Chris Gratien, Georgetown University
On a cold night in January, a cart-driver named Mehmed stopped into an İşkembe (tripe) restaurant in Kumkapı to put some hearty food in his stomach after an evening of hard drinking. Things escalated.
There were no police in the vicinity at the time of the incident, but it was reported as a case of verbal abuse. According to the official entry in the jurnal, Arabacı Mehmed launched a drunken tirade of insults (itale-yi lisan) at the proprietor and a man named Kanun İsmail Efendi, and as a result, he was forcibly removed from the restaurant. This report seemed plausible as Mehmed was a past-offender (sabıkalı), though its not clear what variety his offense may have been.
However, a subsequent investigation of the incident revealed that the initial account was only partially true. It seems that Mehmed as reported was indeed closer to badly drunk (bedmest) than nicely tipsy (sarhoş), because during his meal he began to vomit, much to the chagrin of his co-patrons. They had come to the restaurant to eat animal stomach, not watch a man empty his. The aforementioned Kanun İsmail Efendi asked Mehmed to take his nausea elsewhere, but Mehmed paid him no mind. The indignant tripe-lover Kanun İsmail Efendi then slapped Mehmed "in an outburst of anger (bittehevvür)" as a hot-tempered overreaction to this queasy nuisance. The part about Mehmed's alleged verbal abuse had been a fabrication intended to cover up Kanun İsmail's own misdeed. Thus, Arabacı Mehmed was exonerated, though not with dignity fully intact.
However, a subsequent investigation of the incident revealed that the initial account was only partially true. It seems that Mehmed as reported was indeed closer to badly drunk (bedmest) than nicely tipsy (sarhoş), because during his meal he began to vomit, much to the chagrin of his co-patrons. They had come to the restaurant to eat animal stomach, not watch a man empty his. The aforementioned Kanun İsmail Efendi asked Mehmed to take his nausea elsewhere, but Mehmed paid him no mind. The indignant tripe-lover Kanun İsmail Efendi then slapped Mehmed "in an outburst of anger (bittehevvür)" as a hot-tempered overreaction to this queasy nuisance. The part about Mehmed's alleged verbal abuse had been a fabrication intended to cover up Kanun İsmail's own misdeed. Thus, Arabacı Mehmed was exonerated, though not with dignity fully intact.
The document is linguistically interesting for those looking for a description of an ordinary event in the stilted bureaucratic language of late Ottoman police procedures. Here is the final report of the police chief:
Havale ve tevdi buyurulan nizamiye kanunlarının 2 Kanunusani 1325 tarihli ve 548 numaralı jurnalında Kumkapı’da işkembeci dükkânında taam etmekte iken saike-yi bedmesti ile dükkân sahıbına ve bilâhara Kanun İsmail Efendi'ye itale-yi lisan eden sabıkalı takımından Arabacı Mehmed’in orada polis bulunmamasından dolayı dışarıya çıkarıldığı bildirilmekte ise de bu babda icra ettirilen tahkikata nazaren merkum Mehmed’in esna-yı taamda kay etmesi üzerine Kanun İsmail Hakkı Efendi tarafından dışarıya çıkması hakkına vaki olan ihtara ehemmiyet vermemesinden ve mumaileyhin bittehevvür merkum Mehmed’i tokatla zarp eylediğinden dolayı icra olunan tahkikat evrakının cihet-i adliyeye tevdi kılındığı ve mezkûr jurnaldaki tecavüzat-ı lisaniye fıkrasının mücerret setr-i cürüm fikrine mustenit bulunduğu Kumkapı merkez memurluğuna ba-tahkik işar olunmuş ve mezkâr jurnal leffen takdim ve iade kılınmış olduğu maruzdur efendim.
Source: BOA, DH-EUM-THR 58/46 (19 Muharrem 1329).
It is necessary to make some corrections in the transcription:
ReplyDeleteKanunusani : Kânûn-i sânî;
jurnalında :jurnalinde, jurnaldaki: jurnaldeki;
saike-yi bedmesti: sâ’ika-i bedmestî;
sahıbına: sâhibine;
bilâhara: bi’l-âhire or bi’l-âhare;
itale-yi lisan: itâle-i lisân;
nazaren: nazaran;
zarp: darb;
mustenit: müstenid;
mezkâr: mezkûr