Attention! Attention!
Human life is the most precious thing
there is.
If you don't think of yourselves...
...think of the people you love,
your parents, brothers and sisters...
...who worry about you,
who are waiting anxiously for you.
You won't gain anything by sending
your closest friends to their death.
We've planned this intervention
on purely humanitarian grounds.
And we don't want any of you
getting hurt in the course of it.
Don't try to fight us.
If you give yourselves up...
...prisoners who are sick,
injured or on hunger strike...
...will be transferred to hospital
immediately...
...the others will be transferred to
F-type jails...
...and you'll get to see your families
over the public holiday.
Life is beautiful in spite of everything!
Take a deep breath.
And another one.
Cough for me.
Look at you! Coming barefoot to the
infirmary when you're this sick!
Look, I'll be frank with you.
Your lungs are ruined!
I warned you before the hunger strike.
There's not much I can do for you.
A lot of people better off than you have
filed appeals under article 309.
And most of them have been released.
Passengers for Shana!
Come on! It's leaving right now!
If it'd rained another 15 minutes
there'd have been floods like last time.
- They almost took the bridge away.
- We'd have been ruined.
Lucky it didn't carry on.
Floods here, drought there...
God take care of us!
How many years has it been, Yusuf?
Ten years, Hikmet Amca.
Who is our friend there?
I don't recognise him, srafil.
You don't? It's Yusuf,
the son of old Bekay Cemal.
I still don't recognise him.
Where's he been all this time?
In jail.
Mum!
Yusuf, is that you?
Yusuf!
It's so wonderful to see you!
Is this a dream, son?
Are you well, son?
You've come all that way.
Mom don't cry.
Have you grown or shrunk, son?
I can't decide.
How do I know?
Maybe you've grown in 10 years.
Isn't that normal?
But you haven't grown, son.
You've got so thin.
I didn't want to tell anyone
my troubles, son.
I went and cried in the garden,
cried by the door.
I cried in your room and
stared at the walls.
OK, Mum. Don't tire yourself out.
I can do it.
Lie down and have a rest, son.
I cooked egg.
I've not been able to eat a thing.
Nothing goes down.
I wondered what you got to eat there.
Were you hungry? Thirsty?
Did they give you meat?
What did you eat? I had no idea.
But thank God all the same.
At least he brought you back to me.
You were able to come back.
See? I'm here now, Mum.
Yusuf, there's one thing
I'm curious about.
Do they keep you locked up
in cells all day...
...or are you sometimes
let out in the fresh air?
They usually unlock the cells
during the day.
But once it's evening, they do a roll call
and lock the cells again.
Yusuf, I can't even take a day at home.
How did you take 10 years in one room?
Oh, Nesibe!
How about asking how I managed?
Oh, son!
See what you put me through.
Yusuf, how many people are there
in F-type jails?
As far as I know...
Drop the F-types!
Don't upset the guy on his first day out!
- Find something else to talk about!
- Right. Let's talk about our livelihood.
Will the state pay our tea money?
Or won't it?
Mikahil, the boy's asleep.
Let's make a move.
We must be off.
Drop by at the workshop.
Yes, it really is late.
We should get going too.
At last you've got him back!
We're so happy for you, Glefer Hanm.
Yusuf, it's great to have you back.
Onur, don't play here, son.
You'll wake Yusuf.
He didn't sleep at all last night.
- How are you doing?
- Good.
Didn't you go to school today?
I did, but the teacher was sick.
So we got the day off.
You're not lying, are you?
Look, if you're lying,
I'll come to school tomorrow and ask.
How are you doing in class?
My Turkish is good,
but I'm not so great at maths.
Not so great, huh?
So what are you going to be
when you grow up?
- A doctor.
- A doctor.
But if you want to be a doctor,
you need to work on that maths.
Right?
Anyway, whatever you decide to be...
...the more maths you know,
the better your brain will work.
Have you got a bicycle?
Dad was going to get me one last year
but he never got round to it.
Look, let's make a deal.
Come to me at the weekends
and let's work on your maths.
Then if you get a five for maths
I'll get you a bike. OK?
OK.
- Is that a deal?
- It's a deal.
What did you study
when you grew up?
- Me? I studied maths.
- Did you become a teacher?
You know what a researcher is, right?
- I went to that kind of school.
But I didn't finish. - Like a scientist?
Well... Something like that.
What do scientists do anyway?
Come at the weekend
and you'll find out.
Where were you all this time?
- In prison.
- Where was the prison? Far away?
Well, a bit further than Istanbul.
- Who made that?
- I did.
Can I have a look?
Come on! Grab your bag.
Run! Hurry inside!
Dear Dad, Mum, Sis and
everyone else in the family...
...I miss you all and send you
great armfuls of love and good wishes.
Do forgive me for not writing...
...for such a long time.
The trial will most probably end in July.
Everything's pretty much complete.
As it's a political case
they might drag things out a bit.
But I can guess the outcome
so I'm warning you now.
They're pushing for 12 years.
This is the sentence I'm likely to get.
Aren't you cold out here?
You were coughing all night.
I hope you're not getting sick.
I'd do anything for you.
Hey, ho!
There's been snow up in the hills.
What are you going to do
with that milk?
Oh, Nesibe!
My troubles never seem to end.
I think the boy's sick.
I've made the milk for him.
The sun's beautiful. Get up.
Go into town. Go down to the village.
Go and see Mikahil.
Come on now. Get up, son.
Come on.
Hey, Yusuf! Where are you off to?
Going into town?
Aha, Ahmet Amca.
So are we. Come and wait with us.
The minibus will soon be here.
Now forget that business
and stop talking rot, Ahmet.
What's this tourism thing about?
Tell us about that.
I don't understand
the first thing about it.
A place without tourism
has no chance of development.
Once you've got tourism, you get
guesthouses, hotels, restaurants...
- What did you say, Ahmet Amca?
- I'm talking about tourism. Tourism!
I guess the minibus is running late.
So maybe I'll walk.
Look who you ask! The guy's off his head
after 10 years in jail.
What else do you expect
after that long in prison?
OK, kids.
Is there anything else you want?
Have you got any Russian novels?
Have a look on that shelf up there.
You should find a couple.
Thanks.
That's eight million.
- Thanks.
- Goodbye.
God, even their hookers are educated!
That'll be eight million.
Abi, are you from around here?
I feel like I know you from somewhere.
If you say so.
Come back!
I've left you something to eat.
You know what he's like.
He turns up next day and says sorry.
Don't you know him yet?
Is my little Sopiko at home, Mum?
Put her on the phone.
Sopiko, how are you, my sweet?
I miss you so much.
What would you like?
Tell me what I can get you.
OK. You want a horse-drawn carriage?
I'll get you one to play with.
Now give the phone back to Granny.
Mum, I have to go now.
I'll call again later.
- You're done?
- Yes.
Hey, Yusuf!
What's up?
I guess the outdoors
doesn't do it for you.
No, it's not that.
It's just I wasn't feeling so great.
Right, OK. Well, come on then.
Let's have a smoke outside.
The weather's turned too.
It looks like it's going to rain.
So... What are you going to do?
Go back to Istanbul?
No.
I'm here for the time being.
I'll probably stick around here
for a few months more.
What have you been up to?
When I didn't get into university
I started working with my dad.
The idea was to stay a few months
and then take off somewhere else.
But suddenly it's 10 years later
and I'm still here, fuck it!
Never mind
This place is just another prison.
Hey, Mikahil! Haven't you finished
those door and window frames yet?
Harun Amca...
I told you I had anotherjob to finish
before I could start yours.
You always have otherjobs to finish,
you miserable cheat! Damn you!
If you can't do it, say so.
Thanks to you, I've now got
the old hag bleating at me at home.
If you can't do it, say so!
Goddamn you!
Hang around all these geriatrics here
and you get to be like them.
Hello?
Yes, he's here.
Yusuf! Mikahil's on the phone.
He wants to talk to you.
Hello?
Oh no!
I forgot the bread in the oven.
I don't know
whether to come or not.
Isn't it late?
How would we get there?
Stop talking nonsense!
Get out of the house for once!
OK, OK. Don't shout.
I'll be down there in 10 minutes.
All right. By the bridge. OK.
Hey, Mikahil.
Maybe we should go somewhere else.
Why? We'll have a couple of drinks
then go.
Hey! You haven't been around
for a while, Mikahil! How's things?
- Fine. And you?
- Good.
Mikahil, where's the bathroom?
Over there. See?
Maria...
Come over and join us.
OK, darling. Thanks.
This Norwegian guy comes to Hopa.
A seaman. To unload his cargo.
It rained for days on end.
So he had to wait.
Maria, Eka... Yusuf.
Finally he unloaded his cargo
and went back.
Then this guy from Hopa goes to Norway.
He runs into the guy there.
And the Norwegian guys asks,
"Is it still raining there?"
I'm feeling hammered.
Should I drive in this state?
I say it's better not to.
Let's go and stay in a hotel.
We can go back to the village
first thing in the morning.
It's up to you
but what will Asiye say?
Don't you worry about that.
I'll call her from the hotel.
What are you staring at?
Are you going stand there all night?
Wait! Stop!
It makes no difference to me
whether you wanted it or your friend.
- This isn't what I want. No.
- I've been paid for the night.
This isn't what I want.
I've got a little girl.
Her name's Sopo.
She's four.
- Where is she now?
- With my mother.
I don't even want to see her father.
He never calls
to ask how she is anyway.
So you spent the best years
of your life in jail...
...because you wanted socialism.
Are you crazy?
Haven't you had any sleep yet?
You need to see a doctor.
How about we go up to the hills
at the weekend?
Are you crazy?
Go up to the hills in this weather?
Sure. It's better now.
The last time we went it was autumn.
Look, we can only go so far in this.
Then we'd have to walk.
We'll do it in spring.
Come on. Sing along!
When are you coming?
OK. I'm with you. During the
semester break. Right. OK.
And you say hello to my brother-in-law
for me. OK. I'll pass you over.
Mum!
What is it, my love?
I'm not well. My bronchitis is worse.
The pills I've taken aren't working.
I'm getting breathless again.
Yes, my love?
OK, my love.
Give Nehir a kiss for me. OK.
Silly old man!
Your father was mad at your sister
for marrying this man.
As for you, he'd say what was the good
of sending you to school...
...when you ended up in jail?
He was always bitter.
He never stopped.
He always said
you children took after me.
And now he's gone. Dead.
Buried in the garden.
He never saw you again, son.
I don't know.
- Let me go and get some water.
- I'll get it, Mum.
No, son.
I was getting up anyway.
Well, son. So he wasn't meant
to see you again.
But I've seen you.
He died too soon.
Shoo! Go away! Damn you!
Why are you here squawking again?
- Are you done, Onur?
- Yes.
Here. Let's have a look.
This question was 213 times 45.
- Is it right?
- Yes. Well done!
- You see? It's not so hard after all.
- Yes.
OK. Do those four questions there then
we'll have a look together. OK, Onur?
I've made tea, Yusuf.
Did you make your own tea in prison
or get it from outside?
We made it ourselves.
So could do your own thing there?
- Are you going to do the sugar yourself?
- No. I don't want any.
Oh, son!
It's been 10 years
since I last drank tea.
Let me see what it tastes like.
Why are you so pale, son?
You're not sick, are you?
Are you not telling me something?
Is there something troubling you?
Did they beat you a lot in prison?
Did they treat you badly?
You never say anything.
You never talk. Huh?
You never tell me
this happened or that happened.
Hello, Cihan?
It's me, Yusuf.
I'm fine, thanks.
No, I haven't seen anyone yet.
OK, sure. Let's meet.
No, I don't have a mobile
or anything like that.
But I'll come into town tomorrow.
It doesn't matter.
You know what we should do?
Let's meet at the post office
tomorrow at two o'clock.
OK.
OK, Cihan. See you then.
Thanks.
How are you doing?
Have you got yourself together a bit?
- Do you have any kind of problem?
- No, no. I'm fine. Really.
Yesterday I called
the guys at the magazine.
They were worried.
They hadn't heard from you.
I don't know. Time goes so fast.
Right. They said hello to you.
They asked if you needed anything.
No. It's nice of them to ask.
I'll give them a call sometime.
- Say hello if you speak to them.
- I will say it.
- What have you been up to?
- Well, I don't know.
Time just stood still inside
but out here it seems to fly by.
We had a boy, you know.
Now we've got a little girl as well.
Really?
That's great.
Are you in touch with
friends from back then?
I call them sometimes. Do you remember
Sinan.
He got married with Feryal and had kids.
He brought his family and come from
Erzincan to here last summer.
We went up to the hills all together.
They had a week here.
Really? I'm so happy for him.
I mean, he got to be a father too.
Yes he got. We'd like too.
Do you hear from Neslihan?
- Neslihan got married, you know.
- She did?
Here, let's sit down over there.
God... Remember the summer of 1991
when you start university...
We spent whole nights out here.
How could I forget?
Wow! That was 16 years ago.
Well, I guess that was our lot in life.
But none of it was a waste of time.
I'd do it all over again if I had to.
Union confederations,
medical chambers...
...and several other NGOs...
...have released a joint statement
to end practices in F-type prisons...
Yusuf, it's too late son. Let's sleep...
...that drew publicity when Behi A,
the lawyer, went on hunger strike.
The statement calls
on the justice ministry...
Also speaking at the event
was A's mother, Fazilet Erdoan.
Erdoan, who ended her speech in tears,
accused the ministry of gross injustice.
Sleyman elebi, chairman of DISK,
the radical union confederation...
...claimed that Turkey was faced
with practices in its F-type prisons...
...that amounted to torture.
First read the question carefully.
- Got it?
- Yes.
Where did you go wrong here?
On the nines.
Whatever... Learn your times table
up to the nines by next week...
...and let's be done with it.
They dance so beautifully,
don't they?
There was a Russian duo
back in my time.
It was like they were flying
through the air.
Onur, what's up? Where are you going?
Come and have an apple. Come back.
I don't want to. I'm going.
Why did you go and upset the boy, son?
Yusuf son...
If you're not going back to Istanbul,
let me find you a girl here.
Let's get you married.
I could well die soon.
Let me see you happily married.
It's still early days, Mum.
We'll see about it later.
OK, then. It's up to you.
- Mum...
- Yes, son.
Tomorrow Mikahil and me
are going up to the hills.
In this weather, son?
You picked the wrong time of year.
- Hey, Mikahil!
- Yes?
I wonder what the
weather's like up there?
There's no telling, Yusuf.
There could be snow or bright sunshine.
We'll see when we get there.
Hey, Mikahil!
Hey, Mikahil!
Have you lost your way, numskull?
Where are you going
in weather like this?
Up to the hills, Yaar Amca.
I know it seems weird.
Good God! You must be mad!
Yaar Amca,
did you get stocked up with booze?
How could I? There's no place
to buy drink around here.
I've got a 70cl bottle.
I can give you a double.
Hey, Mikahil! Who is this lad?
I don't recognise him.
Don't you? It's Cemal Amca's son.
He was in jail.
Oh, right! The lad who got mixed up
in all that anarchist business.
Mikahil, drop me offjust ahead, will you?
Thanks.
Have a good trip now.
Well, there you go, Yusuf.
The highland hills for you!
Hey, come on!
Hang on in there a bit longer, Yusuf.
We're almost there.
Yusuf, are you OK?
Yes, I'm fine.
It's just my breathing.
Come on. Get up!
It's no distance to go now.
- Is there further to go?
- No, we're there.
- What's up?
- I'm done in.
- But we're as good as there!
- I can't take another step.
All right. You take it easy
while I'll go and light the stove.
I was madly in love with Asiye once.
Now I don't even want to go home.
At least in the old days...
...there was hope of a life, of socialism,
fuck it. However right or wrong.
Now they've taken that away too.
They've destroyed that, fuck it.
Now their women come
and work as whores.
And the men nick the steel
from the factories to sell.
Hey, Yusuf!
Get up!
We're not done with the raki yet.
Fuck you!
Get up!
Hey, Mikahil.
You haven't changed one bit.
Here, pass it over.
Here we go then!
You banged on about coming here
but it's good you did.
The weather's settled down.
You didn't sleep all night, son.
You were coughing all the time.
Have you got sick?
Here, drink this milk.
Have a sip.
What a chill you've caught!
You don't go up to the hills
at this time of year, son!
Come on. Have a bit more.
OK, say you didn't know. But Mikahil?
He knows you don't go up there in winter.
You're not children now.
Damn those crows!
They squawked and squawked.
I wonder who's died.
Who's died, Sedriye Teyze?
Makarolu smet.
Have you never had a lover?
Yes, I have.
Before I went to jail.
We were at the same university.
Where is she now?
She got married.
I found out the other day.
You should drink less.
Just ignore me.
Nesibe, I want to get the boy married
but he won't have it
I don't know what to do.
I want him settled before I die.
Don't rush things. What's the hurry?
Let the boy rest and sort himself out.
When spring comes, he might meet someone
at a wedding. Then things will happen.
- You mean I should wait?
- Yes, wait.
The boy's only just out of prison.
He needs to rest and sort himself out.
I don't know.
He won't get married, Nesibe.
- Where are the keys? I want to take
the car. - What's up, Yusuf?
There, see?
Get from over there.
- Hello?
- Eka a client is giving 100 dollar.
No, Maria. I don't want to.
Altough your visa finished
why don't you come to work?
I don't want to go out tonight.
I'm going to stay at the hotel.
OK. See you.
Child...
If you only knew how hard it was.
What can be done, Uncle Vanya?
We have to live.
Whether we like it or not,
we'll live, Uncle Vanya.
There are long days ahead of us...
...suffocating evenings.
We'll do our best to patiently endure
all the tests destiny throws at us.
We'll plant and harvest for others.
Today and later
when we're incapacitated...
...we'll still work without respite.
When our times comes...
...we'll bid a meek farewell.
And there, we'll speak of this.
We'll say how we suffered
in this world...
...how we shed so many tears and
how we endured great sorrows.
God will take pity on us.
And both of us, dear Uncle...
...will begin to live.
It'll be a radiant life...
...a beautiful life...
...a sweet life.
We'll remember our unhappiness here...
...with compassion and forbearance
and look back on the past with a smile.
Have you been to the doctor?
You know, you seem like
you don't live in the present.
It's like you've walked off
the pages of a Russian novel.
You know what I've been thinking?
I wish I could leave everything behind...
...and set off on a long journey with you.
It's a wild city
the guys have got there, Yusuf.
It's only five kilometres away...
...but look at their city
then look at ours.
I'd love to see Batumi.
It's supposed to be beautiful.
Hey, Mikahil. How long does it take
does it take to get a passport?
Not long. A couple of days.
If you get a six-month one,
it costs something like 250-300.
Sand this, will you?
Hey...
If you're worried about money,
don't be. I'll sort something out.
Well...
That would be great, you know.
I couldn't explain to Mum.
Not in less than two hours.
Hey, quiet. Listen to that!
Don't even mention it.
I'm talking to you! Listen to me.
I know your mind's somewhere else.
If you weren't planning to work,
why did you blow your visa and passport?
You know what a pain it is
to get them.
Don't tell me
you've fallen in love? Huh?
I don't know.
Do what you like.
What a cute harmonica he has!
Maria, you go to the hotel.
I'm going to go to the shore
and get some air.
I don't understand you.
Go get stuffed for all I care.
Hello... Mehmet?
I'm on my way back to Georgia now.
OK. I'll give you a call
when I arrive.
We had heaps of chestnuts this year.
It was obvious there'd be a lot of snow.
Don't stop, Yusuf.
You used so play so beautifully.
Play some more, will you?
To the beautiful children of this
impatient times... who never chasing dreams