Waiting for the Clouds

WAITING FOR THE CLOUDS begins while the census clerks arrive early one morning int the small port town of Trebolu. The streets remain empty and silent. Not everyone can afford to be counted. Questions about one’s past can open up too many wounds. Ayse lives with her older and ailing sister Selma. Ayse, who never married, has dedicated her life to Selma since she became a widow many years ago. Their years of co-habitation have created an intense bond between the two sisters. Ayse must now face the harsh reality that she will soon be alone. The mystery of Ayse’s tragic past will be divulged through the curious eyes of a charming eight-year-old boy, Mehmet, who shares Ayse’s profound loss at the death of Selma. Ayse’s tragedy begins as the unfortunate outcome of historical events: World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire brought about new nationalist waves in Turkey, thus creating great tensions and conflicts between Greeks and Turks in the Black Sea region. Waiting For The Glouds makes reference to the human pain of a nearly-forgotten historic incident. In the winter of 1916, the Ottoman Army evacuated the villages west of the recently Russian-occupied Trabzon. In what can be considered to be no less than ethnic cleansing operations, the Greek residents of several villages were pushed out of their homes in an unorganized and paranoid deportation effort. Ayse’s real identity is that of Eleni, the daughter of one of the evacuated Greek families. When she was 10 years …

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