An exhibition about the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul, regarded as the beginning of Turkey and Japan's friendship, and a concert about the rescue of Japanese citizens stranded in the Iranian capital of Tehran by a Turkish Airlines plane in 1985 will be presented in New York City on Nov. 27-29. A press conference concerning the event at the Bodrum Underwater Archaeology Institute Library was attended by Bodrum Karya Culture Arts Promotion Foundation (BOSAV) and Ertuğrul Frigate Excavation President Capt. Tufan Turanlı, Japanese maestro Seiji Mukaiyama and Jun-i Chi Numata, a passenger aboard the Turkish Airlines plane that rescued the besieged Japanese in Tehran in 1985, and Gülümser Yücel, the daughter of the grandchild of Ali Bey, the captain of the Ertuğrul frigate.

At the press conference, Turanlı said they have big objectives regarding Turkish-Japanese friendship. Emphasizing that they want to explain and spread this friendship to the whole world, Turanlı said: "Seiji Mukaiyama told me: ‘I am thinking of an event in New York and will you join me? Let us do it together.' We will have a big event in November. We will open the Ertuğrul frigate exhibition at the Nephon Club on 57th Street in the heart of New York. Two days later, a concert called ‘Call for World Peace' will be given at Carnegie Hall. We want to tell the whole world about the Turkish-Japanese friendship. It is our goal to spread this friendship. We invite all the world's people to New York for this event."

Maestro Seiji Mukaiyama also discussed works featuring the sinking of the frigate Ertuğrul, considered the beginning of the Turkish-Japanese friendship, and the rescue of the Japanese stranded in 1985.

Jun-i Chi Numata was moved to tears while recalling their rescue by the Turkish plane in Tehran. Gülümser Yücel expressed his gratitude to the contributors of the exhibition and the concert in New York, indicating that they are very meaningful.

Sinking of Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul

The frigate Ertuğrul went to Japan to present Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II's friendship message to the Japanese emperor and then departed from the port of Yokohama on Sept. 15, 1890. The frigate ran into a typhoon, drifted into a reef and sank off the shore of Kushimoto on Sept. 16, 1890. More than 550 sailors aboard were lost.