Chapter 58: Time is a Thief (1 to 30 April 1939)
Prologue – April Fool’s Day
The
Kelebek Kompositor, aka
Darth Kelebek, aka
The Red Butterfly, wakes early in the morning of April 1st. Though many believe he never sleeps, he does – just not very much and he takes care to do so where no-one else can see him indulging in such human frailty. He senses something is wrong: what he thinks of as a ‘disturbance in the force’. He has been combing the mean streets of Istanbul discovering and eliminating Axis agents of influence for Interior Minister Kaya.
But today, the feeling is different. He can sense a deeper plot in the air. Before the sun rises he is up and out with a sense of purpose, even urgency. His leads – and his sixth sense for devious, violent and evil plots – take him to the Dolmabahçe Palace, Atatürk’s residence, where he is resting and taking his treatment for liver failure. He prowls the corridors, almost like a bloodhound sniffing out trouble. He proceeds to Atatürk’s chamber, where he has risen at mid-morning and is about to have his breakfast.
Kelebek ckecks with the guard at the door. “Anything unusual this morning, Ridvan?”
The guard, while a hard man and a war veteran, regards Kelebek with a mixture of fear and (well concealed) distaste. But also respect.
“Same routine as usual, Mr Kelebek. He has risen late and has just been given his breakfast and milk thistle extract.” Ridvan pauses for a moment; he is one of the Father Turk’s longest serving and most observant guards. “Though come to think of it, the maid who delivered it was new. She said something about the usual maid being ill today and …”
Atatürk about to imbibe his morning tea and milk thistle extract. As usual, he is also having a health-giving cigarette with his meal. I’m sure that helped the cirrhosis as well.
But Kelebek has already burst through the door and moved like a hot desert wind into Atatürk’s room.
“STOP!” he yells in a blood-freezing scream.
Atatürk was about to raise the milk-thistle mixture to his lips, and does indeed freeze.
“Have you drunk any of it yet?” asks Kelebek urgently. Atatürk shakes his head. “Please, put the cup down carefully sir,” he instructs more calmly now.
Kelebek walks over and sniffs the mixture. He is a master of poisons and detects the tell-tale signs of cyanide, which the attempted poisoner had relied on being masked by the liver-treatment mixture. “This was an assassination attempt. Nobody touch this tray. Get the President to a safe location immediately. I will discover the details of this plot and report back.” There is not a hint of doubt in his voice. He sweeps out of the room.
The replacement ‘maid’ has already made her escape. The usual maid is discovered shortly afterwards at her home; murdered. But Kelebek is now on the scent.
A few hours later, he has gathered Ridvan and the head of the Palace security detail, Polat ‘Paulie’ Gültekin. Gültekin had been at home earlier this morning, having called in sick, but has now arrived at the Palace. They are all tense, Gültekin particularly so. He is looking drawn and pale. They are about to head over to the Istanbul HQ of the Interior Ministry to make their report.
Polat 'Paulie' Gültekin, head of the Palace security detail.
As they are about to leave, the head cook gives Polat a box of baklava: “It’s for Minister Kaya – it will help with his apoplexy when he hears about what has happened!” Given the morning’s events, Kelebek checks it over, but it is fine and he gives it the all clear.
As they drive through Istanbul, Kelebek starts talking to Gültekin: “Paulie, just so I have this straight, who reviewed the maids' roster this morning and authorised the change?”
Paulie fidgets uneasily. “You know I checked in sick this morning, Kelebek. So I wasn’t able to review the roster today. I’m sorry.”
Kelebek nods. “I see. Well, no matter, I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of this soon.”
Paulie relaxes. It is clear Kelebek is not particularly suspicious of him, he’s just checking the angles.
“Ridvan, pull over could you, I need to take a leak,” says Kelebek as they drive past a deserted area of park land. Ridvan looks at him in the rear-vision mirror; Kelebek nods slightly then gets out of car and moves off to the side of the road. He relieves himself, his back to the car. There are two gunshots.
He returns to the car; Ridvan has put two bullets through Paulie’s forehead.
“That is his reward for betrayal,” says Kelebek coldly. Paulie had checked in sick three times in the last month. Each time he got calls from a payphone across from the Palace building. Kelebek had checked the telephone exchange records this morning. The number was traced to an Italian ‘Import-Export’ business run by a man named Virgil ‘The Turk’ Sollozzo. He is a known enforcer and drug dealer for a powerful Sicilian crime family. Polat Gültekin had sold out his President - for money.
Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo is a top narcotics man for the Sicilian Mafia. The Interior Ministry believes he is associated with the Tattaglia crime family.
Sollozzo is known as The Turk because he has a nose like a Turkish scimitar and because of the poppy fields he now owns in Turkey
[Ed. a ‘real’ part of his Godfather persona, so one of the reasons he has become embroiled in this narrative], which he runs out of his ‘compound’ in Istanbul. He is also involved in prostitution. He began making underworld contacts in the 1930s and once tried to have Luca Brasi garroted, when both were working for rival crime families. But he missed when attempting to stab Brasi through the hand while an assassin tried to strangle him, back in Sicily. The assassin was killed, but Sollozzo made good his escape. This incident was what had prompted Brasi to escape Italy and eventually take up service with Turkish Intelligence – and is behind his codename ‘Pianowire’. Ironically, now Brasi is in Rome, while Sollozzo is in Istanbul.
Today’s assassination plot had failed and they now had an important new clue about the wider conspiracy. Kaya would have mixed feelings about this morning’s events, but just to be sure he remained calm, they would take him a tasty treat …
“Ridvan, we leave him here as a message to our enemies. We will force them to react, break cover and reveal themselves.” Kelebek will enjoy this. “Leave the gun – take the baklava.”
Ridvan and Kelebek take the baklava, leaving Polat ‘Paulie’ Gültekin as a message for Sollozzo and his backers. For some reason, the camera malfunctioned when an attempt was made to take Kelebek’s picture. A strange grinning rictus was all that could be seen of his face.
2 Apr 39 – Time Takes its Toll in Turkey
The
April Fools’ Day Plot (with Polat ‘Paulie’ Gültekin ending up in the starring role) has been averted and security stepped up to unprecedented levels. But it cannot prevent gratuitous alliteration. Nor can it thwart the one assassin who cannot be stopped and who makes it through all their careful defences: time. Months of severe illness have taken their toll on the Father Turk. The best treatments available to the modern medicine of the 1930s have only delayed the inevitable. Mustapha Kemal Atatürk dies peacefully in his sleep, from natural causes, in the early hours of 2 April 1939.
Grand funeral arrangements, put on hold since November last year, are set in motion. Since the burial will be delayed, his body is embalmed, then lies in repose while his sister Makbule Atadan, high-ranking government officials and officers and other influential people came at specified times to pay their respects.
Later that day, new national leadership is sworn in, with Ismet Inönü becoming the President of Turkey. Combined with his role as the
Milli Şef (National Chief) of the Glorious Union and his reputation for boldness and success in the recent wars of national expansion, he is regarded as only a level below Atatürk himself in esteem. Whether he can sustain that success and maintain that position for as long as the Father Turk remains to be seen. He readies himself to stride boldly along the
Path to Glory. But his road may prove a very difficult one, with massive events once again brewing in Europe, as they did almost 25 years ago. And Turkey did not come out of that episode well. This time, they will probably find themselves on a different side, but the outcome is far from certain. They may once again lose their empire, their honour and their national sovereignty, but would rage against the dying of the light until either a glorious or bitter end. Mahmud Celâl Bayar is the new Prime Minister. The rest of the Ministry is unchanged – for now, anyway. Continuity will be the theme.
Mahmut Celâl Bayar (b. 16 May 1883) is an experienced politician and economic manager. Inönü has decided to recall Celâl Bayar to national government [no choice provided in-game], this time to help run the war economy and boost production. Past differences over the last few years [in OTL] have been put behind them, for the good of the nation and its Path to Glory.
In 1908, Bayar joined the volunteer’s troop of the Committee of Union and Progress, a political organization of Young Turks. In 1919, Bayar was elected to the Ottoman Parliament in Istanbul. As he disagreed with the new constitution determined by the sultan, in 1920 he went to Ankara to join Mustafa Kemal and the Turkish Independence Movement. He served as Deputy Minister of the Economy and on 27 February 1921 he was appointed as the Minister of the Economy. In 1922, Bayar was a member of the Turkish delegation during the Lausanne Peace Conference as an advisor to Ismet Inönü. After the elections in 1923, he served as the deputy of İzmir in the Parliament. On 6 March 1924 Celâl Bayar was appointed Minister for Population, Development and Resettlement (until 7 July 1924). On 26 August 1924, he founded
Türkiye İş Bankası in Ankara by using the gold bullion sent by the Muslims in India to support the Turkish War of Independence as capital. He was the Managing Director of what was the largest Turkish commercial bank until 1932.
3 Apr 39
Of course, the newspapers carry word of Atatürk’s passing throughout Turkey, the Glorious Union and the world. The new Government tries to take the reins as smoothly as possible, but its first problem is the
Immobiliare deal and the enormous sum now tied up with it. The two leaders who had done so much to promote it – Pope Pius XI and Atatürk – have died within the space of less than two months. The new Pope Pius XII should remain well disposed to the deal, given he helped negotiate and seeks to carry on his mentor’s legacy. But until the plot has been solved and its protagonists eliminated, the Pope and the deal remain in danger. Lucchesi and his shady associates will be happy that natural causes did what assassins had not been able to. But his scheming is now becoming better understood (had they waited another day, nature would have done the job for them – this impatience could prove their undoing). The Turkish security services will not be easily put off and also have significant assets and contacts at their disposal. If they can run down the links, they will take drastic action!
4 Apr 39
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra record "Moonlight Serenade" at the RCA Bluebird studios in Chicago. If you just want to relax in between all the tumult, death and destruction, just listen in to the soothing tones of his signature tune.
Intelligence Head Ögel comes up with some genuinely good and very useful information: now this is far more like it!
And in more excellent news from our researchers, we will soon have a major upgrade of our artillery equipment in full swing. Our next project will be to start bringing our infantry warfare doctrine up to date to improve organisation. This is a vital line of research we need to keep pursuing.
8 Apr 39
Atatürk's body is laid in a zinc-lined mahogany casket of walnut wood. The flag-draped casket is placed in the reception hall of the Dolmabahçe Palace on a catafalque. It is flanked by three high torches at each side symbolizing the six pillars of Kemalist ideology and crowned by wreaths for lying in state. For three days, thousands of mourning people paid their respects passing by the catafalque, where an honor guard of officers stood vigil.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Aras receives word that South Africa has now joined the Allies: they are slowly gaining strength, but it looks like they will need it!
10 Apr 39
Another new infantry brigade is raised in
Athina. It has been paired up with an AT brigade from 6 Inf Div (Support), to begin another of the new triangular ‘light’ divisions – effectively turning 6 Inf Div into one as well. One of the new generals, MAJGEN Naci Tinaz (SK1) is given the command. A new inf bde is put in the production queue.
Aras reports that Canada has now joined the Allies: they have the potential to be quite a powerful contributor – if their units can ever actually get to Europe.
Conspiracy Report
And while the nation mourns, the investigation of the anti-Turkish conspiracy continues. Virgil Sollozzo is currently holed up in his Istanbul compound and relying on his Italian citizenship and his political and Mafia connections to keep him safe. Ambassador Ceylan reports from Rome: Luca Brasi’s contacts have confirmed Sollozzo’s links with the Tattaglia crime family. But more interesting is the information that Sollozzo is connected with, and probably acting on the orders of, Don Emilio Barzini. It is Barzini’s strong contacts in Sicily that probably hold the key to the next link in the chain that will break open the conspiracy. Barzini himself would have no direct interest in or particular reason to destroy the Glorious Union’s Council of Premiers or to assassinate President Attatürk (if the two plots are indeed linked). But if we can find out who in the Sicilian Mafia enlisted his aid (using Sollozzo) … then the noose can tighten and the enemies will become clearer.
In the meantime, Ögel’s agents, who have been out trying to track the path of the float-plane used in the attack on the National Assembly have discovered a telling piece of evidence: the plane was refuelled on the Italian-occupied Island of Rhodes (‘Rodi’ to the Italians), just before its flight to Ankara. Rodi is very close to the Turkish mainland and an ideal stepping off point for the attack on Ankara. A mail-delivery float plane would not have raised any eyebrows. Clearly, the Japanese auto-cannon and firing system could only have been installed there with the connivance – most likely the direct support – of the Italian Government.
That means there is now clear evidence that the three main Axis powers have colluded with Mafia interests and at least one of the Premiers of the new Glorious Union (Josip ‘Joey’ Zasa) in this plot. Zasa was only a middle ranking player and could never have asserted the leadership over the Balkans he professed to want. That points either to someone of considerable power within the Turkish Government or politics who may have thought they could take over. Or, more likely, a key Balkan player who could try to take over some or all of the Balkan GNRs, splitting them back off Turkey, delivering them into Axis hands and enriching themselves in the process. That seems to be the only scenario that would simultaneously satisfy all the interests of the known conspirators.
The last piece of the puzzle is whether the
Immobiliare ploy headed by Lucchesi is also linked, or just opportunism. The attempted assassination of Atatürk and the threat to the life of the new Pope are almost certainly linked to that plot. If the people behind that are
also linked to the wider political conspiracy, then it is truly enormous and it is all the more imperative to seek out (and eliminate or at least neutralise) its source. This must be done both to ensure the unity and stability of the new Turkish Dominions and to thwart the political ambitions of the Axis. And to secure Turkey’s
Immobiliare investment, establish its legitimacy in Europe and to fund the nation’s great infrastructure development plans.
This means two key lines of investigation are required. The first continues, with Luca Brasi attempting to track down Mafia leads in Italy. The other is closer to home and the target is not yet known, although suspicions are beginning to form. Inönü calls a meeting for after Atatürk’s funeral. He, Kaya and his increasingly influential nephew Volkan ‘Vinnie’ Mancini will focus on the threat closer to home. And always remember the well-known precept of keeping friends close, and enemies closer (once you can sort out the difference).
11 Apr 39
Atatürk's casket is taken from the Dolmabahçe Palace, placed on a horse-drawn caisson and brought in front of a cortege to Gülhane Park. From Seraglio Point, a torpedo boat forwards it to the battlecruiser TCG Yavûz. Turkish navy ships and foreign vessels escort the Yavûz with Atatürk's casket aboard, which carries Atatürk's body to the naval base at Izmit. Subsequently, Atatürk's casket is transferred to a funeral train to Ankara, where it arrives the next day (April 12).
Thousands line the track as Atatürk’s funeral train passes by towns and villages from Izmit to Ankara.
In Ankara, President Ismet Inönü, Speaker of the Parliament Abdülhalik Renda, Prime Minister Celal Bayar, government ministers, senior officers and members of the parliament were all present during the arrival of the funeral train in the Ankara Central Station. Atatürk's casket was brought on a caisson to the building of Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ulus, where it was placed on a catafalque in front of the parliament building for another lying in state. Thousands of residents of Ankara paid their respects.
In military news, another new mountain brigade is delivered, allocated to Muzir’s famous 1 Mtn Div, now based in Gelibolu, bringing it up to its full strength of four specialised mountain divisions. It should be a tough nut to crack when defending in mountains, in fortifications and behind the Dardanelles in its
Calistar Line role! A new AT bde is ordered, with the remaining spare capacity going to reducing the dissent (now down to 0.52 from 3.00) that arose from that illegal printing operation cracked by Kaya last month.
Turkey’s first Civil Defence program is implemented – another boost for national resilience. Research is again directed towards agricultural improvements, to again address Turkey’s manpower shortage.
13 Apr 39 – Atatürk’s State Funeral in Ankara
The next day, a grander funeral ceremony was held, which dignitaries from many countries and the Premiers of all the Glorious National Republics attended. The cortege, with Atatürk's flag-covered casket on a horse-drawn caisson, proceeds through the streets of Ankara.
Atatürk passes by the reviewing stand he himself had stood upon so many times in the past, for Republic Day and victory parades, then to his rest at the Ethnography Museum of Ankara. A grander, purpose built mausoleum will have to wait for now. But, should the
Path to Glory lead to victory, it will surely be commissioned. For now, with the great man laid to rest, his burden has been taken up by others, while he rests in peace.
On the same day, word is received that France is not taking any chances: it has ordered a full mobilisation of its military (joining its new Polish ally). The UK has not yet done so.
17 Apr 39
Inönü, Kaya and Vinnie meet to compare notes about the ‘domestic’ side of the
Great Conspiracy (which, due to its scale and complexity, the few trusted ‘insiders’ investigating are now starting to call it). They run through everything they now know of the attempted hit on the Premier’s Council meeting, who would gain, who would lose, how the hit went down. Inönü has firm suspicions, but needs to be sure and, if they are true, to know how high up and how far the tentacles reach. He asks Kaya to leave the room: this must be between family alone.
“So, you want me to do something, Uncle Ismet?”
“Yes, Vinnie. It’s dangerous.”
“Good, I’m in. What do you need?”
“I want you to sell your soul to Osvaldo Altobello. To betray
me.”
“He’ll never believe me.”
“That depends,” says Inönü. “I have an idea. See if you can learn how high Altobello is connected. Arrange a meeting. You say how devoted you are to me. Tell him your problems. You ask for his help.”
“What problems?”
“Your illegitimacy. With the Mancini name, you can never gain the position and recognition you deserve. And there is a woman you wish to marry, a ward of mine, but you know I disapprove of the match. I may love you, but I disapprove of your violent ways and the illegitimacy is a bar in my eyes. You love her and want to run away with her, but you would lose the position you have, bring shame on the family and make an enemy of me.” Inönü raises an eyebrow. “I know you
do have feelings for my ward, Vinnie.”
“You know I’d never do that, Uncle.”
“Yes, I know. You ask Altobello to speak to me. To further the marriage. For you to be given the Inönü name. Explain to him that you can never be part of the legitimate world. You want your own power and organisation. Remember, if he hints that he wants you to betray me, get insulted. Because that’s his trap.”
19 Apr 39
News Report, Berlin, Germany. Hitler has appointed Franz von Papen as German Ambassador to Turkey. Papen (b. 29 October 1879) is a German nobleman, General Staff officer and politician. He served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–34. He belonged to the group of close advisers to President Paul von Hindenburg in the late Weimar Republic. It was largely Papen, believing that Hitler could be controlled once he was in the government, who persuaded Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor in a cabinet not under Nazi Party domination. However, Papen and his allies were quickly marginalised by Hitler and he left the government after the Night of the Long Knives, during which some of his confidantes were killed by the Nazis.
Back in Ankara, Ögel reports he has now assembled a reserve of 10 agents, ready to be assigned to overseas missions. Espionage is reduced back to 0.20 LS (from 0.40) and Officer training back up to 1.20 from 1.00. Some espionage training will still be required, as there are likely to be losses from any new mission and the successful French effort must also be maintained.
25 Apr 39
Another important research breakthrough: we can now build heavy provincial AA emplacements. These will be especially useful for defending our fixed fortifications, ports and airfields. It is time now to start research for another upgrade of our infantry small arms, which are again falling behind first-rate standards.
Having developed the technology, Turkey’s first new heavy AA guns are ordered immediately. A decision will be taken when completed on where they will be stationed, but it will be somewhere on one of the two new fortified lines currently under construction.
In far less welcome news, Kaya reports that evening the Japanese pro-Axis propaganda campaign has resumed.
27 Apr 39
With some more industrial capacity freed up, another two heavy AA installations are ordered. And after the latest insult from Japan, President Inönü authorises Ögel to launch the entire new spy team of 10 agents against them. French counter-espionage remains at 4 and has been almost completely ineffective at discovering our agents, only 1 having been caught since our campaign there began. Initial reports from the new team in Japan (which has currently been given no specific mission, just hoping to distract Japan by their presence) is the Kempeitai has 7 agents dedicated to c-e. This could be a costly intervention, but the Government is sick of the repeated subversion perpetrated by Japan and just wants to strike back, in the hope of increasing the cost for them. With Japanese c-e at 7 and not a lot of capacity for dedicating LS to replacement agents, the Cabinet is not keen on committing to a heavy c-e campaign in Japan yet.
30 Apr 39
News Report, New York, US. The 1939 New York World's Fair opened. NBC inaugurated its first television broadcast with coverage of President Roosevelt at the event.
And having seen the strength of Japanese domestic c-e, Espionage is adjusted up a notch to 0.30, officer training going down to 1.10. Manpower remains low at 34 and officer strength has drifted back down to 106% with recent new unit additions and the diversion of effort to espionage training. National unity is now over 66%: if it can be taken to 70%, some useful new laws will be available for introduction.
Coming Up: How close is a general war? With Poland and France now mobilised, the UK and France locked into the guarantee of Poland and members of the British Dominions beginning to join the Allies, the fuse is set. After some initial demands, Germany has been relatively silent this month on their demands over Danzig and the Polish Corridor, but rumours persist of secret planning for an invasion of Poland. Is that a threat to assist with bargaining, much as Hitler did with Czechoslovakia, or is it serious? Perhaps both? How will Vinnie’s meeting with Altobello go: will it work, or will revenge be taken for the Joey Zasa hit, Vinnie getting a knife in the hand and a garrote around the throat? Luca Brasi has a variety of missions in Italy: can he safeguard the Pope and discover what else is being plotted?
Will the espionage offensive on Japan make any difference, or will alignment with the Comintern start to be out of reach, leaving Turkey exposed and vulnerable to a ‘Balkan strike’ before Soviet a guarantee of assistance can be secured? Turkey’s defence slowly builds and technological advances are made, but how long does Turkey have, is the pace sufficient and will the defences hold if tested by a truly formidable enemy? Ismet Inönü now bears the ultimate responsibility for Turkey’s journey along the
Path to Glory on his shoulders, as President of Turkey and Milli Şef of the Union of Glorious National Republics.
These questions remain imponderable for now. Time will tell, but time is also a thief: Inönü will have to be simultaneously careful, bold and lucky to make it to the end of this journey with his country in one piece, let alone victorious.
I will have a work trip or two coming up soon, so a maybe a break for any long-suffering Sysephus out there! At least I'm providing some reading material, however poor it may be 
