TCG Gediz docked at Manila’s South Harbor on Monday, making a historic achievement as the first Turkish Navy frigate to drop anchor in the Philippines.
The ship, which came from Japan, is on a three-day visit to Manila before sailing on and calling on a total of 18 ports in 14 African and Asian countries, including the Philippines, covering 20,300 nautical miles by the time it has finished its 122-day journey.
The ship left the port of Aksaz, Turkey, under the command of Capt. Yusuf Kocaman, on April 1.
“The visit aims to strengthen the bilateral relations and people-to-people contacts, as well as fostering ties between the two countries,” Kocaman said at the start of a dinner reception onboard the ship on Tuesday.
Invited were ranking officials of the Philippine Navy, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, Turkish Ambassador to the Philipines Esra Cankuros and Rear Adm. Aydin Sirin of the Turkish Navy, who flew from Istanbul to attend the occasion.
Also invited was United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Bernard Kerblat.
“Despite the geographic distance, Turkish people have always shown solidarity with Filipinos in different times, and the latest example was the support when Supertyphoon Yolanda hit the Philippines in November 2013,” Kocaman said.
He said Gediz’s voyage was launched to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the sinking of the Turkish frigate Ertugrul, which was sent by the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II to Japan to reciprocate the visit to Istanbul by the Japanese Royal family.
Ertugrul sailed on July 14, 1889, under the command of Usman Pasha, and dropped anchor at Yokomana port in June 1890, after visiting several Asian countries along the way.
However, Ertugrul’s return voyage to Turkey ended tragically when the frigate was caught by a typhoon and sunk on September 16, 1890, near the Japanese port of Kushimoto.
Of the 600 officers and ratings onboard, only 69 survived.
Kocaman said commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Ertugrul sinking is to “show our deep respect and appreciation to our heroes who sacrificed their lives.”
Cankorus hailed the “warm political climate between Turkey and the Philippines as ground for cooperation in every possible field.”
She said the visit of frigate Gediz will not only contribute to the strengthening of bilateral relations, “it will also foster the ties between the armed forces of the two friendly countries.
She said she is lucky that during her posting here one-and-a-half years ago, she saw Turkish Airlines have started operating out of Manila.
She announced that a Turkish officer has been appointed to Manila last August 2013, to speed up efforts of military cooperation between the two countries.
“And now a Turkish frigate is here, who knows we will start a maritime ships coming and going from Turkey to the Philippines in the next few years.”
Kerblat, on the other hand, pointed to the significance of Gediz as the same ship to save and rescue hundreds of refugees and fleeing migrant week ago from the Gulf of Bengal.
He praised Turkey because of “your sad privilege of hosting 1.6 million refugees from Syria, Iraq and many countries around the world and despite of all your problems, you still found the resources, time and efforts to come to the rescue of many.”