Cemetery for WWI Ottoman POWS set to be built in Russia
Parliament will discuss an agreement with Russia to build a cemetery for Ottoman prisoners of war interred in Krasnoyarsk during World War I.
At a time of strained relations with Russia over Turkey's downing of a Russian jet last year for violating its airspace, an agreement signed in 2012 between the two countries will be taken up in Parliament. The National Defense and Foreign Affairs committees are expected to ratify the agreement on Russian burial sites in Turkey and Turkish burial sites in Russia in the coming days after debate. If it is ratified, the government will undertake the construction of what will be called the "Martyrs' Cemetery."
The agreement also includes construction of a monument for soldiers who died as prisoners of war, allocation of sites for burials, reburials of soldiers who died in both world wars and their transfer to new burial sites. The two countries have also agreed to exchange statistics and personal information regarding Ottoman and Russian soldiers buried in both countries. Along with Krasnoyarsk, Turkey would be allowed to set up monuments in Vladivostok, Petrovski and Hirov, other cities where Ottoman soldiers are buried.
Though exact number is not known, many Ottoman soldiers succumbed to harsh conditions at prisoner of war camps in Krasnoyarsk and died there at the height of World War I. A monument erected in Krasnoyarsk after the war, inscribed with Ottoman and Russian texts about the soldiers, is the only monument dedicated to Ottoman soldiers in the Russian Federation. Turkish media reported that the agreement might also see the rebuilding of the San Stefano Monument once located in Istanbul's Yeşilköy district. The monument was erected in memory of Russian soldiers who died in the 1877-78 Russian-Ottoman war. It was demolished during World War I upon the orders of army commanders three days after the Ottoman Empire declared war against Russia.
At a time of strained relations with Russia over Turkey's downing of a Russian jet last year for violating its airspace, an agreement signed in 2012 between the two countries will be taken up in Parliament. The National Defense and Foreign Affairs committees are expected to ratify the agreement on Russian burial sites in Turkey and Turkish burial sites in Russia in the coming days after debate. If it is ratified, the government will undertake the construction of what will be called the "Martyrs' Cemetery."
The agreement also includes construction of a monument for soldiers who died as prisoners of war, allocation of sites for burials, reburials of soldiers who died in both world wars and their transfer to new burial sites. The two countries have also agreed to exchange statistics and personal information regarding Ottoman and Russian soldiers buried in both countries. Along with Krasnoyarsk, Turkey would be allowed to set up monuments in Vladivostok, Petrovski and Hirov, other cities where Ottoman soldiers are buried.
Though exact number is not known, many Ottoman soldiers succumbed to harsh conditions at prisoner of war camps in Krasnoyarsk and died there at the height of World War I. A monument erected in Krasnoyarsk after the war, inscribed with Ottoman and Russian texts about the soldiers, is the only monument dedicated to Ottoman soldiers in the Russian Federation. Turkish media reported that the agreement might also see the rebuilding of the San Stefano Monument once located in Istanbul's Yeşilköy district. The monument was erected in memory of Russian soldiers who died in the 1877-78 Russian-Ottoman war. It was demolished during World War I upon the orders of army commanders three days after the Ottoman Empire declared war against Russia.