Hat Problem

It was getting dark and the wind was increasingly blowing cold. Jamil wrapped his woolen scarf tightly around himself and put the blanket on his knees. He asked Shaban who was riding one step behind to his left, “Aren’t you cold?”

 Shaban shook his head, “No, Major, I am not cold”

“Your teeth are chattering.”

“It is not because of the cold.”

“Don’t tell me it is because of fear! You already told me three times that you wanted to reach Bursa before night falls.”

“Sure, I said that. It would be nice if we reached Bursa before dark.”

Jamil looked at his face. Shaban didn’t look happy. He had been like this since they left Dursunbey. He looked like a new recruit on his first expedition. His eyes darted around suspiciously and his voice was hesitant. When they were passing through the areas where they could be easily ambushed he passed them quickly he blamed his horse for picking up speed for no reason. He didn’t want to stop at the coffee houses at the villages. Each time he found an excuse for not stopping.

Jamil knew how protective the soldiers were in the army. They adjusted their behaviour to the personality traits of the officers. They knew how to handle the generous Officers, the frugal ones, the religious officers, and the womanizers. They drank with the drinkers and abstained in the presence of the non-drinkers. They made sure the officers ate well, slept and rested. They also protected the officer from any trouble from the higher command in certain situations; they watched them so that they didn’t get hurt or captured. They guarded their officers at all times.

Shaban was carrying his rifle; he didn’t put the rifle in its case attached to the saddle. He didn’t carry it over his shoulder. He held it on his lap. When he was suspicious of something he opened the security carefully without making any noise.

Mustafa Kemal wearing colpack

Jamil didn’t know why Shaban was so edgy at first but soon he realized he was right to behave this way. As they were leaving Salihli they were also leaving the area where Ethem and his men had complete control. Ethem’s men had strict discipline. He was a “no nonsense” kind of a man. Now that they are away from that they felt like they were in another country. After they passed Dursunbey, they noticed that people weren’t as friendly. They weren’t quite acting like enemies but they were increasingly distant. The soldiers quickly said ‘hello’ to the people when they crossed paths with them. Even though the people greeted them customarily, they looked away quickly as if they did something wrong. When they were having lunch at Orhaneli, people looked at their colpacks in a non-friendly way. Some of them openly showed their dislike and shook their heads. When they approached Bursa, the officers noticed that there weren’t anyone with colpacks but there were a lot of people wearing the Fez or the Circassian headgear. Shaban said, as if to himself, “We need hats like that especially in this cold weather.”

Jamil teased him, “You are right! We need Circassian hats!” Shaban didn’t answer he was looking straight ahead.

Jamil said, “Hey, are you deaf, I am talking about the hats.”

“Sir, I think we shouldn’t have made this trip to Bursa. We should have let someone else take Ethem’s message to Bekir Sami.”

Jamil smiled. He had lied to Shaban when he had said, “We need to go to Bursa as messengers.”

“For some reason you didn’t like this voyage, Shaban.”

“Ethem has his own men. He should have sent one of his men. How come he is asking you to do this job, Major? What happened to the cannons? They promised to give us good mountain cannons.”

“What are you talking about? First, it was the hats, now the cannons!”

“Yes! We need hats like that!”

“I don’t recall you talking about Circassian hats before. You were happy with the colpack until yesterday. You didn’t even take it off when you were sleeping!”

“No, I like colpacks, there is nothing wrong with them. But, you know, everything has its place.”

“Do you think this is a good place for Circassian hats?

“Yes!”

“Since when did you think that? When we were at Dursunbey or Orhaneli?”

“Major, if you ask me, anyone who goes to Bursa as a messenger should have one of those on his head.”

“Says who? You talked to a Gendarmerie Corporal in Orhaneli. Did he tell you that?”

“Which Corporal?”

“The one that you talked to by the water fountain. What did he tell you? Whatever it was, you looked surprized. You were beating your knees.  Did he tell you to get a Circassian hat around here if you wanted to keep your head on your shoulders?”

“That Corporal was from Central Anatolia, Sir. He is from somewhere between Ankara and Yozgat. I don’t know which village. He has been in the military for long time…”

“Yes, continue.”

“What does ‘Nationalist’ mean, Sir?”

“Why are you asking that?

“What is ‘Kuvvayi Milliye’?”

“National Forces…Turkish National Forces.”

“Oh, my Lord! If we are members of the Turkish National Forces; why they are calling us ‘Gavour’?  Why are they calling us ‘Freemasons’?

“Who told you that? Was it that same guy; the Gendarmerie Corporal that you were talking to? I am asking you. If that guy told you that, you should have beaten him up! Ethem can easily hang fifteen men for that kind of talk! Don’t you know why they are talking like that? You have any idea?”

“First, he asked me where I was from; I told him I was from Chankiri. Then, he was sorry for me. He said; ‘Oh! Brother! You are away from your home. You had to join the Nationalists!’ Then, he asked me about you, whether or not you were a Nationalist. I said to him, Thank God, we are all Nationalists. Then I asked him what was wrong with that. He was shocked. He told me not to tell anybody that I was a Nationalist. He told me the people of Bursa would kill us instantly. The people of Bursa are tough; they are no nonsense people, those immigrants. I told him they couldn’t do such a thing and I told him that to be a Nationalist was not a bad thing. He covered my mouth and told me to shut up. Sir, I think this word ‘Nationalist’ means the same as ‘Unionist Gavur’.  I told him that was not true; he was a Corporal but he didn’t know anything. I told him that the Unionists have never talked about being ‘Nationalist’ or anything like that. I think I know who first used that word, Sir. It is the Gendarmerie Captain Tahir Odemish. He decided to become a bashi-bozouk leader. I think that is what it is. He warned me again when I said this and told me that Ethem didn’t have any influence in these areas.”

“So, who is influential around this town?”

“Right now there is nobody around here, Dursunbey, Bursa or the Bandirma region. But Anzavour is on his way.”

“You coward! When you heard Anzavour’s name you were ready to take off your colpack and put on a Circassian hat!”

Ahmet Anzavour

“Major, if half of what he said is true, it is pretty scary. You remember Riza? He had gathered his men and came to talk to Ethem. Anzavour ambushed him while he was sleeping. He tore them apart, the Corporal said…”

“When did that happen? Why didn’t we hear about that?”

“If we weren’t on our way to Bursa, I am sure we would have heard that. I think this happened three days ago. Anzavour all of a sudden ambushed Riza’s village and beat his gang. Riza had captured enemy ammunition earlier. When he realized that Anzavour would confiscate the ammunition, he opened fire. There was an Arab Lieutenant in the Artillery Batallion who was from Bagdad. Do you know him?”

“What is his name?”

“The Corporal couldn’t remember his name but he guessed you might know him since there are not many Arabs among the Artillery Officers.”

“What did that Arab Lieutenant do?”

“All the Artillery Batallion, both the Officers and the privates, ran for cover. The poor Arab guy didn’t know where to hide. He wasn’t familiar with this region. He should have hid somewhere quietly. But no! He had to act. He tried to keep the ammunition away from the Anzavour gang. But someone let Anzavour know and Anzavour’s soldiers killed him…”

“I don’t think so. Are you sure the Corporal was telling the truth?”

“Yes, he was telling the truth. All the Majors and Colonels in the army were trying to stop Anzavour; but couldn’t. He is coming towards here.  He has his rifle in one hand and the Quran in the other! He swore to kill all the Nationalists and Unionists! I think Ethem was wrong about this matter.”

“What do you mean?”

Sultan Abdulhamit wearing a Fez

I think we shouldn’t have come to Bursa. I don’t know which is better, to continue our journey in the day time or night time. We could rest in the day time at some hiding places… I can’t decide. I think night time would be more dangerous. You don’t know this, but all over the country Muslims are told to kill at least one Nationalist! Everybody is talking about that. The Corporal told me that this is the Sultan’s Decree and Sheik-al-Islam’s Fatwa! I asked the Corporal; ‘what are we fighting for? Why are we even bothering with the barbwire that the Greeks installed? Who are we guarding? We don’t have food, we don’t have ammunition yet we are on guard night and day!’ He said, ‘I don’t know that much. I am only telling you what I know. Get rid of your colpack if you want to stay alive. Anzavour is approaching!’  Sir, why do you think the British forces came to occupy Istanbul last week? The Corporal thinks…”

“Oh!  The Corporal even knows what the British are up to! This guy is better than the Grand Vizier!  So, tell me why did the British Forces land in Istanbul, since you seem to know so much?”

“It is because of us, Sir. They are calling us Nationalist Gavours!”

“Why?  Because we are fighting against the Greeks?”

“That, too. There are other matters as well.”

“What other matters?

“Mustafa Kemal Pasha has revolted against the Sultan.  The Sultan has sent Kamal Pasha to the Turkish heartland to restore order. He made matters worse.”

“How did he make matters worse?”

“He was ordered to go back to Istanbul. He refused. Then they asked him not to cause any trouble; take his salary and do nothing; be grateful and just pray for the health of the Sultan. He didn’t listen to them. The Sultan stripped all his military ranks and made him a private. Kamal didn’t care. He continued his activities. He was still writing messages to the people as if he was still on duty. You know Mustafa Kemal, he was always like that! I heard what he said to the German Emperor when I was in Palestine and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”

“What did he say?”

“He said to the German King, whom the whole world was intimidated by, he said to him that; ‘you are losing this war my friend, you are struggling in vain. You should quit! Don’t let anyone die any more, neither on your side nor on our side.”

“Mustafa Kamal was right.”

“Yes, he had a point, but he was not saying this in a calm manner. He was saying this like he was dressing down his batman…The German King got mad. That’s why they didn’t promote Mustafa Kamal to Army Commander. They gave that job to a German instead. General Falkenhayn became the Army Commander.  This was the same man that had fled the Army Headquarters in his underwear when ambushed by the British! Naturally, Mustafa Kamal didn’t like that. He didn’t want that German to be his superior. Don’t you think, Major?”

“Yes, that was not good. So you think all that happened because of Mustafa Kamal?”

“Yes, I am sure all of this is his fault.  He is a General but he still has to obey the orders. He is still an army man like everyone else.”

“Mustafa Kemal chose to resign from the military of his own free will. He didn’t want to obey bad orders. Have you thought about that?”

“Well, he didn’t exactly resign, the Sultan demoted him. He is no longer an Ottoman General…Well, I don’t know. I am telling you what the Corporal had said to me. You know better than me. All I want now is to reach Bursa before the night time and find a solution to this hat problem.”

Muradiye Bursa

The Reluctant Warrior
by Kemal Tahir
Translated by Elif Mat