{"id":54172,"date":"2012-06-15T09:58:02","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T06:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=54172"},"modified":"2014-01-07T17:24:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T15:24:20","slug":"forty-thorns-by-judy-light-ayyildiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2012\/06\/15\/forty-thorns-by-judy-light-ayyildiz\/","title":{"rendered":"Forty Thorns by Judy Light Ayyildiz"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Forty Thorns<\/span><\/em> by Judy Light Ayyildiz<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>A Dignified Story Of The Balkan Tragedy and Nation Building<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Book Review by Ergun Kirlikovali<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Can you hear the silent cries?\u00a0 Of a lonely baby here?\u00a0 A grandmother there? <\/span><\/p>\n

Can you feel the pain of broken families? Lost siblings and parents? Destroyed lives? And little dreams?<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you sense the sights and sounds of those subtle impressions of turbulent yesteryear? <\/span><\/p>\n

So close to your heart and soul, and yet, so far to your tired mind and daily grind…<\/span><\/p>\n

So painful and vivid, and yet, so lacking and forgettable. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then, in the middle of vast nothingness, profound suffering,\u00a0 and unrelenting deficiency\u2026 you come across hope, magnanimity, and dare I say, renewal! <\/span><\/p>\n

I am, of course, talking about countless weary Turks today who trace their lineage to the infamous Balkan Tragedy.<\/span><\/p>\n

You touch the little dreams of these tormented people, and \u201cPuff!\u201d, they turn into magnanimous giants\u2026 \u00a0\u201cWhat a heart!\u201d<\/em> you conclude, \u00a0\u201cafter all that torment, all that pain, all that loss, not a single manifestation of depression or rebellion or, god forbid, hate<\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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These are the sentiments that tossed me like tumbleweeds into a forgotten past of a sad geography while I was reading Forty Thorns<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0Frankly, I was not quite ready for what awaited me in the unassuming pages of this heart wrenching literary fiction. <\/span><\/p>\n

In one episode when the main character, Adalet, was describing the sights and sounds of that last \u201cescape train\u201d from Bulgaria in October or November of 1912, I thought my heart was pounding so hard that it would escape my chest. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Adalet, the main character, in her 80s<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Photo courtesy of Judy Ayyildiz)<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0I was reading as fast as I could, perhaps not paying due attention to the genuinely brilliant story telling that the writer, Judy Light Ayyildiz, generously put forth, with the hope of coming across some evidence of personal value. \u00a0When I read the lines where Adalet hears voices of a baby, I thought this was my eureka moment\u2026 <\/span>my moment of truth and I began to review an oral history that I hold in my own mind:<\/span><\/p>\n

“ This little baby boy grabbed my attention. \u00a0He was crying but there was nobody around to care of him. What was his story? \u00a0I approached and picked him up. \u00a0I noticed a piece of crumpled, old paper, pinned on his tiny baby clothes, with some faint words scribbled on it, apparently in haste: \u00a0\u00a0‘Akif’s son Ratip. Born in 1911. Kirlikova’<\/strong>. \u00a0\u00a0I didn’t know what to do. \u00a0So I handed him over to the Ottoman Official whose name tag read<\/em>….”<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, unbeknownst to Adalet, and probably to most readers, there was another inconspicuous rider on that train: \u00a0a one-year-old baby with no parents, relatives or even acquaintances accompanying him. \u00a0A solo traveler who was totally left in the care of the Ottoman officials. \u00a0That one-year-old, orphan baby boy was my father and I was desperately looking for clues in Forty Thorns<\/em><\/strong> about my dad’s presence on that train.\u00a0 Alas, I did not have any!\u00a0 \u00a0I still owe the writer a debt of gratitude, however, \u00a0as she brought me so close to that eternally elusive moment. <\/span><\/p>\n

I totally understand that as Adalet, the main character, was too concerned about the well being of her own family to worry about a homeless baby, one of perhaps hundreds, even thousands, \u00a0on that train. \u00a0I might read the book again to see if I have missed any clues as it is a fantastic reading, after all. <\/span><\/p>\n

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When I retire, in about, say, a million years from now, I plan to tell my parents’ story.\u00a0 On one side, my \u00a0father, a one-year-old baby from the village of KIRLIKOVA in 1912, which is located in the borderline area of rolling hills where Bulgaria meets Greece today, but neither apparently meets humanity.\u00a0 And on the other, my mother, half of whose parents and grandparents were also slaughtered but in another Balkan town, Skopje (Uskup in Turkish), and by another Balkan Christian group, Serbians.\u00a0 My mother’s story is similar, but involves no train as it was not deemed safe enough; just on foot alongside ox-pulled-cart caravans and through roads least travelled, for safety reasons\u2014some safety; half the family could still not escape painful death at the hands of marauding Christian revolutionaries..<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0We, Turks, do not tell our tragedies; we just want to forget about them and move on with hope towards the promise of rekindling and rejuvenation.\u00a0\u00a0 While it may be understandable, that does not make it right. \u00a0So, I thank the writer, Judy Light Ayyildiz, for telling her mother-in-laws\u2019 compelling story, which happens to be my father\u2019s story, give or take a little, and quite possibly yours, too, and in fact, the story of most Turks today. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Judy Light Ayyildiz, the author <\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Photo courtesy of Judy Ayyildiz)<\/span><\/p>\n

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I am not surprised that Forty Thorns<\/em><\/strong> has just won 1st Place in Literary Fiction awards and also become a finalist in Historical Fiction given by the International Book Awards. (See the link: <\/span>http:\/\/www.internationalbookawards.com\/2012pressrelease.html<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/span><\/span> .)<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who scream genocide of this or that today would be eternally ashamed to level those charges against Turks if they knew about half the cruelty\u00a0 and deaths Turks suffered at the hands of Balkan Christian nationalists during the many Balkan Wars (1877-1913) and Anatolian Christian nationalists during \u00a0armed revolts (1882-1922,) World War One (1914-1918,) and, finally, the Turkish Independence War (1919-1922.)\u00a0 It may be said that from 1877 to 1922, Muslims, mostly Turks, were subjected to unspeakable tortures, brutality, mortality, and forced migrations, all of which are still conveniently ignored in the West. \u00a0\u00a0The fact that Turkish suffering is untold may explain why it is still largely unknown today.\u00a0 This wonderful novel, \u00a0Forty Thorns<\/em><\/strong> , is only the tip of the iceberg of that period of history.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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Judy Ayyildiz and her mother-in-law, Adalet<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Photo courtesy of Judy Ayyildiz)<\/span><\/p>\n

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I am moved by the incredible resilience of those Turks during nation-building years. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How can one create something out of nothing? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who are those people with true grit? <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, read the book to find out. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Balkan Turks fleeing death and destruction at the hands<\/p>\n

Of Balkan Christian nationalists (1912)<\/p>\n

(Photo: courtesy of http:\/\/www.eraren.org<\/span> \u00a0)<\/p>\n

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After reading Forty Thorns<\/em><\/strong>, I felt I knew nothing about matters of suffering and loss, as I have not experienced anything even remotely close to what Adalet and her family, friends, and others have gone through:\u00a0 torment, disappointment,\u00a0 adversity,\u00a0 scarcity, and more.\u00a0 But eventually, some sense of triumph.\u00a0 Well, sort of.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

I feel \u00a0I am doing this book injustice by this review as I have dwelled so much on suffering and loss and not enough on renewal and nation building during the Ataturk years of the Republic of Turkey. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One must read with compassion to see how women and children are empowered and educated in those years of grinding poverty, endless wars, and exhaustion. \u00a0I will defer this task to the book. \u00a0The reader will appreciate what I mean as the story sadly unfolds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, I do not want to spoil the fun by telling who did what, but I feel compelled to quote this poignant Turkish poem on page 328, composed by the main character, Adalet, with riveting simplicity and profound impact, with heart and soul,\u00a0 for which I am humbly proposing this new English translation, to make it even more heartrending, just like the way it truly is in its magnificent original Turkish:<\/span><\/p>\n

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My Joyful World is torn apart,<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Shrunken on its axis.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The candle of love went out,<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My heart became a shrine-keeper.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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May your candle of love never go out\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

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Erg\u00fcn K\u0131rl\u0131koval\u0131<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Forty Thorns by Judy Light Ayyildiz \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A Dignified Story Of The Balkan Tragedy and Nation Building Book Review by Ergun Kirlikovali     Can you hear the silent cries?\u00a0 Of a lonely baby here?\u00a0 A grandmother there? Can you feel the pain of broken families? Lost siblings and parents? Destroyed lives? And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":54176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}