The amulet
19th of March 1953
Dear Aise,
If you are reading this letter, it means I am no longer alive. I hope that you, my sister, are healthy. Don’t fear Ali. He cannot hurt a fly. I met him when he was an orphan wandering around the streets of Thessaloniki, when I had first left Istanbul and I felt bad for him. Know he must have turned into a young man. I asked him, if I perish, to look for you, to give you ten liras and the amulet with this letter.
In Greece they didn’t want us to work on their lands. They called us «Turks» or even members of the male harems of the Ottoman men in power. They don’t even care that our mother was from Smyrna. They don’t even know that we look across the Bosporus Strait trying to wave on the other side.
After a couple of moons, I managed to find a job in the pits of Komotini. The town is beautiful even though we are not being paid enough and have to work every day for our mere survival. When I met Konstantina, she was wearing this amulet. Her whole family tree is from Thraki, I loved her a lot. She gave it to me on a night that was pouring. I never saw her again. Keep the amulet. I did not sell it when I was hungry.
Kisses,
Selim Emiroglu
Evaggelia Smprini
1st Model High School of Chalkida