On July 21st Fethiye Lions Club organized a cocktail to celebrate The Day of Press press members in Fethiye and “The Year of Japan in Turkey.” Mr. and Mrs. Nakano from Shumei Foundation were the guest of honour. Retired congressman Mr. Ali Döğerli, the head of Fethiye Public Library Mr. Orhan Balcı and the Head of Fethiye Museum Mr. İbrahim Malkoç and other distinguished guests also attended the celebration.
120 years ago an Ottoman ship Ertuğrul was sent to Japan to present a medal of honour from Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamit II to Emperor Meiji. On the way back the ship was caught in a typhoon and sank near Ooshima Island in Kushimoto, Wakayama Japan. 587 sailors died and 69 survived. These sailors were sent to Turkey with two Japanese ships after they had recovered.
Current term president of Fethiye Lions Club Zeynep Kocasinan mentioned in her opening speech that she has been to Kushimoto Japan in May this year and visited the site near the Ooshima Island where now a Turkish Museum and a special Memorial have been built.
This event created a bridge of Friendship between Japan and Turkey. And the two governments declared the year 2010 as “The Year of Japan in Turkey”, or “The Year of Japan” in short, to strengthen our ties and deepen the friendship and connection between the two countries and nations.
Fethiye Lions Clubs have been in contact with various Japanese Lions Clubs in Japan and Japanese organizations in Japan and Turkey and their members. On July 21st, Mr. and Mrs. Nakano came to Fethiye to attend the celebrations. Nakanos gave Fethiye Public Library 4 books of Japanese authors, 3 in Turkish and 1 in English. The authors of the books, Kazuo Ishigura and Haruki Murakami are popular authors with books available in many languages as well as Turkish.
A small tea ceremony was presented in the event to symbolize peace, friendship and understanding between Turkey and Japan. The guests were served natural agriculture green tea which was brought from Japan.
Since July 24th is The Day of Press in Turkey, press members in Fethiye were given Japanese calligraphic writings of their names as well as traditional head bands and handkerchiefs with the Japanese flag design. Press members Ms. Sezer Sahindas, Mr. Fatih Dereli, Mr. Gokhan Ayyildiz, Mr. Ramazan Coskun, Mr. Fatih Yilmaz attended the celebrations.
During the cocktails the guests also had the chance to learn to write their names with Japanese calligraphy.
Fethiye Lions Club will continue its year of Japan activities during the year.
For more information: www.fethiyelions.org
