WELCOME HALİL AGHA!
I am quoting
the partially summarized article of Mr. Ismet Bozdağ, who wrote
this incident in the series of articles published in Günaydın
newspaper under the title ATATÜRK's TABLE with the information
he obtained from Nuri Conker, Behçet Kemal and Kılıç Ali Beys,
verbatim:
The year is 1936, Istanbul is experiencing a golden
autumn. Atatürk was talking to his friends and hanging out with
Ülkü at the Florya Mansion. He had been busy with state affairs
but he was still bored. He has never been able to get used to
the limited life of the Presidency. As he said to his Private
Secretary Hasan Rıza Soyak one day, he considered himself locked
up and arrested. That is why Atatürk was bored throughout his
presidency and complained about it to his relatives. While
telling these feelings to his friend from the Salonika days,
Nuri Conker, he suddenly hits Conker on the knee:
-Can you help me, Nuri?
-How?
-Let's escape from the mansion!
Conker pauses. Initiating such a thing means getting a
severe scolding from Prime Minister Ismet Pasha. But the one who
wants it is Ataturk:
-So how are we going to escape, Pasha? An army of men
will follow us, there is no fun in that…
Ataturk laughs:
-Leave all this alone, I know
what “let’s escape” means? It means to slip away quietly without
being seen by anyone! Will you help me?
-Pasha, excuse me, I didn’t understand, but I am at
your service of course. You tell me the way and I will join you…
- Hah, it’s done now.
While he is talking these things, Ataturk’s eyes shine
like a child’s eyes and he continues talking:
-Look now Nuri… Don’t you have a
friend with a car?
- You do…
-Okay. Now you will go and call
this man secretly from the aides and ask for his car for
yourself for a day… Leave the rest to me…
Conker calls his friend and reminds him to come with the
car covered. When he comes to Atatürk, he listens to the
application:
-Now look what we will do?. The
car will come to pick you up. The aide will come and inform you.
We will both walk towards the door. I will dismiss the aide with
a command. I will put on your jacket and hat and get in the car.
You will arrive in a few seconds!. It is not strange for you to
walk around in your shirt this season. When you pass by the
guards, you will show yourself and they will recognize you and
let you go. Since they will not suspect you, we will break the
circle!.
-Even if we break through the circle, they will notice
it immediately and come after us, Pasha.
-What?... Do you say they will
understand? I am surprised at the ruined mind... Where is all
that intelligence in these men? If these men saw Atatürk
escaping from the mansion with their own eyes, they would not
even believe themselves! Just wait and see!...
Nuri Conker, anxious with fear of İsmet Pasha, Atatürk
waits happily with the desire to be free. Finally the aide
arrives and gives the news. Atatürk calls out:
-So you are invited, Nuri, all
right... Let me take you to the door, then I will return and
read a book...
They walk together.. The aide was following them. Atatürk
suddenly turned.
-Among
my books, there will be a book called “Orients” by Edouart Herriot. It
just arrived. Find it and put it on my table in my room. I will not eat
tonight, I will read. You can rest too!
- Aye sir !,..
When the aide walked away and disappeared
- Come on, take off your jacket, give me
your hat!
Atatürk quickly put on his jacket and put the hat on his head and
started walking. When he came to the car, he paused for a moment and
opened the door, thinking that Atatürk was Nuri Conker. Just as he was
about to get behind the wheel, Nuri Conker appeared and said:
- Come on son, pull over!..
When the car started moving and reached the outer door, the guard
approached the car... Nuri Conker stuck his head out of his seat and
called out to the guard.
- Goodbye soldier.
They received the answer "Thank you" and walked away.
Atatürk to the driver:
- Towards Çekmece., he said
and turned to Nuri Conker smiling.
-Didn’t
I tell you we would run away? Now think about their panic when we
returned!...
Atatürk’s joy was beyond words. They also opened the car’s awning
on the way. They were driving towards Çekmece on a beautiful late
September evening, enjoying the autumn. The weather was warm, the view
was beautiful and everything was going smoothly...
Suddenly Atatürk’s eyes caught a peasant plowing under the
evening sun. He was an old man. But he was slowly turning over the soil
that had stuck to the plow handle. But the plow had an ox on one side
and a donkey on the other. Since they were not pulled with equal forces,
the plow was wobbling. Atatürk to the driver:
- Stop, he said,
they got out of the car. The peasant plowing was not far from the
road. Atatürk reached into his back pocket and took out his cigarette
case, then called out to the peasant:
- Good luck, Agha!
The villager responded to this voice without turning his head:
- Thanks!, Thanks!
Ataturk called out from the beginning:
- Do you have a fire, a fire?
This time the villager turned his head towards the sound. Atatürk
was showing the unlit cigarette in his hand. The villager looked for a
while, then stopped the animals and started walking towards them. While
walking, he was talking and taking out a wick lighter from his belt:
- I guess you are a smoker, Mr?
A smoker should understand the state of a smoker...
- Well... we forgot the matches...
Ataturk held out a cigarette, and the villager struck the lighter
and lit the wick. They lit the cigarettes from the wick that was giving
off a sweet burnt smell. Atatürk:
- How are things, Agha? Did you enjoy
the crop this year?
The villager spoke reluctantly.
- May God not offend you,
but Sir, the crop was soft this
year. The blame is on us, and the blame is up there!
He raised his finger up and pointed to the sky, continuing:
-We
were late, and the upper world withheld mercy, that's how it is..
-I see, there is an ox on one side of
the plough and a donkey on the other. Don't you have an ox?
-It was supposed to exist, the tax
officers sold them in Hıdrellez...
-Does a tax officer ever sell a
villager's means of production? Such a thing is unacceptable! You should
have complained to the headman.
The villager smiled and said:
-Was
the headman in charge of the officer, Sir?
Atatürk spoke, chewing his lips:
-You should have gone to the district
governor...
-Are
you kidding me?, Sir. not even a bird flies
around here without the district governor knowing. Those
old times are over, now we have Atatürk!
-Well, Istanbul is right there. You
should have gone to the Governor, told him your troubles.. Isn't that
what he does?..
The villager was laughing heartily, believing in Atatürk's
naivety. He was a little amused because he was enjoying the
conversation, and he cut him short:
-For the love of God, Leave
that deaf man alone, we've seen him come and go from here a lot. If we
grab him by the collar, would we be able to make our troubles heard?,.
Atatürk was well-dressed. He also enjoyed his speech very much.
He asked:
-What's your name, Agha?
-Halil.... If you ask in the village,
they'll say Halil Agha...
-So you're wealthy?. According to what
they call Agha.
-While
we had a few pairs and sticks, our name became Agha, Halil Agha down,
Halil Agha up; then our pair of sticks went away, shouldn't the Agha
status remain?.. Our young men still follow me around, saying "Halil.
Agha"!
-Okay Halil Ağa, this
issue of yours really got me curious. As far as I know, a farmer's means
of production cannot be taken away from him. You say they were taken
away.. Let's say the district governor is like this, the governor is
like that; well, there is a Prime Minister!, do you know there is İsmet
Pasha?..
-How could I not know, sir...
-Okay then, he comes to Istanbul almost
every week, he goes down to the Florya Mansion, the Mansion is right
there. If you had waited at the door one day and told him your
troubles... He would have found a solution, I guess.
-You liked my talk, you're having fun.
But look now, let's say I went and arrived, they wouldn't put me at that
door... Let's say they won't show our great Ismet Pasha. Let's say they
showed him, how I'd feel sorry for him, especially that deaf man! He
can't hear at all!
Nuri Conker wanted
to intervene, Atatürk stopped him with a gesture. He had shown all the
levels of complaint up until now and had received his response. He was
the only one left. He lit another cigarette from his cigarette, gave one
to the villager and asked:
-Well, let's see what
you find in what I said. You just said that we have Atatürk. He was
sitting right here all summer long. If you had gone and brought him out
and explained your situation, it wasn't like he
would have left you in the lurch either!..
The villager was thoroughly amused, laughing bitterly, looking at the
ignorance of the person in front of him as if he pitied him. He answered
the question:
-What are you saying, sir?.. It takes the power
of a prophet to see the face of Mustafa Kemal Pasha Atatürk. As we said
earlier, let's say we saw it, will he give up his food, drink, work, and
strength and run after our ox?. Keep your heart at ease, sir, our big
boy will do our job and even go beyond.. Don't worry!.,
Halil Agha was getting ready to go to his farm while filling his lungs
with the last breath of his cigarette. There was nothing left to talk
about. Atatürk put his hand on the villager's shoulder and said
-I like you, Halil Aga. One day I will come to
your village and drink some of your ayran. You are an open-hearted
citizen. But I still tell you, do not leave your rights to anyone, seek
your rights.
- Don't worry sir, first of all, no one will
touch our rights. It is a state debt, it will be paid. You were
late for planting, the sky has withheld its mercy, will the state
listen? Take it with my blessing and enjoy it.
The car started moving. They drove for a while, then Atatürk called out
to Nuri Conker:
- Let's return from a suitable place, this
business has lost its flavor! he said.
They headed towards the mansion. Atatürk was silent, thinking, lighting
cigarette after cigarette, there was a slight sadness on his face.
- Boy, we sold Halil Agha's ox because of his
tax debt, he plows with a donkey, he still says "State Father". What a
blessed nation this nation is!...
Atatürk had fallen silent. He was not even looking at the beautiful
roads they were passing through, he was lost in thought with his blue
eyes. They arrived at Florya Mansion shortly afterwards. When the guards
saw Nuri Conker and Atatürk in an open sports car, they were almost
surprised and forgot to salute. Especially the guard aide, when he
learned the situation, had such a rush that he made Nuri Conker, not
Atatürk, forget about the complaints he was going to hear from İsmet
Pasha, and made him laugh.
Atatürk said to the aide:
-Now, you
will find all the MPs in Istanbul by phone. I am expecting them for
dinner tonight. Also, find Governor Muhittin Üstündağ and Prime Minister
İsmet Pasha and inform them too.
The aide left the room. Atatürk turned to Nuri Conker:
- Look here Nuri!. Now you will go out with the
car we went out with and find that Halil Aga. Don't tell him who I am.
You will say that the merchant is a rich man or something. He likes you,
he will buy you an ox, say something like that, deceive him. Come here
without making him suspicious. Don't make him suspicious, come here, do
you understand, you will talk him out of it, you will show him your
skills, but you will not upset him, you will not make him suspicious.
Come on, let me see you!.
After sending Nuri Conker away, he took the cue, as he did in his
thoughtful times, and started playing billiards.
Nuri Conker knew the difficulty of his task. Halil Aga was a
clever villager, it was not possible to bring him to Ataturk's mansion
without him noticing. He would try to do it...
Indeed, when he found Halil Aga on the village road with his
donkey and ox in front of him, he realized that he was not mistaken.
After a long and tiring effort, he had persuaded Halil Agha. When they
set off, Nuri Conker took a deep breath. But now the real hard part
would begin. Getting Halil Agha into the mansion without arousing
suspicion was a problem. Halil Agha was right when he asked after a
while:
-Where is the Bey's house?
-The Bey's house?.. He is currently in the summer house, in
Suadiye, his nephew is also a guest tonight, we will go there too..
-What does his nephew do?..
-He is working as a reserve officer in the Atatürk mansion
these days..
-Don't you dare, are we going to the
mansion?..
-The mansion..
-Oh
my lord, do you know how to be safe?. I can't go into the mansion or the
mansion. Let's leave this eating business, we'll do it when the lord
returns home. Just write your address to me on a piece of paper, I'll
come!.
-Look, I didn't like what you said Halil Agha, no, then we'll
make the Sir angry, that's really bad.
-Oh, Bey, stop the car, I'll go back to
the village!...
Nuri Conker finally managed to bring Halil Agha to the aide's room,
but the milk he had sucked from his mother had also come out of his
nose. Halil Agha was horrified as he entered the mansion and asked:
-Oh
sir, oh sir, don't you dare say it's our sir Pasha?
That evening, there were around twenty-five people at Atatürk's
table, including Prime Minister İsmet İnönü, Ministers, Members of
Parliament, and Istanbul Governor Muhittin Üstündağ. Atatürk said at one
point at the table:
-Our Lord will come to our table this
evening. I want to see how you will treat Him!
A gossip started at the table. Who was this “Lord”?
Who could Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish nation, refer to as “Our
Lord”? Had he prepared a joke, a surprise, or was someone he
truly respected coming? At that very moment, the Chief Aide entered and
said something in Ataturk’s ear… Ataturk said with a pleased face:
- Yes, he said.
Now everyone was out of breath, all eyes were fixed on the door
without batting an eyelash.
Halil Agha understood that he had gotten himself
into trouble and was begging Nuri Conker for death
- Oh sir, let me kiss your hands and
feet sir, I don't want a cow or a cow, let me go!..
Conker, the aides were not clapping, they were standing
respectfully in front of him, hand in hand, trying to calm him down.
Then Halil Agha realized who he had been talking to during the day. It
was Atatürk. Indeed, it was Atatürk himself! He had disguised himself
and had attacked him, so to speak. What he had said must have suddenly
come to his mind because he collapsed into unbearable begging:
- Your commander was Gazi Mustafa Kemal
Pasha, that's right! Even our short-witted women knew him by saying
"Hızır". What a shame, like Halil, to your past and present... My
gentlemen, my commanders, oh what have I done!
The more they tried to calm him down, the more he got scared:
-What the hell did I do to our Gazi
Mustafa Kemal Pasha Atatürk?.. You called his name Kemal, wake up, you
guy who shouldn’t be Halil?.. What will he do to me now, our Mustafa
Kemal Pasha Atatürk, what will he do? Oh, if he cuts my blind tongue and
makes me walk around like an example: “This is what happens to a
chattering fool.”
They brought him to the living room door with consoling words,
Nuri Conker on one arm and the Chief Aide on the other. When the Chief
Aide opened the door and Halil Agha saw that the gentleman he talked to
during the day was sitting at the head of the table and İsmet Pasha was
sitting next to him, his knees went weak. But the damage had already
been done, he pulled himself together with all his strength and began to
plan what to say.
When Halil Agha appeared at the door, Atatürk stood up, When he
stood up, the whole table stood up in a loud voice, Atatürk:
- Welcome Halil Agha!
After saying this, he turned to the people at the table and introduced
them and said:
- Here is the our Lord we
have been waiting for!
Conker seated Halil Agha on Atatürk's right side and he himself took
the chair that was reserved for him. After Atatürk explained in detail
to the people at the table how he left the mansion with Conker that day,
how he saw Halil Agha plowing with an ox on one side and a donkey on the
other, how he spoke to him under the pretext of lighting a cigarette, he
said: -Now we will
repeat the rest with Halil Agha. I will ask you the same questions from
the beginning. Halil Agha also told me what he said there.
Turning to Halil Agha:
- Look, Halil Agha. You are my guest of
honor this evening! I also told you today that I liked your frankness
very much, our conversation will not harm you in any way. I will also
take your ox... But now I will ask you the same questions I asked you in
the field from the beginning, and you will repeat exactly what you said
there. Here I ask:
- I see that there is an ox on one side
of the plow and a donkey on the other. Don't you have an ox?..
Hail Agha, his lips trembling, was about to throw himself at
Atatürk's feet, Atatürk stopped him:
- No, look, I don't want such a thing,
I'm asking, answer.
Halil Agha understood that there was no other way out than
talking. Then, it was easy to answer this question; he called out.
- It was impossible, tax officers bought
and sold in Hıdırellez!
Atatürk was very pleased. He gave Halil Agha morale and courage
by patting his shoulder:
- Okay. Very good. Okay, you told me
exactly as you told me during the day. Now I ask again:
- Does a tax officer ever sell a
villager's means of production?. Such a thing is not possible! You
should have complained to the headman.
This question was also easy. Halil Agha didn't act
coy. Because he was thinking about the rest:
- The headman was there,
sir!.
- It's done, that's okay too. It's going well.
I ask again:
-You should have gone to the District
Governor!
He looked around and saw. The District Governor wasn't there:
-Not a bird can fly around here without
the District Governor knowing!
The people at the table were watching the conversation
breathlessly. It was time for the scary questions. Atatürk asked:
-Well, Istanbul is right there, you
should have gone and told the Governor your troubles, isn't that his
job?
Governor Muhitin Üstündağ was looking at him from only two meters
away from Halil Agha, How could he say that?.. He was sweating
profusely, he tried to evade the matter:
-We see our Governor Pasha around here.
Could we make our troubles heard if we got on his skirt...
Atatürk's eyebrows furrowed:
-That's not right, Halil Agha!. Just
like you told me, straight..
-Didn't we say that, sir?.
-Oh, did I misunderstand?. Let's ask
Nuri.. Nuri, did Halil Agha tell us like that?.
- No, Pasha.
- See?.. So I didn't remember anything
wrong. You said something, why didn't the governor hear it?..
- He
hears it a little bit faintly
- Come on, come on, like you told me.
- Our language in the village is
obsessed with saying deaf, I beg your pardon Pasha..
Atatürk started to laugh:
- You are a diplomat, you are a great
diplomat!..But this is not the time to be a diplomat, we will speak the
truth!.. Tell me now as you said there.,
Halil Agha closed his eyes and bowed his head:
- I said, “Leave
that deaf man alone.”..
Murmurs and laughter started at the table. Especially since İsmet
Pasha did not like Governor Üstündağ, whom Atatürk supported , he
laughed loudly enough. Atatürk was looking at İsmet Pasha as if to say,
“Wait, now it is your turn.”
- Let's say that happened like
that. Let's move on to the rest: Well, there is a Prime Minister
İsmet Pasha, do you know?..
Halil Agha, passing his eyes over Ismet Pasha's face:
- How can one not know our glorious
Ismet Pasha!... Today,
Ataturk stopped Halil Agha's speech:
- Now, leave the praises aside. I will
tell you the rest of the story: "Okay, then he comes to Istanbul almost
every week. He goes down to the Florya Mansion, the mansion is right
here. If you had waited for him at the door one day. He would have found
a solution, I guess!"
As Halil Agha remembered what he had said, his life was running
out. He tried to evade again:
-They won't let us in, and even if they
do, are we going to cry for our ox to our glorious Pasha?
Atatürk's voice got even harsher and:
-Don't bother me Halil Agha. A man
doesn't lie. Whatever you said, you will repeat the same thing!..
Halil Agha got scared, pulled himself together. He buried his
head in the ground and spoke:
-We called our glorious Pasha deaf..
- Not just deaf, but "the deaf of the
deaf"... Right?,
Halil Agha nodded his head looking down at the ground:
-That's what we said, Pasha. You're
right!..
I am asking you the last question now, give me the answer to this
too, take the ox and go:
- Doesn't
Atatürk live right here, You should have gone, stood in front of him,
and explained your situation! He wasn't going to abandon you, was he?
- Would he ever leave, would he ever
leave my lion Pasha!.. he would immediately come to my field and listen
to my situation!.
- Leave them, Halil Agha, repeat what you said!
Halil Agha suddenly stood up straight. He straightened up with
the bravery of people who have risked everything. He looked into
Ataturk's eyes and spoke.
- That's what I won't say! Put fire in
my mouth That's what I won't say, Pasha!.
Ataturk started to laugh:
- This Halil Agha will make things
difficult for us, he doesn't understand words. Nuri, it's in your mind,
you tell him so that Halil Agha can explain whether you said it or not.
Nuri Conker stood up, smiling:
- You always run me into difficult jobs, Pasha. If I am not
mistaken, Mustafa Kemal Pasha had said that it would take the power of a
prophet to see our Atatürk's face. Even if I did, he would raise his
head from his work, his eating and drinking and run after our ox, he
said.
Tears were in Halil Agha's eyes, he shook his head. He was
standing there. Atatürk spoke:
- You brought it to Atatürk being a
drunkard who had taken to drinking, I won't insist too much. Now listen
to me Halil Agha! The reason I upset you so much was to tell you this.
The six gentlemen you see are the government.. In other words, one is
the Prime Minister and the others are Ministers! They were brought to
this position to look after the country and to turn things around. When
a law was needed, these gentlemen would immediately get involved,
whether it was from Switzerland, Italy or France, in short, they would
come up with a law from somewhere, have it translated into Turkish, then
print it, sign it and send it to the Grand National Assembly.. When I
say the Grand National Assembly, I mean the gentlemen from the bottom to
your side. The law comes to them, and they say, “The government has
certainly examined it and thought about what is necessary, there is no
need for me to be forced”, and raise their fingers, here is a law for
you!.. But then a tax officer comes, pulls Halil Agha’s ox and sells it
for tax debt. Halil Agha tries to plow his field with a donkey on one
side and an ox on the other, with great effort. But production
decreases, planting becomes difficult, who cares!. Then I see these, my
heart bleeds, I hear them, I grieve… So tell me honestly, Halil Agha, if
you were in my place, wouldn’t you sit down and talk with these
gentlemen and drink these things to calm your mood?. But then Halil Agha
catches you and calls you drunk!. Halil Agha’s tongue was loosened:
-May the great God grant you a share of my
life, Pasha, may he grant you health!.
His face was red, his eyes were shining. He put his
hands on his knees and turned to Atatürk:
- You threw the Greeks into the sea, my
Pasha, You raised our flag above our heads.!.. You took a peasant like
me to your table, I can't even begin to pray to you... What am I?.. Let
me kiss your feet, oh my Pasha!.
He moved to kiss his foot, Atatürk immediately held it, when he
held it, he hugged his hand, kissed it and put it on his head
- May you never be absent from our head
like our flag. May your enemy be under your feet. my great Pasha.
- You didn't eat!
-Eating is easy... The children are
curious, I'll go to the village..
Ataturk signaled Nuri Conker. Conker got up and came to Halil
Aga. Halil Aga got up, greeted Atatürk first, then the people at the
table, and respectfully stepped back towards the door.
When the door was closed, Atatürk returned to the table and said:
-Have you seen the state of our Lord,
gentlemen? What would you do if the state treated you like this? This is
a blessed nation, a manly nation!.. Now it is up to us to "be a man" in
front of him!.
There was absolute silence at the table. Eyes on Atatürk:
-Either we made the law that sold Halil
Aga's ox and disrupted production, or the law we made was misinterpreted
and sold Halil Aga's ox, both are the same in my opinion... If we made
such a law, it is against the interests of the country, how can we do
it?. If the law we made is interpreted like this, what kind of
government is the government in? Then don't forget that the event takes
place in Istanbul.
There is Van, Bitlis, and a coastal
district; what is going on there? This wheel is not turning well,
gentlemen!.
Ataturk had fallen silent. No one was speaking, Ismet Inonu
looked around at his friends, then coughed slightly and spoke:
- You are right, Pasha! I think this is the result of a
wrong application. I will investigate it with importance! As a
government, we do not have enough human capacity, we know that. But our
duty is to turn the wheel well, as you commanded, and we will!..
Neither Ataturk nor the people at the table touched the drink.
The table was like a wide-ranging Council of Ministers. The Prime
Minister had spoken to satisfy the President. But Ataturk was still
angry. He directed the question to Ismet Pasha:
- Has such an incident ever been
reported to you?
- No, Pasha, if it had been, I would have certainly dealt
with it.
-I also put my finger here, We did not
establish the Republic for decoration.
We did it to establish a government that
was in favor of the society. The government has inspectors, governors,
district governors, they are selling Halil Agha's ox due to tax debt. Of
course they should know what they are doing... They are not telling you
anything, they are trying to show tax revenues by selling Halil Agha's
ox!.. Let's leave these aside, we have MP friends who are getting travel
allowances, they are talking to the society, the people, and they are
not telling you anything either. We have a party organization, they
should live side by side with the people, and they are not talking about
such an application that is detrimental to the country. What does this
mean?. It is to think that we established a system not with the society
and for the society, but despite the society! This is where I am really
upset and put my finger on it! Gentlemen, we have not been able to
explain the Republic, this is what comes out of this!.
We have to explain what the Republic is.
This is the duty of the government and the party! You are the President
of both, Prime Minister Pasha! We absolutely do not accept the excuse of
human capacity. Thirteen years have passed since the Republic. Those who
started school that day are studying at universities today. Those who
are in middle schools are either in the state staff or within the party
organization today... Aren't these the defenders of the Republic against
every danger? So where are they? Either we could not explain the
Republic to them, or worse, they have also become pedants!
The survival of the revolutions we have
made depends on raising a conscious Republic and Revolution generation.
If what happened to Halil Agha does not reach the government and the
Grand National Assembly, it means there is danger!
Atatürk looked at İsmet İnönü's face. İnönü was about to speak,
but Atatürk silenced him with his hand:
-I know what you are going to say. We
have exhausted our friends at the table and prevented them from eating.
Come on, gentlemen; it is for the honor of us to grasp our duty even
more tightly and work harder to succeed!