Meltha Magazine Online

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1998, Volume 4, No1(8) page 10-11

NON-CONFORMISM: THE WAY I AM

Julietta Bet-Kaplan (Rustavi, Georgian Republic)

Actually I was born in Tbilisi on 6th of August in 1947. So in 1997 I had my fiftieth anniversary.. My grandfather's last name was Bet-Badal, and my grandmother's was Bet-Ishoo. As a matter of fact they were from Salmas. My father used to tell me that the Iranian Consul (and all my relatives were subjects to Iran at the time) told all Assyrians to change their last names after the war. Hence, we had to trade our original Badalov name to Bet-Kaplan. Why was it "Kaplan" and what did they have to do it for? Perhaps they heard some roomers about deportation or something, anyway tJ1P;y thought if they did it, they would be saved, I presume.

But it did not happen unfortunately, and we were deported to Kazakhstan on 14th of February 1950. I described this peril of deportation in my book "In Exile". Actually this is not a documentary book and there is nothing about my family either. My own life was a lot more miserable indeed. At 5 I lost my mother and was taken into the home of strange bad tempered people. My father sued them through Supreme Court and he had me back in the long nm. I went to school in Alma-Ata. In the second grade I began to write poems which were published in one youth newspaper. I still have one issue with my own picture at 9. Below the picture I can read my signature "young special correspondent". When I was in the 5th grade I was on a television programmer reciting my own poems. When I got older I developed my interest in physics and gave up my poems. That was a time of heavy debates like "who are more important for the society, physicists or lyricists?"

In 1965 I entered a medical school. Al- though I finished it with a degree I still had a dream to continue my writing pursuit in the Literature school of Moscow. And when I was in Tbilisi on my medical internship, I decided to participate in a writing contest.

I wrote a piece of work, which I entitled " A little story" in two months and sent it to Moscow. They passed me for the final con- test. I was happy because there were virtually 50 candidates for one entry. In 1975 I passed all my entry examinations but soon I found out that I would have to write at least two pieces of prose regularly and send it to Moscow every year. The first works which my fellow students from the writing workshop liked were "Love" and "Jealousy" I wrote in 1976 and 1977. The theme of my first publications in Republic of Georgia was on the miserable life of the Assyrian poet Simon Shakhbazov. It was in the newspaper "The Youth of Georgia" and in the compilation book "A Home Under the Trees" as of 1980. In the same compilation I found my short story "Brothers and Sisters of Mercy" where I for the first time mentioned the fact of Assyrian deportation. Actually this theme was not encouraged at the time. But I did not wish to compose 'loyal things' only just to see my things to be published at the time.

Nodar Dumbadze, a famous Georgian writer was the first reader of my manuscript "In Exile". He gave me recommendations for the journal "Literaturnaya Gruzia". But my manuscript was suspended for a period of ten years. Although this journal was rather progressive and had many 'troubles' for publishing non-conformist writer Actually I was never a dissident, just a non-conformist. Through all these years I was busy re-writing the story making some alternations as well. The first part was published in "Literaturnaya Gruzia" in December 1991, when many things were allowed. The Soviet Union had collapsed, and Georgia was being racked with a civil war. Hence, the theme was found no longer topical or hot. The publication was later continued in the journal "Atra", 6th issue, but they had to abandon the final part. I have been with the journal "Nineveh" (USA) since 1991. They published an excerpt from the book "In Exile" in the English language.

Now I live with my l6-year old daughter alone together. It's a pity that she has neither grandmother, nor grandfather, nor relatives at all. All our family once so large were buried in Kazakhstan. Moreover, our home in Tbilisi where I was born is still occupied by somebody else.

Julietta Bet-Kaplan

(Rustavi, Georgian Republic )