Jamil didn’t breathe and waited for an answer to this.

No one said anything. Each of the guests tiptoed out of the room as if leaving somebody on his dead bed with downcast eyes. They walked to the stairs. Their concept of country and nation was almost limited to where they were born and raised so for them to say that they can’t resist the enemy must be really frightening.

When they left, the empty chairs in the hallway created two separate deserted areas. Nizam’s friends left an emptiness that wasn’t really important but the others left with so much shame and sense of powerlessness that it made Jamil’s heart ache. His pride as a warrior was hurt by that.

Bekir Sami was still pressing his tight fists to the desk, his eyes were squinted and he was staring at the empty wall in front of him.

Selahaddin was looking at the floor and biting his lip.

Lieutenant Farouk was still on duty by the stairs.

“Let’s have these chairs carried downstairs, Selahaddin!” the Commander suggested.

“Yes, Sir!”

“Then come back here. We will prepare a document!” The 17^th Army Commander dragged his rifle to his room.

Lieutenant Farouk didn’t hear the order, he was crying. His face looked like a young boy; the tears were trickling through his beard. He didn’t even know that he was crying.