Halil Pasha

The Reluctant Warrior

by Kemal Tahir

Translated by Elif Mat Erkmen

 Chapter 4

Halil Pasha

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 had 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?’

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  Ali Fevzi Pasha was investigating ‘Young Turk’ activities as far back as 1888. Another Court Marshall headed by  Nazim Pashawas investigating the war crimes and Unionists role in them. They already executed Bogazliyan District Governor Kamal and Urfa Governor 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!”

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 ‘phoney’ 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.”

Ziya Gokalp

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 too. 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.”

He smiled. “If we had won the Battle of Sarikamish, and went to Caucasia as planned, still we couldn’t have reached Tooran with just 95 thousand soldiers. Even if we reached there we couldn’t have kept it. Even if we kept it the German’s would have claimed the territory. We almost got into a fight with the Germans over this in Baku even though we had lost the war long before that!”

“You were talking about the First Canal Campaign the other day!  Jamal Pasha knew that he could not have conquered Egypt with only twenty five thousand soldiers. Even if he conquered he couldn’t have kept it.”

“He knew that. Forget about Egypt. Forget about Tooran. He was worried about the German presence in Anatolia. Today’s youth don’t understand that. Our main problem was the fact that we were in denial. We couldn’t accept the collapse of the Empire because we wanted to believe that it was still holding up. You have to consider the time that we were in power. It’s all subjective, everyone has their own ideas. At the time we believed in the solutions that were proposed to us and got all the support we could get. We were optimistic. We are not realists anyway. We are fatalists as a nation. It is easy to deceive ourselves. When Imam of Yemen didn’t care about us, the world’s greatest power, Germany, gave us new war ships and millions in gold. Germany wanted us as a partner to colonise the world. We stupidly believed that. We thought there could be nothing better. We thought that it was a great opportunity for the country! Then we felt self important and therefore, we were not going to listen to anyone opposing out views. If someone tried to warn us, we would think that he was working for the enemy and called him a ‘traitor’”

“Then let me ask you another question. After the war has started couldn’t we find an opportunity to end the war for our country? Weren’t there any opportunities that we could have used? Why didn’t we smarten up after Sarikamish? When the German’s attacked the French for the very first time they were not successful, that showed this war would take a while. Our success in Gallipoli or the Bolshevik Revolution might have given us a reason to end the war.

Halil straightened up in his chair. He used to be indifferent but now for the first time in his life he felt the obligation to defend himself. He squirted his eyes as if he wanted to see far ahead. “This question of ending the war and making a truce was considered a couple of times. The real problem was not how to achieve a cease fire. The underlying cause was the rivalry between Enver and Talat! You know that. From time to time I have thought about making a truce but it was not like I would find a solution and be able to convince our guys. It was more like thinking about a move in a chess game.” He showed the board in front of him as he spoke. “At the beginning of the war we lost ninety thousand men at Sarikamish. Then we sent elite troops to Galicia, Romania and Macedonia, one hundred twenty thousand men! We sent some units to Iran; for no good reason while the enemy sent regiments to Iraq! On the Palestinian front the power shifted one against ten against us yet we sent troops to Baku going through Batumi! We are not talking about the costs of those operations; we are talking about human life. Millions were dead and millions were wounded! The cities, the towns, were wiped away from the maps! Vast territory was in danger. And suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of the ruins, guilty! It is too much responsibility to bear. We don’t know what to do. In the beginning there was reasoning, now we can’t reason. We only see the piles of dead bodies that we murdered. All of those dead people pointing at us and accusing us. Everything that we said, every excuse, every defence, doesn’t work. They all show that we were not capable, we were not smart. We killed so many for the sake of CUP, our “secret organization”, yet you should have seen us at our last meeting where we dissolved the organization. We betrayed our secret organization and let it defend itself in front of the history! We were twelve including Enver, Talat, Jamal, Bahaaddin, Shakir, Doctor Nazim, and others. Twelve poor souls. I don’t know what will happen to us from now on! But the worst penalty for us was the one that we had been through that day. Nothing is sadder than that last day.”

Enver Pasha’s uncle Halil Pasha put his hand over Patriot Omer’s fist and stopped talking. Patriot was his only real friend in this world. Then he said, “Yes, Doctor, we were facing a problem much larger than we could have dealt with. We were in such a position that we couldn’t stop. We couldn’t move forward and we couldn’t surrender. Even if we won the war we couldn’t handle the outcomes. It was a complete dead-end.”

“Why did we come to a dead-end? I think it is because we like gambling as a party.”

“What do you mean?”

“War has to be avoided even if you know for sure that you are going to win. The only time one country should enter a war is when there is no way to avoid it. So how did we know that there was no way of avoiding war? If it was Abdulhamid, he would not enter the war. Because he didn’t want war. We gambled. It was a kind of gamble that we couldn’t win. We rolled the dice we won. Then we rolled the dice again and lost everything!” He looked sad. “Four million men died from our side. What did we gain?” He shook the paper with anger. “We did that because it was in our nature to gamble. We hadn’t thought things through carefully. The mood of the nation was tolerating the gambling at the time, that’s why we got to rule the country in the first place. CUP was first established in the year 1888, some twenty years before the second Constitutional Era. The Ottoman Liberty Association has been established in Salonika in September 1906. Why did the people who had been working for twenty years let newcomers who were on the job for one and a half years to lead? Because the times were suitable to gamble. The world was going in that direction. The cleverest nations put everything they had on the gambling table. Four or five gun shots were heard in Roumeli; four-five hundred people took to the mountains in Resne; a couple of telegrams were sent. Suddenly we saw that it was done! We had our Revolution. We gained Liberty.  Then came the events of 31^st March, the tables were turned, and we had fell down. The Army of Action came to our rescue and we found all the cards piled in front of us again. We lost Bosnia Herzegovina and Bulgaria. We thought, ’It is a game we can sometimes lose sometimes gain”. Libya was the same thing. It was a gamble as well. The Balkan Defeat was no different. When the enemy was at Chatalja, we conducted the Babiali Coup, and then turned our attention to get Edirne back. This all happened because of the gambler mentality. All the educated people, all the smart people, all the real patriotic people were on our side. In effect, all the Ottoman community were caught up in the gamble. Why did the Anatolian People call the Great War ‘Mobilization’? They were expecting a mobilization. When they heard the drums, men of all ages went running to the Military Recruitment Offices. General Ali Fuad told me how hysterical the people were at the train Stations when they were leaving for Egypt; I was astonished. When we were opposing your policies, we were not against the gamble. We wanted to play as well. We were mad at you; because you weren’t giving the dice to us. These are not even my thoughts. An English writer who came to Istanbul in 1914 wrote these words. See how he analyzed us!” Munir picked a page from pile of papers in front of him and started to read,

“The Istanbul of 1914 was a huge gamble house where large amounts of gambling were going on. It was approaching closing time. The money lost all its value, the cards and the dice lost their value as well. The Queen of Hearts was being used instead of the nine of Spades. When the dice were showing four, they were playing six. You can’t even call that cheating. There were no rules. It wasn’t just Ottomans. The other countries were no longer controlling their ambassadors and diplomatic personnel in Istanbul. They were conducting their business irresponsibly, as they saw fit. No one was counting the money; no one was checking for counterfeit money, no one was trying to find out if the cheques were good. However, I have never seen a Capital where so many skilled diplomats were together. English, French, Russian, and German Ambassadors were all too proud and old school but they were all the best that their own Foreign Ministries had. They too were carried away by that gambling. They were thinking that the Young Turks were uneducated and inexperienced. They were sure the Young Turks would be wiped off the scene soon. In their eyes Enver Pasha was a young spendthrift who could be easily influenced. Like all the other handsome young men he was arrogant. He was lucky at the gamble and won a couple of times. That’s why he considers himself lucky. He was shy and modest and behind that front he was hiding his unlimited pride and self confidence. He is really fearless. More dangerous than his pride is his boldness that is hidden under that cool and aloof look. Those types won’t be bothered by any mistakes. They can make dangerous decisions without hesitation.  I don’t know how he will be stopped by the ones who are pushing him forward. To be ruled by such a man when the world was preparing for a large scale war is unfortunate for the Ottoman Empire. If the war starts, Enver will be allied with the Germans. He is leaning towards them. In reality Enver has a superiority complex and he is violent. They are compatible with the German ambassador.  The German ambassador is proud as well. He dislikes all kinds of weaknesses and hesitations. On the other hand his ability to speak a couple of languages and his knowledge makes him unlike Enver. He shows off his knowledge to humiliate others. He is not Prussian but he looks like one because of his height and his large head that looks like an old fashioned cannon ball! These are the people who are leading the Empire now. The Ottoman Empire will go head first to the war with these leaders. Even if Turks don’t want to fight, the German’s will push them to war. The storm that is approaching is far too strong for Ottomans to handle. With their small army that has been defeated in the Balkan Wars they can’t win this war. The Turks will have their plans of course or someone else will do the planning. In that case the Ottomans will accept those plans thinking that they were their own ideas. They will think that they will gain a lot and they will be happy. People are prone to use their craftiness. Islamism will make them go to India; Pan Tooranism will make them go to Siberia and Ottomanism will make them go to maybe not Vienna but to Roumeli of pre Balkan War. The western powers and the others won’t be interested with these after the war has erupted. I don’t know about Ottoman allies but the other side will forget about Turks soon. They won’t even notice that Ottoman’s entered the war.”

“That’s what he said.” Munir shook his head. “That’s how the foreigner’s saw us in 1914.”

Patriot was listening to the doctor. First he was surprised, then sad and finally mad. His long fingered hands, which were resting on his knees, looked lifeless. Those hands only came alive when he pulled his gun. He started to talk; his speech was in contrast to his posture. “That’s Bullshit. It wasn’t gambling. We were ready for the noose for so many years. That Englishman in his comfortable position thinks it is easy to have one’s life on the line. Enver Pasha wasn’t a gambler. He never played with dice. He wouldn’t know the King of Heart in a deck of the cards! Whatever our friends have done they did it for the good of the country. The foreigners called the Ottoman Empire ‘Sick man of Europe’. They wanted their share on the estate. They were waiting for our death. We didn’t want to die in misery. We said, ‘either victory or death’. We are not cowards; we had our guns so we fought. When you go into a fight you can’t make too many calculations. In every war some comrades inevitably will fall and the others keep fighting. We couldn’t just sit and wait to rot. We couldn’t allow ourselves to be thrown away like ashes. We have fought until the last breath. That’s how history will be written about us. We are still alive. Thank God! You don’t kill the horse at the first misstep. We will come back even stronger. Unionists won’t give up that easily. We don’t look like we have surrendered, do we? We hit the bottom but we will climb up again. We need courage. We got in a mess but we have strong friends around us. They can’t wipe us out of the map with this defeat. Even if we lose the Monarchy we will still have the Caliphate. Even if we lose the Caliphate we will still have Islam. Including the Balkan War, this is our second defeat! If there will be a third war we will win. You will see we will get back on our feet much sooner than expected. If the Unionists really pull their forces together we will overcome this.”

Dr. Munir listened. He was smiling. Patriot was more optimistic recently. He was not feeling as guilty as before in the matter of Dr.Rashid’s death since the executions of Bogazliyan District Governor Kamal and Nusret.

Dr. Munir understood Omer’s feelings and he was not getting mad at his ideas anymore. He said, “I hope so Patriot. I know you will do your best till the end but there is one matter.”

“What is that?”

The other day Kara Vasif paid us a visit to discuss Karakol association. He started his speech as usual ‘we need to save the country ‘. You were not in the room. I asked him how he was going to do that. He said ‘It is easy ‘I asked him to explain the ‘easy’ part! He hesitated. I saw that after all these years we haven’t learned anything! We have nothing but darkness ahead. It is as bad as 1908. That is not good. That is not for the good of the country.” Before Patriot could answer they heard the bell ring. There were three rings and silence, then three more rings. Dr. Munir exhaled, “It’s not a stranger...”

Jamil stood up. “I will get it.”

Munir rushed. “Please, you stay here. I will answer to the door. Remember, if I yell ‘Gulnihal’ just run away.” He stopped at the door and turned to Patriot, “I don’t want any gun fire! If they circled us, we can’t pull through, because the only place left in this world for us is Bekiraga Prison.” And with that he left.

Bekiraga Prison

Without getting anxious the men started to get ready, while listening outside. Halil Pasha put his boots on. Jamil and Patriot went to the room that they were sleeping in. They put on their jackets and put the guns in their pocket. In case they were ambushed, that was their escape route. Dr. Munir had renovated the basement windows. Larger windows were installed in case they had to flee from there to the neighbor’s yard.

They were surprised when they only heard Dr. Munir’s footsteps on the stairs. They looked at each other. Dr. Munir was smiling. “It was Lieutenant Farouk...”

“Why didn’t he come in?”

“He is in a hurry! Jamil, he has news for you, get ready, you are going with him.”

“Where am I going? Why?”

“Maksood sent for you, the carriage is waiting.”

“Am I to come back here?”

“Yes!”

Jamil got worried. “Did something happen to my family?”

“No...No, it is nothing like that. Farouk said everything was OK. Don’t worry, Jamil, I would have understood from his expression if something was wrong.”

Jamil rushed down the stairs before the Doctor finished talking. The Lieutenant was waiting in the front yard smoking. He didn’t have his uniform on. But upon seeing Jamil he saluted him and hid his cigarette. “Hello Lieutenant. Is everything all right back home?”

“Hello, Captain! Everything is fine. There is nothing to worry about. Please get in the carriage.”

“Where are we going?”

“Neriman wanted to see you...”

“Is that right? What for? Where is she now?

“I brought her to a friend’s house. You know him...Major Shukru Kazasker.”

“Yes, I know him. So what is the matter?”

“Maksood said not to worry.”

Jamil put his coat collar up and hid his face. They were walking fast. Farouk said Neriman phoned Maksood and said she needed to talk to you, so I went to meet her at Beshiktash.”

“Is my aunt Salime sick?”

“No.”

“What is it then? Couldn’t she have disclosed it to you?”
“I don’t know.”

The carriage was waiting for them at Ethem Effendi Road. On the way Farouk asked him about his days at Munir’s.

“I got used to living there but I don’t like being an inconvenience to the Doctor.  Gulnihal Kalfa is getting tired. It is difficult to feed three people secretly. There is supposed to be two people at home but we are five people. We get milk two times a week. Every time she has to tell the milk man that she is going to make pudding or custard or something. They brought us drinks and cigarettes from Kadikoy. Buying daily bread is the hardest. Everyone knows each other around here. They all notice the slightest changes in daily activities. The shops are not crowded. People have time to think. We are also afraid of Gulnihal’s anger and chitchatting. She might say something to someone. She is a good cook though!  Halil already had put on some weight and started to talk about going on a diet. If it were not so much trouble for the Doctor, I would be happy to be a prisoner here. I’ve benefited a lot from the talks that we’ve had. Halil Pasha tells us a lot of stories that we didn’t know. They are on opposite sides with the doctor. While I listen to them I realise my own lack of knowledge. That’s how it is on our side. How are you? What’s new?

“The British changed their mind about putting the Unionist leaders on trial...”

“What are they going to do with them?”

“I think they will send them to Malta.”

“Is it better?”

“Yes, if they are to be sent to exile without being tried it will be easier to get them out of there. Some members are planning to ambush the ship.”

“What’s happening in Izmir?”

“It is very unfortunate. They are letting the Greeks occupy Izmir. No one believed that at first. I think it is already decided. The Italians opposed the idea at first but the British, the Americans and the French were adamant.”

Izmir-Smyrna clock tower Greek soldiers and civilian 1920

“It is really complicated. What’s our Government doing?”

“They don’t know what to do. The people who know Damad Ferid say that even if the Ottoman Empire won’t collapse, he will find a way to put us in trouble. Thank God we are over the initial shock. People are organizing meetings. Do you read the papers? There are new organizations everywhere all over the country for defending our rights. Various Political Parties have been founded in different cities like the Peace Party, the Ottoman Workers Party, and Turkish Socialists Party.”

Demonstrations in Istanbul

“What does ‘Socialist’ mean?

“I have no idea; I think they are interested in workers’ rights.”

“Are they Bolsheviks?”

“No, they said that they were not Bolsheviks.”

“Do people show any interest?”

“No.”

“So they won’t have any effect on things.”

“It is better than nothing.” Farouk lowered his voice. “There is another important group being formed.”

Jamil asked, “Is that Karakol?”

“No, not Karakol; this one is called ‘National Defence’ and founded by the Officers, they will work with some reliable irregulars as well.”

“The Chief of Staff knows about this?”

“Not officially but they know.”

Farouk hadn’t told the coachman the address, that’s why when they reached Ziverbey he stopped and asked for directions. Farook wanted him to go to Kazasker. They got off at Bakkalbasi and turned into a narrow street.

“We are here Captain, it is that house.”Farouk showed.

Farouk was mumbling something. Jamil asked him; “Did you say something?”

“I am sorry we got you in trouble Captain. I don’t know what to say to Neriman. After all those years of hardship she is alone again. You should be spending time with your fiancé instead of helping us.”

“Don’t worry. She was a military wife before and she will be again. She is used to that.” Then he asked, “Is Shukru home?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Is he married? Is there somebody at the home?”He hoped to be alone with Neriman.

“He is married. His wife and children should be home.”Farouk rang the doorbell. An orderly answered the door. The house had a neat yard. There was a neat chicken coop on the left side by the wall. The orderly lead them to the rooms on the ground floor. Then a young girl in a nice dress brought some coffee for them. When they finished drinking their coffee an old lady came and said, “Jamil, you can come now.”Jamil stood up and left the room.

“Please come this way.”

“Thank you.” He approached the room and hesitated to enter. The old lady said, “You can go in. Neriman is in this room.”

Hoca Ali Riza- Fenerli Sokak Uskudar

“Thank you.” He realized how difficult it must be for Neriman to meet him in a foreigner’s home.  Jamil was embarrassed and sad. He entered the room looking down and feeling guilty. Neriman had her green wool sweater on. She was waiting for him. Jamil tried to smile. “What happened?” Then he thought better of it and said, “I am glad you came.”Neriman looked pale as if she was sick. She tried to smile as well. Jamil gave her a hug. “I am so glad you came. It doesn’t matter for what reason.” He kissed her. “I missed you so much. You have no idea. Then he kissed her again and asked, “What happened?”

“I...” Neriman checked the door. She looked scared. “It is not very important.”When Jamil tried to kiss her again she stopped him. “Please sit down. I have to leave soon, I can’t be late.”

“What is the matter?”

“I don’t know. I am scared.” Then she hugged him and buried her face in his chest. “I think I am pregnant. I can’t sleep. I will go crazy. How can we explain this to mother?” She started to cry. “I am so ashamed”

“Do you know for sure? Maybe you are not pregnant. Don’t cry. You are sobbing like a child. Please don’t cry.” He stroked her hair and kissed her. “How do you know? Did you get a check up?” He sat down and wondered if he was happy about the news. Then he asked again, “Are you sure?”

“I am two months late.”

“I understand.”

“I can’t eat. I have morning sickness. I crave things...”

“Can’t you do something about it? Maybe there is something you can take. I heard once that they put quinine in brandy and drink it to end a pregnancy.”

“I thought about that but I can’t do it. If it is not successful there is a chance that the baby might be born unhealthy. I don’t want to bleed to death either. What if I faint? My mother will find out...”

“That’s right. You thought well.” He lit a cigarette. “What should we do? Do you want to go see a doctor?”

“No, I can’t, I will be embarrassed. I can’t talk about this to anyone, certainly not to a male doctor.”

“I understand. What should we do?”He held Neriman’s hand and kissed her palm.

“It is my fault. I got into trouble and made you sad. I should have refused to help these guys.”

“No Jamil, you had to go when Omer called you.”

“What should we do? Did you say two months?”

“Yes, maybe even more. I don’t know. I hesitated contacting Maksood. Is there a danger for you now to be in this house?”

“Don’t worry about that. There is no danger.” Jamil embraced her again when they heard the yogurt seller’s voice from the street. They separated from each other and smiled. Neriman stood up to leave. “I should go now. I have to go back before dark. You think about this and find a solution.”

“We know the solution; to get married right away.”

“Wouldn’t it look weird when you are in hiding and in danger of getting arrested, people will wonder why we got married in a hurry?”

“I will say that I wanted to get married right away. There is no other way. Don’t worry, it is easy. I will let Maksood know and he will find Imam Yahya and we will get married tonight.”

“They will understand the situation.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Where are we going to get married?”

“At home.”

“No.” Neriman looked scared; her eyes grew round with fear. “They watch the house and the Grocer Haji asks Enver if you were at home the previous night almost every day. What kind of a lowlife is he? What does he want from us?”

“Don’t worry. I will be careful. Don’t think about this.”

“I will die if they arrest you. They sent the Unionists to Devil’s Island!”

Malta

“Where is that?”

“It is far away. There is no way out of Malta.”

“No...No...I won’t get arrested and even if I got arrested they won’t send me to Malta. Things will change for the better. All our enemies will go away. Neriman, wait, don’t go. Sit down and we can talk some more.”

“I can’t stay. I don’t want to give more trouble to our hosts here.”

She let him kiss her and said, “Take care, don’t get sick!”

“Wait!”

Jamil tried to hold her but she walked away, “Bye now. Remember, I won’t tell mother that I have seen you today.”

Jamil was back at Dr. Munir’s place.

Jamil was reading Jules Verne’s the Lighthouse at the End of the World but got bored and put it away. He turned his attention to the window. Everywhere was wet outside after three days of nonstop rain. And everything was desperate. The grey of the sea was blended in the grey of the sky and there was no line between them on the horizon. On the seashore it was as if there was no water, just a gradual stop leading downhill to the end of the earth.

It was May 14th but the spring of 1919 hadn’t arrived yet. Patriot and Halil were playing chess again. Doctor Munir was studying the history book of Naima and was taking notes.

Jamil counted the chimes when the clock in the hall struck three even though he knew it was three o’ clock. He wanted to get rid of the numbness he was feeling and rubbed his chin.

He had to shave and get ready soon. He was getting married that night to Neriman. He smiled.

Dr. Munir heard the approaching horses on the street and as he raised his head he saw Jamil’s smile. “Oh! The groom is happy! I know why you are smiling.”

“No, I just saw the horses...”

Munir recited a poem, “I raised strong horses but for no use...I couldn’t ride them...”

They saw servants taking horses to the quay for their masters who would arrive by boat. “That is Kazasker’s Kula, she is a calm horse...You know what they say, ‘raise the white horse, ride the dark and sell the Kula’ because Kula is considered unlucky but not for the Kazasker. Did you see Sadi’s boat passing by?”

“No.”

“Then the steam ship won’t arrive soon. Neveser comes fifteen minutes late. The other one, Ihsan, is a better ship.”

“Yes, it is better.”

Doctor Munir looked at the sea over his glasses. “The sea is colourless today. It looks like clouds. In days like that the ships look like they are sailing on the clouds. It makes me wonder.” He asked, “You haven’t shaved yet?”

“There is still time.”

Halil Pasha realized that he was going to checkmate Patriot’s King in no time so he stopped playing. “Patriot, do you realize you are done? Send your delegates to Montrose.”

“I lost the Elephant. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“If it was the other way around you would say that you won the game because you were a better player?”

Dr. Munir laughed at that. “That’s the Law of the Unionists Halil Pasha! You know...”

Halil Pasha talked without breaking his gaze to Munir. “Hey Patriot, if we get to rule the country again let’s show Munir what the real Law of the Unionist is by shooting him in that thin neck!”

“Oh! You think you are going to rule the country again!”

Patriot’s answer was surprisingly cool and self confident. “What do you think? Of course we will rule the country again. If you ask me we are already in power!”

“How come? How did you get the power again? Just by sending a couple of telegrams again, using Albanians?”

“You will see. What did the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabriel Norandoughian tell the foreign ambassadors?

“When?”

“When the Bulgarians came to Chatalja...”

“What did he say?”

“He begged them to intervene and find a solution. The foreigners didn’t take action. One morning when they saw him again he was having his coffee happily. They waited for the same speech but there was no more begging. They asked, “How is it going?”He said calmly, “Things have changed. When Turks are on the Offensive, there is no backing away. Now it is your turn to beg. Try saving the Bulgarians!”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“There is Defence Organizations all over the country. They are important. Karakol is strong as well. God willing. We are coming back, Doctor, from now on, it is child play!” He seemed serious. “Kazim Karabekir went to Erzurum with the 15^th Army Corps. Do you know what it means? Mustafa Kemal will also go to Anatolia as an Army Inspector. What if he meets Enver?”

“Oh!  Will he meet Enver Pasha?”

“They have to put their differences aside and come together for the country!”

“Why do the British want Mustafa Kemal to go to Anatolia? Do they want him to meet Enver?”

“God put a black veil in front of their eyes! The westerners are stupid sometimes, even the British! God is with us. Is that right, Pasha?”

Halil Pasha was putting his cigarette on his cigarette holder. He smiled. “Patriot, I don’t think Mustafa Kemal and Enver will get along...”

“They don’t have any choice. Maksood said that Nuri Pasha brought new troops from Caucasia the other day. He said there are new Regiments composed of Circassian, Georgian and Azeri soldiers. The Bolsheviks are giving the weapons.”

“Maksood hears all this and The Britt’s don’t? Father Frau is a clever man. I think Mustafa Kamal deceived the British. He told them he would stop Enver. The Greeks are going to invade Izmir. Under these conditions why should Mustafa Kemal go to Samsun? I think the English trust Kazim Karabekir as well. Otherwise they wouldn’t send him to Erzurum. There is something going on.  Why did Rauf leave his post as Minister of Marine? Why did he go to Anatolia? The British have always trusted Rauf! What do you say, Doctor?”

Dr. Munir was looking at him over his glasses absently. Halil Pasha asked again, “I am talking about Rauf’s going to Anatolia. You were talking about the buffer zone between the Bolsheviks and the West sliding to Anatolia. I think it has already slid to Anatolia.”

Munir answered, “God willing. If the Brits made an agreement with the Bolsheviks, then our chances of survival will increase. The fear of collapsing the Empire was affecting our judgement. It collapsed already. We are not carrying the burden anymore. We should also get rid of the Pan Tooranism disease. Holy Jihad call doesn’t work anymore so we don’t have to bother with the Caliphate.”

“That’s nonsense!”

“We don’t need the Caliphate. Without that we have a better chance of founding the Anatolian Turkish State. We might even succeed in letting the new state live.”

“Where do you come up with all these ideas?”

“They are not my ideas; these are western ideas!”

“Who are you talking about?”

“I am talking about a German archeologist that I met at Iraq. He came to live in Bagdad during Abdulhamid’s reign. You remember. There were Archeological excavations in Mesopotamia concerning past civilizations...”

“Oh! Is he ‘the fool Gavour’? The Gavour with a stick?”

“Yes, he is. Dr. Carlos. He was a patient in my hospital. I was teasing him. ‘Carlos, why are you concerned with what is underground. Life is short. When you die you will have enough time to search for broken jugs and copper utensils!’ He used to say, ‘You think I only research the past; I am trying to find your future under the ground!’ At first I didn’t take this seriously. In those days, I didn’t think of archeology as a science. I thought these guys were just spies and noone would believe them. The other day you said something about Rashid Bey; you said that he would do anything to ‘Save the Country’. I was thinking about that and suddenly it dawned on me; I changed the word ‘Country’ to ‘State’ and I saw what Carlos meant by that! I found my notes on the subject right away.”

“What did Dr. Carlos say?”

“I was reading one day, and then I noticed him looking at me. He asked me what I was reading. I told him it was Naima’s History book. He asked me why I was laughing. I didn’t want to explain. When he insisted, I told him the story:

‘Hasan Pasha succeeded in becoming the Governor of Bolu after so much trouble and paying a lot of bribes. As he was getting ready to go to Bolu, he was betrayed by a group of his men. They have stolen some items from him including his Pasha Crest and went on to join Jalali Turkmen Aga.

Poor Hasan Pasha had to stay in Uskudar in his tent because he no longer had enough men to go to his ‘Sanjak’ and claim it. He was trying to employ some other men. Sadrazam Ahmet Pasha’s man Shahin Aga was going to see Katircioglu and by coincidence came across Hasan Pasha’s army. He saw beautiful Arabian horses grazing in the pastures. He thought those horses were much better than his horses and he decided to take a couple of them for himself. Hasan Pasha’s men came at once and refused to give the horses to Shahin Aga.

Shahin Aga said he was Vizier’s Aga and had a right to claim the horses. They had a sword fight. Shahin Aga had a head injury and his friend Tatar Aga lost his arm. They went back to Istanbul, however Shahin Aga died because of the injury. Tatar and the servants went to the Vizier and told him that Hasan Pasha’s Emrahor Osman killed Shahin Aga. However Osman claimed he was not at the stable at the time of the sword fight; he was at the Hasan Pasha’s Tent which was far away. The Vizier summoned Osman. He came without hesitation because he had witnesses that could testify that he was innocent. Upon seeing Osman, Tatar Aga and his servants began speculating if it was really the man who killed Shahin Aga...They were not sure they said he looked like him a bit....then they said because he was riding a horse he must be the Emrahor. They asked who could have killed Shahin if it was not the head stable man.

They talked some nonsense for a while. Then Osman, who was a respectable man who went to the Pilgrimage to Mecca three times, realized that the Vizier was getting angry. He decided to defend himself and he cried, ‘I didn’t kill anybody. I haven’t heard about the fight. I was two hours away at the Hasan Pasha’s tent. These are my witnesses. I respect the Law’ ”

The Vizier didn’t listen and called the Executioner right away. He didn’t even let the witnesses speak. He went out of his Palace immediately because the Viziers couldn’t have executions in their own palaces. It was against the Law.

He ordered the soldiers to bring the prisoner along and went to the Sultan’s Palace. He ordered an immediate execution there. Poor Osman was begging all the way. ‘Please sir, I am innocent! Don’t decide right away. Wait a couple of days. Put me in prison first. Investigate. If I am really guilty then kill me. Isn’t it a sin to execute an innocent man? I will ask you this on the Judgement day!’ When he saw that the Vizier was not listening and called on the Executioner; he didn’t beg anymore and started to pray instead.

I concluded my story by saying that the Executioner came and killed him as he was praying. Dr. Carlos thought for a while and asked me, ‘What is your opinion on the story?’ I told him this event clearly shows the PLUNDER SYSTEM of the Ottomans. The Ottomans were against a monopoly. They don’t allow people to get rich. The Ottoman’s main function throughout history is to prevent sole ownership of companies. They didn’t let feudal Lords own large pieces of land. They divided the land and let small companies own the land and never let one person gather too many companies. They let non-Muslims rent the land and obtain the payment, not in money, but as goods. Sipahis supervised this system. Sipahi and the Vizier incomes governed this system. Ottoman Land Laws made sure the small companies didn’t grow too big and at the same time they made sure they didn’t get too small because of inheritance laws. For instance if there are twenty houses in a village and five families decided to leave for some reason, the Sipahi can’t claim that land for himself. He can’t increase the other fifteen houses share either. He has to find five families to occupy that land. Medieval Europe had feudal system. We had landlords (Agas) who were almost like employees of the State.

After all these explanations I waited for him to say something. He thought for a while and said, ‘so?’ Then I was surprised and said, “It is what it is.”

“No, this story and your comments explain what happened but doesn’t give a clue about the causes. No community can survive PLUNDER on an ongoing basis, because no society can be motivated to prosper knowing that somebody will come and take it all away. How did the Ottoman Empire survive for seven centuries? When communities formed for the purpose of PLUNDER they dissolved quickly. Even if it is only a small amount. Secondly, how did an authority that is against monopoly prevent it for so long?”

I thought about this and asked him, “So what happened to Hasan Pasha; you don’t call that a Plunder?”

“Yes it is a plunder, but not like the Ottoman system, it is more close to the western system.”

 “Halil Pasha, when Dr. Carlos said that I was really confused. Carlos was cleaning and reloading his pipe and he said, ‘Herr Doctor, forget about all your previous ideas. Like Descartes we start all over again. We will try to find an answer without any prejudices. Let’s see what we will find. Let’s start from the beginning. What kind of soil is the Anatolian soil?’

“I said, ‘very good indeed, suitable for crops but we are lazy; if we tried harder we could increase production.”

‘How do you know? You are not a farmer. I don’t think your dad was a farmer either. I know that you don’t have books written on this subject. These are just empty words. Nobody has researched this thoroughly. Not only Anatolian soil, most of the Mediterranean and Aegean Land is not good for agriculture. The topsoil is really thin in these regions. You can’t produce much. The climate is not very good either. You have droughts or flooding. When it is drought the soil dries like stone. Flooding causes erosion. You lose the top soil to the rivers. The river takes the soil to narrow places and piles that soil up and that area turns to swamp. People can’t live in swamp. The agriculture started in the nineteen century in Adana, and the Menderes plateaus. Before they were only used for animal pastures. That’s why your land was not suitable for private ownership in the first place. It is different from the western system. The wealth couldn’t have been accumulated by a few. That’s why you don’t have a ‘Feudal system’ like the west.

The Feudal Lord cannot take care of peasants and get rich himself in this kind of land. Therefore in your case the state has to develop the system. So the State ownership of the land is not a bad idea. In the West the State sometimes uses it’s power to help the superior class take advantage of the lower class. Your state helps the society prosper.

Western societies existed for some period without the State. However Eastern societies always needed the State to survive. It is a necessity. That’s why in the eastern societies people expect a lot from the State. In Europe the Landlords took the power from the State. In your case the State gives the power to the Landlord.

You accuse your own state of Plunder however; you do this with your western thinking. You see your state as a western state. In the west private ownership has always been a holy concept. However in the east there is only one holy concept, it is ‘the state’. I think the landlord in the story didn’t commit a crime when he claimed the horses because he was going to use them for Official duty. Because, everything in the Ottoman system is valued according to its necessity for the State. When the state is in danger, the rulers of the country accept any means to save the country even if it is something that they formerly rejected. All the Monarchs in the west are conservative while your Sultans have progressive views. They adopted progressive views because they think the State is in danger. It is not something that they believe in. They have no other choice. Like brain surgery, if you have to do it, you do it. Your Sultans killed the family members without hesitating…fathers, brothers and sons.  Mehmet III killed his 19 brothers all in one night! Furthermore he killed his son the next day. When he grabs gold, silver, and copper where he sees them it can’t be simply called ‘Plunder’.

Since Orhan who was the second Sultan of the Ottomans, your country favoured a state run economy. The State runs shipyards, gunpowder factories, foundries and mines; owns the agricultural land and governs the public work, transportation, post service, caravanserai system, schools, and universities. There is a central judicial system. There are guilds and even the religion is under the State control. There is a State monopoly concerning food. Both home and foreign trade is closely supervised. There are price controls on the markets. Such a system cannot be described as a Plunder. To do all this and do everything for the survival of the society the Government is sometimes taking despotic measures. If your state doesn’t want centralism and autocracy,  and even despotism anymore, then there will be problems and the people will want more state control.’

That’s what Dr. Carlos told me, Halil Pasha.”

Dr. Munir sighed.

Jamil was trying to make sense of all this. Patriot didn’t follow these arguments very closely but he was thinking that they must be important and he was looking at Halil Pasha to hear his opinion on the matter.

Halil Pasha looked for his cigarettes and lit one. “These are important arguments. He is explaining why we came with cries of Liberty and used despotic measures right away.”

“I thought about despotism. In central Asia, they used to have large celebrations and at the end of the evening, it was customary for the host to leave his tent, and step outside with his wife so that all the guests could plunder whatever he had. The Orkhon Inscriptions from 8^th century, tell us that the King says, ‘You were hungry I gave you food. You were naked I gave you clothes.’  It is the same thing, the State has responsibilities. If the people are well fed, they can put up with despotism; but if they are poor, there will be unrest in the country. There will be foreign threats as well.

I think those concerns about the Constitution and democracy as well as the wish to create Capital, have something to do with the weakness of the state. The Ottomans realized that the State is no longer able to handle all those obligations. Maybe they wanted the State to have less power and give the responsibility to the people. In the west there is the Class system. However, western Bourgeois is different from the rich people of the East. Can our rich become bourgeois? No! If the State makes somebody rich he has to answer to the State.  We created a new rich with westernization. If we want more centralization then the State will become more despotic. In the east things became taboo subjects easily. How does that work? Just because people can’t understand something then it turns to be a taboo easily. We have sung the Freedom song for a hundred and fifty years now. People know that very well. The despots can’t keep a promise and can’t take care of the Responsibilities. How could they find the strength to stay in power? Maybe the new Turkish State will live. I say may be because it depends, you have to make people work and you have to do that without despotism...That’s why this is so difficult!”

Dr. Munir smiled at Jamil “I talked too much; you have to go. Get ready. Say “hello” to Maksood. Be careful not to get caught, especially before the wedding!”

Mufide Kadri-Woman Reading Book

Halil Kut  (1881 – 20 August 1957) was an  Turkish regional governor and military commander.
Known for Siege of Kut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Kut

Townshend and Halil Pasha

Halil Pasha took the surname Kut by Ataturk's suggestion after the Surname Law was enacted in 1934.