Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul

The Turkish corvette TCG Kınalıada is set to return home on Aug. 21, concluding a four-and-a-half-month expedition across numerous ports in 19 countries throughout the Far East.

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) training ships "Kashima" and "Shimakaze" have docked at Istanbul's historic Sarayburnu Port from Aug. 9 to 12, marking a century of enduring friendship and strategic partnership.

The Turkish corvette TCG Kınalıada has arrived in Japan as part of its expedition to the Far East, retracing the route of the ill-fated frigate Ertuğrul, which sank en route from Japan in 1890.

The voyage also marks the centennial milestone of diplomatic ties between Türkiye and Japan.

The arrival was announced by a Defense Ministry post on June 8.

More than 8,000 artifacts have been removed during excavations that have been ongoing for seven years at the Ertuğrul Frigate, which sank off the coast of Japan in 1890, the head of the excavations has said. 

The artifacts removed from the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul in the first stage of this year’s works were introduced at a recent conference in Japan, organized by the head of the project Tufan Turanlı

When almost 600 Ottoman sailors lost their lives in far-off Japan in 1890, few at the time would have thought that the tragedy would usher in more than a century of friendship.

The Turkish Navy will launch an expedition to commemorate the sinking of an Ottoman frigate on a goodwill voyage to Japan in 1890.

The expedition will follow a route through the Indian Ocean to reach Japan, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Jan. 3.

Japanese Ambassador to Ankara Yutaka Yokoi, who visited the Black Sea province of Trabzon, has said well-known figures from Turkish and Japanese cinema will star in the Turkish-Japanese joint film on the Ertuğrul frigate disaster, which will be complete next fall. While visiting Trabzon Mayor Abdil Celil Öz, Yokoi said the city of Trabzon was better known than Ankara in Japan.

Sometimes it takes a tragedy to unite people. That is exactly what happened when the Ottoman good-will frigate Ertuğrul met a typhoon, only to be saved by the Japanese, uniting the two civilizations in a fraternal embrace from that point forward