Papatya (Chamomile Flower)
A story that reveals some of the brutal yet beautiful truths of Turkey’s past and darkness. As told to me by my father.
In Turkey, I worked from the main military base in Çakmakli. It is on the European side of Turkey, East Thrace, about an hour west of Istanbul and overlooking the Marmara Sea.
Throughout the year when we worked in the field, we saw various animals. In the summer, we found two ancient tortoises among some boulders. We almost didn’t see them because they were so well-camouflaged, but they were enormous, weighing at least 30 or 40 pounds each. We thought they were an old married couple and just let them go.
Another time in the middle of the summer, we were surprised when a giant golden eagle swooped down in front of us and fluttered its wings for a few seconds before it took off.
Sometimes we would run into hunters and get a rabbit from them to make a stew. Some of the guys knew what plants were edible so we gathered mushrooms and kekik (thyme) to add to the stew. We used whatever pot we could find. One time we used an old paint can, and even though we had to set it on the fire for a long time, in the end the stew tasted delicious.
