BILATERAL RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKEY and JAPAN

We can proudly say that bilateral relations between Turkey and Japan have been very close from the era of the Ottoman Empire to the present.

During the Meiji Restoration, Japan opened its door to the world after 260 years of isolation, and thus started to modernize and join the Western world. The Japanese Government attempted to learn the Western culture and customs, so they sent delegations of high ranked dignitaries and the government officers to the European nations.

Representing the Imperial Household, Prince and Princess Akihito Komatsu officially visited America and Europe in 1887. After having completed the official schedule and on the way back from Paris to Japan, Prince and Princess Komatsu paid an unofficial visit to Istanbul. The Prince and Princess graciously had an opportunity to meet the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamit II. This exchange of goodwill by the Japanese Imperial Family and the Ottoman Sultan brought about another development of amicable relations between the nations.

The Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamit II dispatched his official delegates on the Frigate Ertugrul and sent them to Japan to express his goodwill to the Emperor Meiji. In 1889, the Emperor Meiji granted the delegates an audience and received an autograph letter from Sultan Abdulhamit II. Strong ties of friendship between the two nations developed despite the tragic loss of the Frigate Ertugrul in a storm off the coast of Wakayama Prefecture while on a return voyage to Turkey.

This exhibition entitled “History of Friendship Between Turkey and Japan” will be an opportune occasion to discover the origins of the friendly relations between these two countries, and how the very important bilateral friendship continues to grow and flourish in the world today.