Farewell: A Mansion in Occupied Istanbul (Turkish Literature) (36 page)

“Go like water and return like water, my husband.” Behice’s anguished cry mingled with the receding clicks of hooves on cobblestones, and was gone.

The minute the coupe turned the corner onto the main street, Behice, who had been able to remain on her feet only with the support of Mehpare and SaryalıHanım, sank to the ground and burst into tears.

Mahir was agitatedly pacing back and forth in front of the port authority when he saw a coupe drawing up to the curb on the opposite side of the street. He hurried over and took the small valise from the driver.

“Mahir . . . What have you done! You shouldn’t have come,” said Ahmet Re
ş
at.

“How could I not come, Re
ş
at Bey! How could I let you go without saying goodbye?”

“Have any of my colleagues come?”

“I see a few of them. Look, just over there on the corner; it’s Cemal Beyefendi and Hazım Beyefendi.”

“Let me go and say hello to them; I’ll be right back.” Ahmet Re
ş
at had only walked a few paces when he suddenly spun on his heel and returned to Mahir’s side. “Come with me, Mahir. I’d like to introduce my new son-in-law to my friends,” he said. A smile spread across Mahir’s troubled face. The two men walked side-by-side towards the gathering crowd.

An official from the Lloyd Triestino shipping company came up to a small group of passengers chatting on the quay as they waited to board an Italian ship bound for Brindisi; he informed them that he’d brought their travel documents. With long faces, the last Ottomans followed the official into the customs house. The disgraced ministers of a defunct empire were to travel with papers arranged by Count Caprini, who had enjoyed close ties to the palace and was a personal friend of many of the men he was now helping to flee.

When Count Caprini had heard that the Ankara Government had drawn up a list of men condemned to death, and that it contained the names of every minister in the last cabinet, he’d called on his old friend Ahmet Re
ş
at, personally traveling all the way to the mansion in Beyazit.

Most of the cabinet members and members of parliament had already left on the British steamer, Egypt, bound for the country of that name. Among those still remaining were several of the Count’s friends. A steamer would be leaving for Brindisi in two days. If Ahmet Re
ş
at and his friends missed that boat they would have to flee by train, meaning identity checks at every border they crossed. That could be dangerous.

A decision was hastily made. Those unable to obtain passports in the brief time allotted would have to get them on the quay, just before the ship sailed.

As Ahmet Re
ş
at and his friends followed the Italian official into the customs house, Mahir began walking towards the stern of the anchored steamer. The ship stretched on and on, like a vast floating apartment block. It was only when he reached the end of the ship that he was able to see the opposite shore. A few lights were still burning over by Yenicami; in the twilight of early dawn, the city was slowly shaking itself awake with mutters and murmurs and groans. Welling up into the morning sky, drowning out the clacking of the first tram, the
putt-putting
of motorboats heading for harbor, the weary cries of fishermen unloading their catch, was the call to prayer. Eyes closed as he listened reverently to the melodious chanting of the muezzin, Mahir entreated Allah to help Ahmet Re
ş
at.

At the touch of a hand on his shoulder, he jumped.

It was Re
ş
at Bey, now standing next to him, saying, “It’s time to say good-bye.”

Mahir looked at his friend’s face, that kind, handsome face, now worn and sallow in the pearly first glow of dawn. But when Ahmet Re
ş
at spoke, his voice was as strong and firm as ever.

“Mahir, I’m entrusting my family to you. I’m certain you’ll cherish Leman. Don’t delay the wedding on my account. And my offer remains. You’ll be discharged from the military for being my son-in-law. I urge you to set up a clinic in the selamlık.”

“Thank you. Don’t allow your heart to grow heavy, efendim. Know that all will be well here. Your family is now my family.”

“I may be overstepping here, but Mehpare and Halim are also members of this family, Mahir, and I must ask you, please, not to view them any differently than you would Behice Hanım, Sabahat or Suat.”

“Of course not, efendim.”

“Now make your farewells.”

Ahmet Re
ş
at placed one hand on his future son-in-law’s shoulder, gripped his arm with the other and looked for a time into his face, as though to draw strength from those honest, brown eyes. Then, without a word, he turned and swiftly climbed the gangplank to the ship.

Mahir was suddenly very much alone at the base of the enormous steamer, the welfare and security of an entire family resting on his shoulders. He didn’t even notice the other passengers ascending the gangplank. He gazed up, seeking a last glimpse of Ahmet Re
ş
at, but there was no sign of him.

Re
ş
at was at the back of the ship, both hands resting on the rail as he looked out over the sea, the domes and the minarets. Seagulls dipped their white wings into the water as they scavenged for food. Soon, the rising sun would paint the domes gold. The city would awaken, coming to life with its stevedores, its vendors, its civil servants, its students, its fishermen. After the steamer had slowly moved away from the quay, turned toward the open sea and bid its farewell to Istanbul with a strange animal cry, the city would soon be left behind.

He’d blamed the Sultan for having fled aboard a British warship; it was wrenching to think about that now. Ever since his twenties, Ahmet Re
ş
at had been serving the state as an honorable, judicious, industrious subject of the empire and now, like a traitor, like a criminal, he was forced to abandon his country, holding a foreign passport. It was a dagger in the heart, twisting. He couldn’t still the pain, the shame, the outrage. The previous morning he’d imagined walking into the sea with a boulder. Now he imagined jumping off the ship. If he didn’t strike his head on the way down, would he reflexively start swimming the moment he hit the water? He could imagine the screaming headlines the following day:
Disgraced Finance Minister Botches Suicide!
What would Behice do when she heard about that? Or his aunt?

He reached into his pocket for his cigarette case and was startled when his fingers came into contact with something. Strange, he only carried his tobacco in that particular pocket! He pulled out a hard object wrapped in a handkerchief. Fingers trembling with excitement he unraveled the silken knotted corners, upon one of which “BR,” his wife’s initials, were embroidered in silver thread. Gleaming in his hand was the family heirloom Behice had worn on their wedding night, a diamond-studded brooch shaped like a bird. A tiny slip of paper had been carefully folded and placed in the bird’s beak.

“I realize your funds are limited and if you ever find yourself in need please don’t hesitate to sell this bird. My heart is with you, always.”

He was moved to tears. Banished were the dark thoughts that had been swirling in his head just a moment earlier. He didn’t have the courage to kill himself while there were people he loved, and he was too pious to betray the soul Allah had entrusted to him for safekeeping. So, until the time came to surrender that soul, he would endeavor to survive in a foreign land. He might obtain a position somewhere, perhaps as a translator. His French and Persian were good, and he spoke some Italian. Or he might become an accountant. Surely a man who had once managed the finances of a vast empire would be sufficiently versed in figures to attract the attention of a merchant. He’d work and meet his needs, exchange letters with his family, follow his children’s lives from afar, miss them and Istanbul terribly, be filled with longing but go on living. And maybe one day he would pin the brooch back onto his wife’s breast with his own hands.

Suddenly, there was a deep-chested, full-throated, drawn-out hoot: the ship was leaving port. Ahmet Re
ş
at tightened his grip on the wooden rail and, confident that he would be drowned out by the ship whistle and oblivious in any case to possible onlookers, he roared with all his might:

“Farewell Istanbul! Farewell my city!”

– 24 –
The Letter

June 1924, Bucharest

To my beloved wife, Behice,

I wept with joy as I read your most recent letter about of the birth of Sitare; how sorry I am that I couldn’t have been with you. May her name, the Persian for ‘star’, herald a life and destiny forever bright. I ask God that the child be healthy, dutiful, long-lived.

As I near the second year of my exile my heart is filled with sorrow and anguish. So this is my compensation for thirty-five years of service to my country. It is only as joyful news in a letter that I learn of the birth of my only grandchild. I was not at all upset to learn of Mahir’s resignation. If it is agreed that he is to be pensioned off, his return to Istanbul will be favorable, God willing. Official duties and matters of state are no longer the source of any pleasure.

It is the necessities of life that are important and may God provide for him and my family in Istanbul. Behice, I too would very much like to see you, but you wouldn’t be comfortable here, and in view of the severe winters I couldn’t agree to your coming. I won’t let you suffer for my sake. Perhaps in November we could go to Rome and winter there together. Or I could go to Pest and wait for you. If I can find suitable housing there, and we decide we’d be able to live cheaply enough, we could consider moving. I beg you again not to let anything trouble you. Some good comes out of everything—even in all of this misery there is good, have no doubt. It is enough that God grants our family health, wellbeing. Up to now, we’ve enjoyed a comfortable life. I have faith that God will not deprive us in the future, either. Let us stay alive. We have so much left. If my return to Istanbul proves possible, we’ll figure things out by letter—and then, by ship or by train, I shall return.

At present, all we can do is continue to be patient.

To my venerable aunt, to Mehpare and to you, my dear, I wish God’s blessings and patience. Convey my affectionate greetings to my dear lamb, Suat, and especially to that great source of pride, my daughter Leman, and to my son-in-law, Mahir Bey. I kiss the eyes of Sabahat and Halim. May God grant my tiny granddaughter Sitare a long and auspicious life.

Your affectionate husband,

Re
ş
at

Notes

handed his coat to Hüsnü, and entered the
selamlık
: The part of a large Muslim house reserved for the men.

The disastrous misadventure of Sarıkamı
ş
: Located near Kars, Sarıkamı
ş
was the scene of a battle between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, in which
İ
smail Enver’s army (90,000 men) was defeated by the Russian force (100,000 men; the engagement lasted from December through January, 1914–1915. In the subsequent retreat, tens of thousands of Turkish soldiers died. This was the single worst defeat of an Ottoman army during World War I. On January 1, 1919, the new Ottoman government expelled Enver Pasha from the army after he led the Army of Islam in an ill-fated campaign in the Caucasus region. He was tried
in absentia
in the Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-20 for the crimes of “plunging the country into war without a legitimate reason, forced deportation of Armenians, and leaving the country without permission,” and condemned to death.

the partisans of the Committee of Union and Progress
: (Turkish:
İ
ttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti
) A political party in power from after the revolution of 1908 until 1918, when many of its members were court-martialed and imprisoned.

she was poked in the shoulder by a
madam
: a title generally reserved for non-Muslim women.

secretly reached an agreement to give the Twelve Islands to Italy
: After several centuries of special semi-autonomous status within the Ottoman Empire, the Dodecanese archipelago—which includes Rhodes, Kos and Patmos—declared independence in 1912, only to be occupied almost immediately by Italy.

In moments of tenderness, she occasionally managed
valide
: A formal term for “mother,” in the sense of “Queen Mother.”

in Crete during the massacre of the Muslims there
: Ottoman forces were expelled in 1898 and an independent Cretan state founded only after several years during which Cretan Muslims faced massacres, particularly in the four coastal cities.

When the cabinet of Ali Rıza Pasha ratified the National Pact
:
Misak-ı Millî
(English: National Oath or National Pact) was the set of six important decisions made by the last term of the Ottoman Parliament. The Parliament met on 28 January 1920, and published their decisions on 12 February 1920. These decisions resulted in the occupation of Istanbul by the British on 16 February 1920 and the establishment of a new parliament, the Grand National Assembly, in Ankara.

positions of responsibility at Karakol
:
Karakol
(police station): code word used for the underground resistance.

Get into your
çar
ş
af
: An outer garment covering a woman from head to foot.

I miss your
gözleme
terribly
: a flat savory cake cooked on a griddle, typically with a cheese, spinach or potato filling.

Ziya Pasha’s harem
: Here, harem simply refers to a man’s wife or wives, and female relatives.

The name Suat had been chosen when Behice thought she was expecting a boy
: Suat, derived from the Arabic for happiness, Sa’d, is normally a boy’s name.

The Minister arrived in the Sublime Porte
: Known in Turkish as
Babıâli
, Sublime Porte referred to the Central Office of the Imperial Goverment of the Ottoman empire in Istanbul, comprising of the offices of the Grand Vizier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Council of State.

Naime Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Abdülhamit
: The wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of the Sultan also hold the title of “sultan”; used after their names rather than before.

In fact, girls were now able to receive university degrees even from Dar’ül-Funûnu
: The Women’s University was founded in 1914, but when female students boycotted classes in 1920 the school was merged with Darülfünun and co-education introduced. When, in 1922, the Medical School began accepting women, all of its schools, with the exception of Theology, adopted mixed male and female classes.

most of the women had removed their
ma
ş
lah
: An open-fronted cloak.

posted to Thessalonica during the Balkan War
: Thessalonica and the surrounding area were part of the Ottoman Empire until 26 October 1912, when the Ottoman garrison surrendered to the Greek Army during the First Balkan War, which pitted the combined forces of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria against the Ottoman Empire.

when we formed the Kuva-I
İ
nzibatiye
: Literally “Forces of Order”; also known as the Hilafet Ordusu, or “Caliphate Army”; an army established on April 18
^th
, 1920, by the imperial government of the Ottoman Empire in order to fight against the Turkish National Movement in the aftermath of World War I.

the final death blow to the Ottoman Empire
: Grand Vizier Damat Ferit was one of the signatories to the Treaty of Sèvres (August 10
^th
, 1920): a peace treaty prepared by the Allies following WWI that imposed disastrous conditions upon the Ottoman Empire, it included partition and capitulations. The Treaty of Sèvres was annulled in the course of the Turkish War of Independence and the parties signed and ratified the superseding Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

She’s making
ayran
: a cool drink made of yogurt and water.

The Freedom and Unity Party
: The Freedom and Unity Party (Turkish:
Hürriyet ve
İ
tilaf Partisi
) re-emerged in 1919 after being banned in 1912. The party embraced close ties with England , expressing its preference with the maxim: “If you fall into the sea, embrace a serpent and you’ll survive; but if you embrace Germany, you’ll drown.”

the Association of Anglophiles
: (Turkish:
İ
ngiliz Muhipleri Cemiyeti
; literally, “Society of the Affectionate Friends of the English”) As the name implies, an organization whose members, many of them from prominent Istanbul families, supported an English mandate. The association was accused of having a hidden agenda aimed at denigrating Islam, spreading Christianity, belittling Turkishness and attempting to turn public opinion against the rebellion building in Anatolia. Atatürk himelf referred to the society as “nefarious” and “treacherous.”

a
tekke
on the Asian Shore
: A dervish lodge.

let me and my nephew make our farewells
: To make one’s farewells in this sense is much more than simply saying good-bye. It’s a ritualistic leave-taking (usually performed on death beds, before battles, or before long separations) in which both parties mutually forgive all that has been unjustly taken or done.

they poured out the contents of the bucket
: Water and fire both figure prominently in Turkish folklore and custom. Water is poured onto the road as a guest departs, both to make the journey “as smooth and fluid as water” and to ensure their safe return.

every time I hear his name I picture a pack of dogs
: Here, Börek Vendor Hasan is indulging in a bit of onomatopoeic word-play: the Turkish pronunciation of Bennett is similar to Bin-
İ
t (Bin: 1000;
İ
t: dog); hence, “A Thousand Dogs” Bennett.

after the ’93 war
: The Ottoman-Russian War was fought in 1877-1878, but is known as the ’93 War because it took place in 1293, according to the Rumî Calendar.

Gazi Pasha
: Before Mustafa Kemal took the surname Atatürk, he was often referred to as Gazi Pasha (Gazi means war veteran).

a friendship treaty with Soviet Russia
: The Moscow Treaty established the eastern borders north of Iran. It was also concrete evidence of continued Bolshevik support for the anti-imperialist movement in Anatolia and the rival government established in Ankara.

those reserved for his ancestor Genç Osman
: Osman II, or “Young Osman,” so called because he ascended the throne at age fourteen, was reportedly either strangled with a bowstring or killed by “compression of the testicles.”

as though an invisible hand was doing
ebru
:
Ebru
, or water marbling, is formed by drawing designs with dye on the surface of water and then transferring the whirled image onto paper placed on the water.

an enormous box of
lokum
: A soft, bite-sized, flavored sweet: so-called “Turkish delight.”

since the reign of Abdülhamit
: Sultan Abdülhamit II was deposed on April 27, 1909, two weeks after the conservative-backed military overthrew the cabinet.