In one of the most striking scenes of Wounded Love, Azize argues that it is the middle of the street and Cevdet, who was trying to prevent her moving away from him, has to behave accordingly and let her go. Cevdet’s answer simply summarizes the true nature of invasion of a country and invasion of a city.

He says;

“These streets are mine. This city is mine and as long as you are in it, you are subjected to me.”

Women’s accessibility to public spaces was limited with dress codes and regulations in Ottoman Lands for a very long period of time. They were not even allowed to appear in certain public spaces unless accompanied by men. At the turn of the twentieth century, as a result of the resistances against the complex religious and social restrictions and the new political regulations on women’s rights, Ottoman women were able to reverse the conditions in favor of a more liberated daily life. However, with the invasion, women had to bear the fact that their movement in the streets and in the city were not only bounded with local codes and state authority from then on but also with the invader’s arbitrary will and men whose solely wish is to protect them. In Turkish part of the city, the life as they knew had never been more difficult.

Although, Cevdet’s aim is to protect Azize from compromising her own life and his real cause, part of his concerns is nothing but a reinstalled male dominancy which Ottoman women challenged for centuries. Hilal is the only character who continues to challenge all types of limitations even if they were taken just to ensure her own safety. The young lieutenant, Leon, who demonstrated million times before that his only concern is the well being of this little lady, had to pull a gun just to stop her wandering the streets of the city in the middle of the night. As opposed to Cevdet, Leon is so in love with Hilal to confront her with the fact that he is the invader and he actually owns the streets and Hilal is subjected to whatever he wants. Instead, he postponed this confrontation to another time emphasizing that he won’t hesitate the next time.

However, their next encounter, again in a dark night, ended with a kiss and a total defeat for Leon so that the next day, the young man had to pose as an invader to restore his dominancy. He denied his affection for her to enhance his dominancy and to assure Hilal of the consequences of being out in the streets even in the form of Halit İkbal’s writings.  

The very next time, when Hilal was out in the streets in the middle of the night for a forced post office entry, which initially she was not even part of, she shot the young man. She fired that shot to declare that she controls herself and her environment by all means. However, it is ironic that this instance led to a self-statement that a part of her soul already belongs to Leon. Do they, together, belong to the streets of Smyrna? We will see…

For now, they are just two kids that has to hide in the woods and bear the frustration of being apart.

Thanks to all international viewers for following…

Peace at home, peace in the world…

URBAN FRINGE