OSMANLI'DA OGLANCILIK ve ESCINSELLIK
Kaya T. Guralp
Uzun suren, resmi tarih dinleme ve ogrenme suresi sonrasinda
bize anlatilan tarihin ne derece gercek, oldugunu dinlemek istermisiniz?
Asagidaki yazi, Osmanli imparatorlugunda, oglancilik olarak
isimlendirilen, kucuk erkek cocuklariyla cinsel iliskide bulunmak
turunde sapkinliklarin ne derece yaygin oldugunu gosteriyor.
Cok*cok ilginc bulacaginiza eminim. Lutfen okuyun.
Afeminat erkekleri tanimlamak icin kullanilan ``Hamam oglani''
tabirinin, padisahin hamama beraber girdigi guzel erkek cocuklarina
verilen isim oldugunu biliyor muydunuz? Vezir Rustem pasa'nin
Sultan suleyman'in gozdelerinden birisi olup da saray da sivrildigini
hic dusundunuz mu?
Bunlari yazmakta ki amacim, ne Osmanli'yi kotulemek ne de olmus
bitmis olaylari kullanmak. Ama gercekleri bilmeden, saklayarak
hic bir seye varilmaz. Burada pro-Osmanli arkadaslarin
gozlerinden kacanlar oldugunu gostermek istiyorum. Pek imrenerek
baktiklari, Islam dinini Viyana onlerine kadar goturdugu icin
gururlandiklari Osmanli'nin bir de gercek yuzunu gorelim. Bu
insanlar ahlaksizligin artigini gosterip tek cozumun Islamda
oldugunu soyluyorlar. Acaba bu ahlaksizligin kokeni Osmanli'ya
dayaniyor olmasin? Imrenerek baktiklari Osmanli ahlak fazilet
abidesimiydi? Peki Islam'in bu konuda bir yaptirimi oldu mu?
LAwrence of Arabia, Midnight Express gibi filimlerde, igrenc
suclama olarak dusunulen, escinselligi aciga cikaran sahnelerin
dogru olma olasiligi mevcut mu? Lord Kinross'un Ataturk kitabindaki
iddialar ne derece dogru olabilir?
Daha sonraki yazimda Islam'in homoseksuel iliskilere bakis acisini
degerlendirecegim....
saygilar
Kaya
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>--------------------------<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Asian Homosexuality
Note: Pages 23-38
Chapter: "Le Vice" in Turkey (Ottoman Empire)
page 31
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II
Now for the Turkish side. To what extent are we talking of lust, or
as there some love present in this extensive Turkish paidophilia? For
the most part we are speaking (at least in the classical era of Turkish
history) of boys who were slaves or captives, utterly at the mercy of
masters who could do anything with them. Yet, surprisingly enough, these
boys were often loyal and faithful to their masters. Arab chieftains were
sometimes killed by their catamites, but (with a single clearly nonsexual
political exception ) never a Turk as far as I can discover! Many a
Turkish nobleman or businessman could trust his favorite boy more than
his own wife, children or employees. In many cases, even as with the
Arab sheikhs' love-boys, these kept boys were treated with great respect
and with more atiection than the Turks' own children. They were, of
course, segregated in harems, not free to leave; they were required to
sing, dance and entertain their masters; they indulged in shameless and
unrestrained sexual activities described by Westerners as "continuous
orgies." But they were for the most part happy, charmingly affectionate
eagerly erotic and personally loyal.
The Turks were a lusty, life-loving people, who found great joy in sex.
One would then be foolish to attempt to deny the sexual side of their
boy-love relationships. Mary McCarthy, in The Stones of Florence (New
York: Harcourt, Brace, 1959), commenting on Greek love in the Renais-
sance, points out that this form of love is characteristic of all thriving
mature cultures enjoying wealth and leisure. The Turks of the classical
era were on the very crest, and the parallel with Periclean Greeks and
Renaissance Italians is strong. lf one is to speak of love in that culture
one must understand the context of a conquering male-idolizing culture.
if sons and love-boys were alike cruelly treated at times, so too were
adored wives and concubines. Sexual excesses characterized all love and
all life. The classical Turk was fierce in battle and in bed, but he had a
tremendous capacity also, for love. Collectively terriFying, indivdual
Turks nevertheless displayed a gentle, kindly, bumblingly affectionate
side, doglike in eagerness to please. Adoring boys then sensually even as
now more restrainedly, Turks were-with boys as with women-not con-
tent with their own voluptuousness until they could excite its counterpart
in their partners. It is in this light that we can understand their particular
predilection for European boys: to beauty was added an unusual (cul-
turally determined) capacity for affection and erotic response-strangely
stronger in antisexual Europe, it seems, than in Muslim lands where sex
was takcn so much more casually.
Turks will admit that boys sutfered at slave-dealers' lustful hands;
page 33
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but then slavers have everywhere been the scum of the earth. However,
when a Turkish gentleman purchased a boy for sexual purposes, the boy
was in no sense a counterpart of the African or American Negro in slavery.
He was instead a member of the family-albeit by purchase rather than
by birth or marriage-to be loved, to be called "son." Favorite boys grew
up to marry their masters' daughters, to take over management of busi-
nesses, properties, etc. The Sultan's favorite boys often grew up to
be generals, governors and high court officials. Stern reports (among
many similar instances) that Rustem was the love-boy of Suleiman, th
the Grand Vizier Silahdar Mehmet Pasha was as a boy a page in the palace
who became the beloved of the Sultan, later promoted to positions of
power and marrying a daughter of Sultan Mustafa.
And as for the notorious "child tax," even though they knew that
many of the most charming boys would inevitably find their way into
Ieading citizens' beds to be "ravished and feminized," parents in many
Christian villages in the Balkans-so far from attempting to hide their
children-fought for the privilege of providing them! For they knew, after
all, that this was the path for a talented and handsome boy to rise in the
government with an assured career. The boys were, in fact, not enslaved
but conscripted into palace schools providing the best education available
in the realm. These schools taught a variety of languages and gave intensive
physical and military training, together with a classical education in what
we would call humanities. Rycaut gives a thorough picture of the life
and discipline in such schoots, one of which continues to exist as the
school to which aristoeratic Turks todav send their sons. It has, of course,
evolved into a more conventional private preparatory school. Rycaut
writes:
The Turks make it their chiefest care, that the Prince should be served by
such, as owe both the cultivating of their minds and the nourishment of their
body's to him; those youths thus are to be settled for the highest employments,
are born of Christian parents, who coming from distant places, have no other
interest to espouse, than that of the Grand Signior's. Those must be of good
features and looks, and weIl shaped, without any defects of Nature... (pp.
11-12)
They are first instructed in modest behavior, being kept under a most
severe discipline by the eunuchs, their guardians, who watch every step
they take.
Rycaut then tells how some boys are selected for the dispensary, to
page 34
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serve the Sultan his drinks, forty being chosen to attend him personally
in his chamber. One takes care of his water, one of his coat, one of his
dogs, and so forth. Then he says:
The doctrine of Platonic love has found its admirers, even among the
Turks, under the color of which vertuous passion, they frequently hide their
unlawful inclinations ..., several of the chiefest rank in the Seraglio, having
made their addresses to the young pages upon this score, and by degrees
allured them into their service. Thus Sultan Morat [Murad IV] became
enamour'd of an Armenian boy, and afterwards of a novitiate of Galata, whom
he advanc'd to the office of Sword-bearer; as the present Sultan [Mehmed IV]
became a slave to the son of a slave, to such a degree, that he made him his
chief favourite, never being content without his company. (p. 15)
The boys in the palace were warned against the dangers of flirting
with nobles, army officers, and others in the court, who might take a
fancy to them or ask for them as a reward for favors done for the Sultan.
But "boys will be boys." The more the eunuchs prevented them from
having love aifairs among themselves, the more they played the flirting
game. The more the tribute boys in the school were warned against the
men of the court who eyed them, the more they were tempted to the life
of luxury in some courtier's home. In the school they had coarse food
and stern discipline; small wonder, then, that few resisted the temptation
of seeking to attract the eye of the Sultan or some nobleman. They whis-
pered to each other tantalizing rumors of the Sultan's table and bed, of
the wealth and power awaiting those who could win his favor. In the
presence of the potentates they "assumed an effeminacy which excites
compassion," seeking to win the place of the youngster whose privilege
was to stand beside the Sultan's bed fanning away insects. LeRouge
tells of their curiosity to see the "charming posterior which the Sultan
honors with his favors" of whichever young page was the Sultan's cur-
rent darling.
Earlier we described the court of Ali Pasha, with its naked or purple-
petticoated dancing boys lewdly entertaining the governor and his guests.
Reccnt research displays the operation of Greek anti-Turkish preju-
dice in this story too. Granted that some beautiful boys were kidnapped,
their resisting parents murdered, still most of the boys came to Ali's
court willingly, brought by their parents. Such, too, was true of the boy
dancers (batschas) in the harem of the Emir of Bokhara, mentioned by
John Gunther in Inside Asia. Parents often wore a gold medal proudly
indicating that they had contributed a son to the Emir's corps de ballet.
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In most matters the Greeks cringed in servile ways before Ali Pasha,
ready to gratify his whims for economic or other material advantage. To
have a son in the governor's harem was an obvious path to favor and
fortune. Not only, then, did parents bring Ali their sons, they taught them
lewd dancing to please the governor at first meeting.
Similarly did the peasant parents who prepared their boys' posteriors
for the inevitable, display these boys to offcials whose favor was wanted.
When the tax collector came to the farm, he was shown around in the
distracting presence of a seductive youngster, attention being quickly
diverted from cattle and other taxable items towards the bedroom. Boys
so prepared for this task were naturally more available to other comers
and talked about it. They were understandably tempted to offer them-
selves in the streets when in need of anything. And according to the
Rassegna essay, parents often bragged that their sons had slept with the
Bey of so-and-so-or the police captain. In a culture overly protective
of women and girls, boys developed early love affairs among themselves,
often secretly dreaming of the man who would love them and bring them
luxury. When a possible candidate showed up, force was therefore un-
necessary; boys gave themselves eagerly in search of true love, and some-
times indeed they found it. If this was true of free boys, so much more
of slaves. Deprived of family and freedom, their sole hope of happiness
was in pleasing their masters, their love and devotion putting to shame
the masters' lust. Since sex was inevitable, the slave boy's appropriate
course was to devote himself to it as an artist and lover.
What then is the true picture? To what extent did Greek love exist
in classical Turkey? To what extent was the Turks' paidophilia mere
sexual exploitation of the helpless? Some of both must be admitted.
Among many Turks, playing with boys was a sensual sport, pusued in
turkish baths, in peg-houses, in harems, where Greek love is no term to
describe casual encounters with bejeweled boys whose grooming, dance
and song were calculated to arouse lust, where boys were toys to play
with and toss aside. Certainly if one truly loves a boy, he will not wish
to see that boy trained to serve indiierently the lust of every Ali, Mehmet
and Mustafa,-trained to use perfume and cosmetics, to undress sugges-
tively, to Hirt and dance lewdly, etc., in default of an education
which might serve his own adult life. Such training is not calculated to
help any boy grow up to be a mature member of a society.
We are suggesting that one way to distinguish Greek love from its
counterfeit, in or out of Turkey, is to look at the goals the man seeks
for his boy. ln true Greek love, he will seek to give him the kind of
education enabling him to fulfill his capacities, to become a joyous out-
going adult. Some Turks, at least, did rescue many boys from hopeless-
ness, giving them love and flrst-rate educations. Sex was in a mutual
fulfillment context.
Perhaps in fiction rather than in history we can better find the meaning
of love in a culture: specifically, in the love story. History books all too
often make some of the greatest love afiairs sound like clinical case
records.
Unfortunately little translated fiction is available, and I cannot now
find the two best novels I ever read on this subject years ago-both
Victorian era stories. (Can some reader identify either?) One was the tale
af a "tax child," of his misery and hunger for love after being torn from
his family. 'The boy gradually begins to hate his father, feeling that surely
the latter could have done something about it had he wished. How can a
12-year-old understand his father's helplessness before the Turkish
throne? The boy feels his father could at least have preferred death for
himself and the whole family-but no, he had willingly let him go, even
giving him a nice little lecture on "being a good boy and obeying your new
master." As love for father turns to hatred, the boy begins to fall in love
with the Turkish army captain; strong, virile, athletic, brave. Once the
boy dares say to him, "I wish my father were like you," causing the cap-
tain to notice the boy's adoring look. f.ove breeds love, love offered is
hard to accept; but willy-nilly the captain finds himself increasingly falling
in love with the boy, finally keeping him for himself. There is no cruelty,
only tenderness, deep affection, and the joy of a boy who cannot do
enough to please the new master who returns his love. bne bizarre little
note: the night before the captain takes the boy to bed for the first time,
he shows him a torture chamber "to show you what happens to boys who
do not please and obey their masters"-incongruous because obviously
unnecessary. The boy is so adoringly infatuated with the captain that he
could refuse him nothing.
Much the same sort of adoring boy is pictured in Nikos Kazatzakis's
The Greek Passion. which begins with the Turkish official's musing over
the darling boy who is his comfort and joy. His grief and anguish when
page 36
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this boy is murdered by his Greek enemies is unmistakable, matched by
the love shown in the boy's earlier songs, gestures, affectionate glances.
Though the film He Who Must Die ignores this phase of the story, the
boy's atfectionate glances are present in its opening scenes.
Some may disagree with my interpretation of Kyra Kyralina but
I believe my view defensible. I see it as a work of nostalgia. A man
corrupted by later experiences of vice-as for example his teenage prison
experience wherein he was used sexually by all his mates-looks back with
mixed emotions to the two romances he had with men when he was a
young boy. The book has the authentic ring of autobiography, confirmed in
a note by Romain Rolland in the French paperback edition, telling how
the author was a vagabond in Turkey from age 12, "possessed by pas-
sions" like his novel's young hero, who had been rather willingly kid-
napped at 11 by one Nazim Efendi, a boat captain in the business of
"furnishing Hesh for harems." Istrati tells the story as an older man,
recalling how he "delivered himself body and soul into the hands of this
protector." Three days he went aboard the ship anchored in the river near
his home. "We ate delicious cakes, danced, and amused ourselve....in
intimate ways without blushing." The boy was so pleased with the
Efendi's attentions and with the beautiful clothing he was given to wear
aboard, that he was tempted to beg to be allowed to sail with the ship.
The first two days he allowed the captain to undress him and put away
the beautiful clothes, at night remembering the intimacies at the hands
of his sexuaUy skillful friend. Perhaps he would not have sailed on the
third day had he not gotten into some trouble at home . . . but again he
might have. He quickly became habituated to the new life of opium and "vice."
"Vice" is his term for sex, but he confesses that he greatly enjoyed
the bed and aftections of the Efendi. In this world (says he) a man can
become accustomed to anything, but nothing so easily as vice when one
truly loves and is loved. The blond Rumanian boy basked in his life on
ship as the captain's favorite, dressed like a young prince with a gold
watch. seated on a cushion embroidered with gold thread, eating baklava
and drinking coffee from superb fincans, reveling in the smiles and caresses
of his ravisher. The first night he knelt and kissed the captain's knees for
joy, thinking himself enroute to heaven as he was bent to serve the
page 38
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pleasures of his benefactor, who taught him new tastes and new desires
until he was completely converted . . .
Four years he shared the Effendi's bed. When he found a cance to
run away, it was because the ship was docked at Istanbul and he believed
his mother to be nearby. There he quickly fell instead into the the hands of
a Bey, who became deeply infatuated with him, so passionately that he
devoted almost full time to the boy's amusement: gifts of a dog, a horse,
jewelry, a pipe, even girls. The Bey lacked the Effendi's slyness, violence
and "wickedness," but caressed him with "true and sincere love" and
"narcotic voluptuousness." The boy again felt himself a prisoner of love
even as before, but he could not resist responding to the Bey's tenderness
These clever Turks (he reports ) know how to get what they want, one way
or another. "There are several ways to conquer a passionate soul and
the easiest is to speak tenderly. It was easy for him, for he loved me
sincerely; but the devil teaches sincerity to the passionate!" But he adds,
"By having me guarded always by a servant armed to the teeth, he vio-
lated my last expression of love." So the boy ran away again, to the life
of a vagabond knowing only the brutal sex life of the road with none of
the love of his two protectors. Does he not feel, in retrospect, that he
should have stayed with Nazim Effendi and mutual love?
III
In conclusion, then, do we find lust or love? Probably classical Turkish
boy-love should not be called true Greek love-rather a love nourished in
sensual lust. Yet at points it does approach Greek love when there is deep
reciprocal affection, when each actively desires the fulfilment of the other,
when the man seeks to nurture the boy, to raise him as a man able to use
his talents maturely.
We note an interesting paradox, which we will explore further in
another essay. Many men believe that tenderness to their sons produces
sissies. Turkish evidence suggests rather that the boys loved most tenderly
grew into the most virile men, those used most brutaily became effemi-
nates. Tendcrness did not mean sexual restraint or abstention. In an
atmosphere where sex was accepted and enjoyed, even brutal selfish sex
was sometimes a natural accompaniment-or prelude-to masculine love.
As for the boys, they grumbled about slavery, about having to work or
study (even as today) but they rarely grumbled about sex-sace perhaps
page 39
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to suggest that the master spent too much time with his women. Even
sex at first forcible could sometimes grow into love. In the West where
we hear always that sex should only follow love, we tend to forget that
sex can nurture or stimulate love. Many a master who thought he wanted
a boy only for sex ended up loving him madly. And cannot a boy find
sex also a path to love?
... deleted one paragraph ....
These stages were much the same in the brothel, in the field where
a captured boy would be sleeping with his soldier captor and learning
them from him, in the judge's house or the slave merchant's quaters;
the same whether the boy was loved or merely lusted after. listening
to talk of these stages, or reading about them, led Western observers to
judge that all was lust and none love, and to write the notes used in anti-
Turkish polemics. But in this propaganda even as in the history books,
real love affairs had a way of being reduced to a few lines of hearless
joumalism. Whether or not the reader decides that in any given instance
Greek love was present, I nevertheless suggest that often the heart of man
and boy shared in the love-making, with richness of affection emo-
tion which gave them abiding joy, richness of companionship, and which
nurtured a love overriding and transforming the stages of sexual passion
into tender acts of mutual adoration.
Kemal Sarica
Bu Kaya iti Turk milletini kotulemek isteyen alcak bir domuz.
Ermeni veya sirp kopegi olma ihtimali cok yuksek.
Yuzde yuz alinti yaptigi kitapda adi gecen oglancilarin
birisinin tohumu. Tarihini, babasini dedesini butun dunyaya
baska kim sikayet eder veya kucuk dusurmeye calisir dersiniz.
Herkesi bu Adi Yaratigi Protestoya Davet Ediyorum.
Kemal
Onur Yalcin
Protesto etmiyorum.
Isteyen istedigini yazar. Terbiye sinirlari icerisinde oldugu surece. Ben bu
nette "it, domuz" gibi kufurlerin, ya da Ermeni, Sirp vs. gibi irkci
ifadelerin kullanilmasini protesto ediyorum.
Tarihiniz konusunda bu kadar duyarliysaniz, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk yine burada
olmadik ithamlarla kotulenirken neredeydiniz?
>
>Kemal
Onur Yalcin
--
Onur Yalcin
oya...@iastate.edu
"Un punto in piu`"
BCG
misrasi;
Zulmu alki$layamam zalimi asla sevemem
Gelenin keyfi icin gecmi$e kalkip sovemem
Biri ecdadima saldirdi mi bogarim
'Bogamazsin ki' -hic olmazsa yanimdan kovarim
......
Ummetin kurtulu$unu Islam milliyetine simsIkI baglilikta goren,
kavmiyetciligi guzel $iiriyle yerin dibine batiran merhum Akif ayni
$iirde kendisinin Arnavut oldugunu soyluyordu. Musluman ulusun icinden
cikip ta onun milletine tabii olmadigi halde onlar adina vekillik
taslamaya cali$anlara veyl olsun.....
Bir karde$imizin dedigi yanli$. Yani sizin zihniyet Turkiye yi Avrupa
e$eginin sirtina bindirmeye cali$iyormu$. Ke$ke oyle yapabilseniz. Bu
gidi$le yapacaginizi soyleyeyim mi? Turkiye yi Avrupa e$eginin altina
sokacaksiniz. Hem de oyle bir e$$ek ki 12 si bir arada....
Beytullah
Basoglu, Benan
..........
Neden bes altI vatansIz, bes altI kundakcI |
YIgIn yIgIn buluyor arkasInda yardakcI? |
|
Nicin hakir oluyor, sonra durmayIp oteden, |HAKiR: KIymetsiz,itibarsIz
"Kosun! diyen, bu cehennem henuz kIvIlcIm iken." |
|
Ne intibaha calIsmak, ne i'tilaya emek; |iNTiBAH: UyanIklIk
Cihan yIkIlsa bizim halk, uyanmadan gidecek! |i'TiLA: Yukselmek
|
Onun kIyamI icin Sur'u beklemek lazIm! |SUR: KIyamet
Bu duygusuzluga bir care yok mu, AllahIm? |KIYAM: Ayakta durmak
............
Mehmet Akif ERSOY
Fatih Kursusunde
Selamlar
Benan BASOGLU
Telat Yanik
Bende protesto ediyorum.
Tyanik
Emre Erkut
Sinirlenmeyelim beyler...
Avrupa'da ibne olur da Osmanli'da olmaz mi? Neden olmasin? Ibnelik
Hiristiyanlara ozgu bir huy mudur?
Kaldi ki Turk ulusunu kotulemek isteyen birinin Yunan olma olasiligi, Ermeni
ya da Sirp olma olasiligindan cok daha yuksektir.
--
Emre Erkut 3M Principle:
Alman Lisesi 1988 Marriage: Thanks, later
Bogazici Makine 1992 Make-up : Less is more
Purdue Management 1993 Money : More is better
Telat Yanik
Hangi ifadeleri kullanalim bey efendi onlarida yazda gorelim. Bu pezevenklerin
baska adlari varda millet kullanmiyormu.
Eger zoruna gidiyorsa egil boruna gitsin.Burasi SCT sirpi savunacaksan defol
git onlarin netinde yaz.
Bir sagduyu sahibi gardasimiz kayayi protesto edin dediyse edeceksin edecegiz
o kadar bilmem anlatabildimmi?
>Tarihiniz konusunda bu kadar duyarliysaniz, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk yine burada
>olmadik ithamlarla kotulenirken neredeydiniz?
Yahu hemserim birakin bu ayaklari yinemi Ataturk. Bu konunun Ataturkle ne
ilgisi var adamlar burada butun turk milletinden bahsediyor Ataturkten degil.
>>Kemal
Kemale katildik kemale erdik bizde protesto edirik ediyoruk ediyoruz edecegiz
educez etmiyomuyug he gardas bizde ediyoruz edirik bunlar milletin sesleri
Turk milletinin sesleri etmiyenler defolsun gitsin sirplarla ermenilerle
yasasin.
Tyanik
Mehmet Gulsen
Selam Kaya,
Osmanli imparatorlugunda homoseksullikle ilgili cesitli
yazilari degisik yerlerde bende gormustum. Hatta, Osmanli
padisahlarindan bazilarinin homoseksuel olduklarini iddia edenler
bile var. Ancak benim gordugum bu tip yazilarin tamami hemen hemen
hic bir somut delile dayanmayan sahsi iddialardan baska bir sey
degillerdi. Nitekim, senin gectigin yazida bir kac kisinin kendi
iddialarindan baska bir sey degil. Bu yazilara dayanarak Osmanli
imparatorlugunda homoseksuelligin yaygin olduguna dair bir cikarim
yapmanin dogru olduguna inanmiyorum.
Osmanli imparotorlugunun son donemine kadar harem hayatinin
tamamen dis dunyaya kapali olmasi ozellikle batililarda asiri bir
merak uyandirmistir. Harem sadece yabanci erkeklere degil ayni
zamanda yabanci kadinlara(musluman olmayan)'da kapaliydi.
Dolaysiyla, Osmanlilarin ozel hayatlarindaki bu gizlilik surekli
batililarin kafasini kurcalamis, hayal guclerini harekete
gecirmistir. Batililarin kendi kafalarinda canlandirdiklari harem
hayati bir cok resme, romana hatta operalara bile konu olmustur.
Ancak bunlari kaynak alarak Osmanlidaki harem hayati yada
genel olarak Osmanli donemindeki kisilerin ozel yasami konusunda
belli bir takim cikarimlarda bulunmanin dogru oldugu kanaatinde
degilim. Butun Osmanli donemine ve Osmanli toplumunun tamanina
yonelik iddiada bulunan birisinin daha tutarli ve saglam delilere
dayanmasi gerektigine inaniyorum.
Ote yandan, Osmanlida homoseksuelligin iddia edildigi gibi
gercekten cok yaygin oldugunu gosteren - iddialar disinda - hicbir
delilin mevcut oldugunu zannetmiyorum. Osmanli doneminde bu kadar
yaygin olan oglancilik yuzyillar boyu geriye yazili bir tek belge
birakilmadan nasil yurutulebilmis? Mesela, Osmanli donemindeki
cariye ticaretiyle ilgili bir cok arsiv belgesi mevcutken, oglan
ticareti ile ilgili neden yayinlanmis herhangi bir belge ortada
yok?
Netice olarak sunu konuyu ifade etmek istiyorum; Tarih'de
"fact" ile "fiction"i birbirinden ayirmak gerekli. Her hangi bir
kimsenin bir konu uzerine bulundugu iddianin tek basina fazla bir
onemi yoktur. "Fact"'ler ise cogu zaman geride bir takim fiziksel
delliler birakir, veya cesitli kaynaklar tarafindan dogrulanir.
Bu meselenin en uzucu yani ise, yillar boyu Turkiye ve genelde
Turkler aleyhinde ortaya atilan, on yargili, hatta cogu zaman irkci
ve mesnetsiz oldugu gayet bariz olan iddialarin birtakim Turkler
tarafindan "fact" kabul edilmesi. Bunun en acik ornegi ise yukarida
bahsedilen "Lawrence of Arabia" ve "Midnight Express" filmlerinde
sergilenen tecavuzcu, oglanci, iskenceci, barbar Turk imaji.
"Lawrence of Arabia" filminin bir sahnesinde Lawrence Deraa'ya
(bugunku Suriye'de Sam Amman karayolu uzerinde) kilik degistirerek
girip, Turk savunma pozisyonlari hakkinda bilgi toplamaya
calisirken Turkler tarafindan yakalaniyor. Filmde Turklerin
Lawrence'nin gercek kimligini tespit edemediklerini ancak asker
kacagi oldugunu zannederek tutukladiklari belirtiliyor. Daha sonra
ise Turk komutaninin (filmde ismi bahsedilmiyor ama Deraa'daki o
zamanki Turk komutani Hacim Bey) Lawrence'e once iskence yapip daha
sonra ise tecavuz ettigi acik bir sekilde ima ediliyor.
Bu tecavuz olayi konusunda Lawrence'nin biyografsini yazan
John E. Mack "A Prince of Our Disorder" isimli kitabinda su
gorusleri belirtiyor.
" This account of Lawrence's experience at Deraa, the only
that is detailed (Lawrence anilari basilmadan once musveddeleri bir
kac defa kapsamli bir sekilde degistirmistir. Tecavuz olayi ucuncu
duzeltmede bahsediliyor), leaves several unanswered questions.
These include, for example, how even a man of this thoughness could
have been so badly tortured and yet return to action so soon
without evidence of permanent injury; why even if he were not
identified with certainty, he was permitted to escape"
Kitabin ayni kisminda diger tarihcilerin bu olayla ilgili
goruslerinede yer verilmis.
" Some of Lawrence biographers have been skeptical about the
occurance of the Deraa episode, and a prominent American historian
(Richard Meinerthagen) recently found the story "most implausible"
"
Lawrence'nin anilarini kaleme aldigi "Seven Pillars of Wisdom"
isimli otobiyografisi uzerine arastirmalarda bulunan Jefferey
Meyers "The Wounded Sprit" isimli kitabinda, Lawrence'nin Deraa'da
tutuklanirken yaninda bulunan ve olayin gercekten olup olmadigi
konusunda tek fikir sahibi olan iki Arabin kimligini hakkinda
celiskili bilgiler verdiginden bahsetmekte. Anilarinin ilk kopyasi
olan Oxford versiyonunda Lawrence yanindaki Araplari Daher ve
Mujbil olarak tanimlamakta. Bu anilar uzerinde yaptigi duzeltmede
ise Lawrence sozkonusu iki kisinin isimlerini Halim ve Faris olarak
degistirmistir. Anilarinin ucuncu versiyonunda (basilan kopya)
Lawrence bu iki kisi hakkinda daha onceki versiyonlarda yazdigi
aciklayici bilgileri cikararak, belkide bize gercegi tek soyleyecek
iki kisinin kimligini bilincli olarak gizlemistir. Meyers
Lawrence'nin bu hareketini su sozlerle tanimliyor;
" Lawrence moved further from actual history and closer to an
imaginative re-creation of it"
Lawrence'nin uzerine biyografi kaleme alan diger bir yazar,
Richard Aldington ise Lawrence'i "habitual liar" olarak
tanimlamakta.
Ingiliz Sunday Times gazetesinin iki muhabiri Knightley ve
Simpson Deraa hadisesini arastirmak ve Hacim bey hakkinda bilgi
toplamak icin Turkiye gelmisler ve bu konuda incelemelerde
bulunmuslardir. Gorustukleri kimseler arasinda bulunan Hacim beyin
oglu (Hacim bey 1965 yilinda olmus) babasinin kendisine hic bir
zaman Lawrence'le karsilasmasi hakkinda bir sey anlatmadigini
soylemistir.
Lawrence'in iddia ettigi tecavuz olayinin gercekten olup
olmadigi bir tartisma konusu iken, Lawrence of Arabia filminde bu
olay dramatik bir sekilde sanki gercekden olmus gibi islenmis, ve
daha ilginci bu olay Lawrence'nin Turklere karsi giristigi barbarca
cinayetler icin bir "justification" olarak gosterilmistir.
"Lawrence of Arabia" filminde oldugu gibi "Midnight Express"
filminde de olaylar asiri derecede carpitilmis, olaylari dramatize
etmek icin filme bir tecavuz sahnesi eklenmistir.
Ben, Billy Hayes'in Midnight Express kitabini 1980'lerin
basinda okumustum. ABD'ye geldikten sonra ise filmi TV'den ve
videodan dort defa seyrettim. Billy Hayes'in yazdigi anilarla Alen
Parker'in yonettigi "Midnight Express" filmi arsinda icerik
acisindan cok buyuk farkliliklar var. Filmde Hayes kendisine
tecavuze yeltenen gardiyani oldurerek, gardiyanin elbiselerini
giyinip hapishaneden kaciyor. Hayes'in filmde kactigi hapishane
Istanbul'un icinde bir cezaevi. Kitapda ise -benim hatirladigim- bir
tecavuz olayi yok. Ancak, Hayes kitapda diger yabanci hukumlulerle
homoseksuel iliskiye girdiginden bahsediyor. Anilarinda Hayes
Istanbul'daki bir cezaevinden degil Marmaranin ortasinda bulunan Imrali
cezaevinden kaciyor. Kacis oykusu ise filmde anlatilandan cok
farkli. Hayes cezaevinin sandallarindan birini gece gizlice calarak
Bursa kiyilarina kadar kurek cekiyor, Oradan Istanbul'a gelip kilik
degistirerek Edirne uzerinden Yunanistan'a geciyor.
Anlasilan Alen Parker "Midnight Express" filminde kendini
Hayes'in kitabinda anlatigi olaylara fazla bagli kalmak zorunda
hissetmemis.
"Midnight Express" veya "Lawrence of Arabia" gibi filmler hic
bir seyi desteklemek icin bir delil olamaz. Bu filmlerin kendi
konularini teskil eden sahsislarin anilarini ne derecede
carpitilmis bir sekilde verdikleri oldukca acik. Bundan daha
onemlisi o anilari yazan sahislarin dogruyu ne olcude yazdiklari
buyuk bir soru isareti.
Netice itibariyla, bu tip filmleri veya bir kac kisinin hic
bir arsiv arastirmasina dayanmadan ondan bundan duyarak yazdigi
hikayeleri gercek kabul ederek - bir kisiye veya bir doneme degil -
bir milletin tamamina ve o milletin butun tarihine yonelik
suclamada bulunmanin hic bir akla, mantiga ve vicdana
sigabilecegine inanmiyorum.
Mehmet GULSEN
University of Pittsburgh