Chapter 31: Chapter 30: A Town in Berzasca

Somewhere in Ottoman Balkans

The sun is shining brightly. Children are running across the fields. Some adults are working on the farms while others are preparing meals in their homes. This is a typical day for the town of Berzasca in the region of Ottoman Balkans. This town is a typical type of town that can be seen across the empire. There are bakeries, shops, and other buildings for necessities that can be found in this town, and even a Christian church for worship services of the populace.

Most of the people here are devout Orthodox Christians even if they are under the rule of the Muslim-dominated Ottoman Empire. For centuries, the Ottomans allowed people with different religions to live inside the empire as long as they are loyal, follow Ottoman rules, and pay the special tax called jizya tax. There are also Catholics, Jewish, and Muslims in the town making the town have people with different religious beliefs but everyone were in harmony with each other.

The people in the town are content and happy in their daily lives. Even if they hear stories and rumors that the military is pillaging and razing villages and towns with no valid reasons and grounds. They just believed that those towns have committed crimes and wrongdoings and that as long as they would follow the law of the empire they would be safe.

One of them is the town doctor Teodor Hristov, who firmly believes in the Ottoman Empire. He was born in this town under the Ottoman Empire and he will die as a citizen of the Ottoman Empire. He was against those people who fights for freedom and independence and preferred stability and security.

During his forty-six years living under the Ottoman Empire, he had never suffered any harm from the Ottoman Empire. He genuinely believed in his heart that he is an Ottoman Turk even though his parents are both Serbians. If someone asks him what his ethnicity or race he will say he is Ottoman Turk.

“Father, the Ottomans are really killing and exterminating people. The neighboring towns not far from here had been razed to the ground. There are a very few people who survived and escaped to the mountains.”

“That’s impossible. The Ottomans won’t dare to kill all thousand inhabitants. That’s just rumors and exaggerations by those crooked merchants. The Ottomans have been rulers for centuries and we are all Ottomans here. The time those terrorists die then everything will return back to normal.”

“Father, are you really saying that?”

Teodor Hristov is having an argument with her nineteen-year-old daughter, Sofia Hristov regarding the rumors the merchants and travelers have told the town about the actions of the Ottoman army. Teodor won’t believe that the Ottoman soldiers have done such atrocity and crime against innocent civilians. It must be because these people exaggerate their stories to make the people scared and paranoid.

He had a lot of Ottoman Turk friends during his young age while he is still staying in Constantinople. It is also in that city he met her wife and mother of Sofia. Unfortunately, she passed away while giving birth to Sofia. That is why he values Sofia so much as she is his only child and daughter and the living remembrance of his wife. Sofia is the product of their love and he will protect and care for her until the day he will die.

But right now, they are having an argument, this had started a few days ago when those crooked merchants who are selling clothes and accessories while Sofia likes so much warned them that the Ottomans are doing sweeping and clearing operations around the region and even innocent civilians are killed and their towns and villages burned to the ground.

And today, the argument has resurfaced because there are survivors who are able to flee to this town. They said that the Ottoman army had rounded up everyone in the city and started asking questions that doesn’t make sense. When the town mayor responds “no” to the question if there are any rebels in town. The military officer shoots the head of the town mayor and immediately declares the town as rebel sympathizers. All the townspeople are killed and shot on the spot. Even the children, women, and the elderly are not spared. Some young women are even dragged by the soldiers inside some houses and raped. Even Muslim townspeople are killed for no reason, the soldiers didn’t care who the people are, they just rape, kill, and pillaged.

The people knowing the soldiers are killing them for no reason started to escape and flee to the trees and bushes. They run into the forest with their lives depending on it. Ottoman soldiers chased after them and those who are caught are killed. Some soldiers even played with their victims before killing them. They ransacked homes and stole things with value.

That’s why Teodor can’t believe what the people are saying. The Ottoman soldiers should be the defenders of these people and not their grim reapers.

But his daughter, Sofia, believes the rumors about the atrocities and crimes of the Ottoman army. She asks her father to start packing and leave this village and went toward the cities. It is already too dangerous to stay and live in this town.

“Sofia this town stood for a hundred years. We have also faithfully and loyally followed the rules and laws of the empire. Why do we fear the army if we have done nothing wrong? It is more suspicious to leave right now and stay in the city.”

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“But father…”

“Say no more Sofia. Let’s talk again when you have calmed down. I’m going to open my clinic.”

Sofia can do nothing when her father told her to speak no more. She didn’t want to test his father’s patience but she was still feeling scared and angry at the Ottoman Turks, especially at the army. She can only go outside the clinic to meet her friends in the town. They planned to go to the fields near the town to gather some fruits that they could snack on. Maybe they would also go to the river stream nearby to take a dip in the cold water.

She just wished to God that what happened to the other towns won’t happen to them. She even promised she would be a good girl and make amends with her father.

** ** **

Unbeknownst to the town, a mounted battalion of 700 men is coming towards the town under the command of Binbashi (Lieutenant Colonel) Durukan Özdemir. He is in a bad mood because they were ambushed just an hour ago by the rebels and they lost plenty of men and more wounded. After the ambush, he thinks all nearby towns and villages near the ambush site are all rebel sympathizers or supporters. Some rebels may even be from these towns and villages.

So, he wants to immediately punish these people even in truth they were innocent. For him, it is better to kill a lot of innocents if you could also kill the enemy than to let the rebels foster and grow in number because of not killing immediately. His skewed thinking makes him see innocent civilians as potential rebel soldiers who must be killed in the bud.

The soldiers that also following him are also in a foul mood. After that ambush, they want to release their pent-up stress and anger to anything. They lost some of their colleagues and friends in the ambush. They were thirsting for revenge. The long travel also added to their sour mood and stress.

“Sir we are here in the town of Berzasca.”

They can already see the town in the distance and the town still doesn’t know their presence. The soldiers want to surprise the town so that there would be no one who would escape especially the rebels.

“Prepare the troops. Raze it to the ground immediately left no survivors.”

“Yes sir.”

His adjutant immediately follows his order and commands the troops to prepare for an assault. All the soldiers spread out around the town to fully entrap the town and its people. They had done this in a very discreet manner to avoid being detected. Loading their weapons with live ammunition and prepared some military-grade bombs for the assault. They see the town as a hostile force rather than their own people. Lieutenant Colonel Durukan Özdemir watch his men if they were ready to conduct the operation. He asks his adjutant and some officers if every soldier is ready, he wants the raid to be smooth and efficient. The officers respond that all were ready and are only waiting for his command to charge towards the unprotected town.

He picks up his whistle in his pocket and whistle to commands the army to move towards the town. The mounted troops gallop across the fields of the outskirt of the town of Berzasca. The people in the town were able to spot the incoming army and they sense something sinister is coming toward them.

This day would be a dark and grim day for the town of Berzasca. They didn’t expect that the men who swore to serve and protect the citizens would be the ones who will become their grim reapers.