– 21 –
Commander Mevlut and his team turned Adem’s face to the wall and disappeared.
Adem hears footsteps coming from the corridor.
He sees someone coming from the corner of his eyes, he senses he is a mad man.
The Mad man’s hair and mustache were matted together. He wore a military uniform.
The Mad man doesn’t care about the world.
The Mad man talks to himself.
He went in front of the Ataturk’s potrait hung up on the wall.
Under the portrait a saying was written: “Happy is he who calls himself a Turk”. He read it loudly.
And returned to Ataturk potrait;
(Speaks Kurdish language)
“What a liar you are!”
I didn’t feel happy; even when I called myself a Turk.
Then he laughs.
He looks at the potrait of Ataturk.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Fuck your Kenan Evren “
Meanwhile the Man hears the footsteps of Commander Mevlut and his team.
They come next to Adem.
Akin commands Adem “Walk!”
As they pass the mad man, Mevlut asks mad man;
“You, Salih, What are you doing here?”
“I am chatting with Ataturk, Sir”
Guard Mevlut laughs.
Adem is shocked by what he just saw, a killer can laugh!!
Guard Mevlut:
“What were you saying to Ataturk, Salih?”
“I was telling him, that I am not happy”
“What did he tell to you?”
“He cannot speak…!”
– 22 –
They are taking Adem to yard of the 20th and 21st wards..
Mad Salih’s words are still in his ears.
After a few seconds, around one hundred prisoners are present in the yard.
All the prisoners are naked above their waist.
Soon the commander of the wards will come and whatever is going to happen will happen.
Commanders enter the yeard cursing.
They give orders to the prisoners.
… And everybody waits at attention!
“At ease” said the short guard; he has a wide and loose uniform on him. There were some red dots on his neck.
Over one hundred prisoners were waiting at “Attention” better than any army.
After the “Attention” command, they change their positions.
The short commander is called Dev , he has a big complex about tall people. Because of that, he goes right to tallest prisoner and tells him to bend over, than he beats him down by kicks. “Go to your place mother fucker” says Dev to the tall prisoner.
Dev:
“Start the Commander’s anthem, and run.”
One hundred prisoners’ altogether are screaming:
“We are commanders! We are commanders!”
Dev;
“There is not enough volume, you assholes! Build Kocatepe tower!”
With that command, the prisoners made a tower by getting on top of each other.
Dev and the other commanders are holding their nightsticks.
In a few seconds, there is a tower made of human beings in the center of the yard. Captain Esat had named the tower.
“KOCA TEPE”
A soldier:
“The asshole on the top of tower! Stand up!”
The prisoner on the top of the tower stands up.
Dev speaks to the prisoner on the top of tower.
“Take the pose of Ataturk at Kocatepe”
As he is standing on top of his friends, he takes the pose of Ataturk at Koca Tepe (shielding his eyes, staring into the distance.). There are screams of prisoners under his feet.
Prisoners scream because they are suffocating.
Whoever can scream is lucky, because others can’t even breathe.
Dev; “You! On the top!”
“Start the National Anthem”
The prisoner on top of the tower starts singing the “National Anthem” and finishes.
After the anthem has ended, the command comes: “Collapse Kocatepe!”
The dead are losers, and the survivors are the winners.
Cold water was shot at the fainted prisoners.
Those who couldn’t be revived with cold water, were revived with kicks.
If they still don’t wake up, the tips of their noses are burned with a match.
Adem also gets his share! But he is luckier than the others.
There is still more for him to see.
So they took him away, and brought him to another place.
His thanks to them is to walk obediently away.
– 23 –
Adem wanders in a cell which is three feet by three feet.
His bed is made of dirty and ragged military uniforms, and there is also a dirty blanket.
There was an iron net at the front of cell.
There was a toilet at the narrow back side of the cell.
He couldn’t sleep all night, he screams and wakes up in nightmares, all the torture filling his mind.
He turns in his bed periodically.
He suffers from a toothache.
He tries to stand the pain, but he can’t.
Eventually, he screams “Commander!”
He hears a sound from the commander’s side “What do you want mother fucker?”
“My tooth hurts too much commander” he said in a childlike voice.
The door of cell opened. That night Dark trouble and Hunchbacked were on duty.
They took him to a room.
They beat him until he fainted.
Because of all of his body was in pain, he forgot the toothache.
He fell into a deep sleep.
