Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has received a group of Turkish citizens including the grandchildren of Ottoman sailors who were involved in a naval disaster in 1890 and Turkish Airlines personnel who assisted Japanese people to leave Tehran in 1985 at Ciragan Palace.
Abe said during the meeting that the friendship between Turkey and Japan started when Japanese people rushed into the scene of disaster to help survivors during the naval disaster, during which 580 Ottoman sailors were killed and 69 of them survived and that they knew this story is covered at schools in Turkey.
Abe said the Ertugrul, the frigate that had sunk off Japan after crashing into rocks, will be the theme of a Turkish-Japanese made film that is to be out in 2015.
Ertugrul Frigate had sunk off Japan’s Osima island when it was returning to Turkey after a Japan visit ordered by Sultan Abdulhamid II to send gifts to Japanese Emperor.
Japanese premiere also thanked the Turkish Airlines personnel, who, back in 1985 evacuated 215 Japanese citizens from Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war.
Abe later on visited the Topkapi Palace.
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