A tragedy that took place 134 years ago was a blessing in disguise for two countries. Türkiye and Japan on Monday marked the sinking of the Ertuğrul frigate off the coast of Japan in 1890 on her way back to the Ottoman Empire after an inaugural visit to the Far East.
“We are intent on maintaining friendship and goodwill our ancestors developed since the Ottoman and Meiji eras and leave this legacy to future generations,” Katsumata Takahiko, Japan’s ambassador in Ankara, said ahead of the anniversary.
Türkiye recently dispatched the TCG Kınalıada corvette of its naval forces to Kushimoto, where the Ottoman frigate sank off, for a reenactment of Ertuğrul’s trail. The corvette visited several Japanese ports on its journey this summer.
The Ottoman Empire launched the Japan trip for Ertuğrul, which bears the name of the father of the empire’s founder Osman, to Japan two years after Japan’s Prince Komatsu paid his country’s first official visit to Istanbul, which was the capital of the empire. The ship departed Istanbul in July 1889 with 609 crew members. After stopovers in Egypt, Yemen, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Hong Kong and several Japanese cities, it arrived in Yokohama 11 months later. Osman Pasha, who led the Ottoman delegation, was received by Emperor Meiji and presented the emperor with a letter from Sultan Abdülhamid II and a medal. The frigate left Japan on Sept. 15, 1890, after the Ottoman delegation held talks with Japanese officials.
Adverse weather aggravated by a typhoon proved a challenge for the ship and it crashed on the rocks near Kushimoto on Sept. 16, 1890. Sixty-nine sailors aboard survived, but 550 others aboard died when the boat sank. The locals of Kushimoto rescued the survivors.
The Japanese envoy said Ertuğrul’s memory guided their friendship, highlighting that Türkiye and Japan marked the 100th anniversary of the formal establishment of their diplomatic relations this year. The ambassador told Anadolu Agency (AA) ahead of the Ertuğrul anniversary that they wanted to promote cooperation between the two countries in various fields, from economic development to earthquake response and disaster aid. He said they looked forward to more cooperation in diversified fields, including energy and climate change. “We are also assessing cooperation opportunities in third countries with Türkiye. Turkish and Japanese companies cooperate in constructing Ukraine’s infrastructure, and we wish they would cooperate elsewhere, such as in Africa,” he said.
Katsumata said visits of high-ranking officials, businesspeople and academics between the two countries empowered relations and said they expected more to take place. The last high-level visit from Japan to Türkiye was by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in January. The ambassador said their cultural relations also deepened through the declaration of the Year of Japan and the Year of Türkiye in each country. “I want this kizuna between our countries to deepen,” he said, referring to a Japanese word that means enduring bonds between people.
Associate professor Evren Mercan, a Turkish naval historian, said Türkiye and Japan approached each other during a period of reforms in both countries in the late 19th century. “The two countries also had a common rival: Russia,” Mercan noted. Mercan said the voyage of Ertuğrul had side missions of flying the Ottoman flag in the Indian subcontinent, where the Muslim population concentrated on boosting the empire’s reputation and providing overseas training for new cadets of the Ottoman naval forces academy.