My Father’s Books

Holidays in Defeats

160 Hol­ i­ days in De­ feats He ­ walked late into the night along the shore of the Bos­ porus, now il­ lu­ mi­ nated by the moon, cer­ tain that he would never again re­ turn to these ­ shores. In his mind, the hol­ i­ days in the ­ sultan’s pal­ aces on the Bos­ porus, in the mar­ ble cit­ a­ del of ­ Dolmabahçe, ­ sprang to life. In the night­ time, si­ lence ­ reigned, dis­ turbed only inter­ mit­ tently by the ­ stronger waves, which ­ seemed to be ruled by the ­ moon’s rays. The moon lit up the blue mar­ ble ­ beauty, adorn­ ing its pale, ­ deathly clad­ ding. In the dis­ tance sea­ birds fore­ told the fu­ ture ­ events in the life of the Bal­ kans. My ­ father im­ a­ gined the pal­ ace on one of the great re­ li­ gious or im­ pe­ rial hol­ i­ days or dur­ ing vic­ tory cel­ e­ bra­ tions, most often after great de­ feats of Bal­ kan na­ tions. Here in this true cas­ cade of crys­ tal, gold, and sil­ ver, silk and vel­ vet, ­ created from the ­ victor’s ­ spoils, was every­ thing the em­ pire had ac­ quired in the Bal­ kans, in Af­ rica, Asia, and Eu­ rope. Here they cel­ e­ brated all their vic­ to­ ries, all our de­ feats. Here in these crys­ tals cul­ mi­ nated the splen­ dor of a great em­ pire, its power hold­ ing on ­ through fu­ ture vic­ to­ ries. When ­ strings of de­ feats began to fol­ low in ever more rapid suc­ ces­ sion, the cel­ e­ bra­ tions be­ came ever more rau­ cous until they be­ came ul­ ti­ mate de­ feat in this mul­ ti­ fac­ eted si­ lence, which my ­ father, alone and ex­ hausted, de­ ci­ phered on the ­ shores of the Bos­ porus, res­ o­ lutely de­ ter­ mined to trace in the Bal­ kans the de­ feats of these glit­ ter­ ing Bos­ porus ­ lights and ra­ di­ ance. ...