Introduction to Dr. Ozge Fethiye’s manuscript by Dr. Ozil Ahmadoff, as provided by Tamara Zachary
Photography by Eleanor Leonne Bennett
Ozge Fethiye was the finest scientific mind ever produced by the Yz’lyzi People’s Democratic Republic in all its thirty-three year history. She was also one of the world’s greatest geneticists, if only the world had ever known it. Her untimely death is a tragedy of untold proportions that has surely set back research in the many fields in which she was a contributor–albeit only within Yz’lyz, due to the sanctions–by decades.
It was with great pride and endless humility that I undertook the editing of the manuscript that described her greatest scientific breakthrough. As the last among her many students and assistants still alive, this project has been both my duty as a scientist and a calling as a colleague. I worked with Ms. Fethiye for more than ten years. It was her educational programs in School #4 that first sparked my interest in science, it was her scholarship fund that allowed me to pursue my studies at The University, and it was in her laboratory that I developed as a researcher. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest I own everything that I am to Ozge. Perhaps, in her more lucid moments, she may even have done me the honor of considering me a friend.
The document you are now reading was first written in homemade ink, said to contain her own blood, on the back of the Gurabashe-Dar restaurant guide–the only paper available in the 11th floor Altai Hilton room where Ozge spent the nine weeks of the siege of the revolution of ’26. It was smuggled out by the robot-maid she had captured and reprogrammed mere hours before the Free Kyrgyz militia stormed the building. Along with many other government employees, Ozge was executed the following day by firing squad in front of the Zamurradin Fethiye Peace Monument amidst inexplicably cheering crowds. Perhaps as a distant cousin to the beloved leader, and a member of his cabinet for twenty-one years, she was wrongly seen as associated with some of the controversies of that regime.
She was a true leader, a protector, a visionary. She would stand calmly–a tiny, fragile, aging woman–before the great bull of a man while he raged and demanded the impossible. Then she would send him on his way with a few words that he would accept like a cowed child.
To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Autumn 2012 collection.
Ozil Ahatov showed an early interest in the biological sciences, which grew into a mature interest in the biological sciences and soon led to a career in the biological sciences. Currently resident in Novosibirsk, acquaintances have reported that he once made a comment on the ice-hockey tournament against Finland. They think that given time and encouragement this may grow into an interest which does not involve the biological sciences, perhaps leading to an eventual ability to interact with the opposite sex and even make small talk about the weather.
Tamara Zachary’s hobbies include humorous science fiction, revolutionary agit-prop, competitive hitchhiking and knitting funny hats. She does decent cute cat ears and has a good line in bobbles, even if she does say so herself.
Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a 16 year old internationally award winning photographer and artist who has won first places with National Geographic, The World Photography Organisation, Nature’s Best Photography, Papworth Trust, Mencap, The Woodland trust and Postal Heritage. Her photography has been published in the Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC News Website and on the cover of books and magazines in the United States and Canada. Her art is globally exhibited , having shown work in London, Paris, Indonesia, Los Angeles, Florida, Washington, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Canada, Spain, Germany, Japan, Australia and The Environmental Photographer of the Year Exhibition (2011) amongst many other locations.
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