Japan–Turkey relations
Japan–Turkey relations are foreign relations between Japan and Turkey. Japan has an embassy in Ankara and a consulate-general in Istanbul. Turkey has an embassy in Tokyo and a consulate-general in Nagoya. The relationship has been described as "close".
History
Ottoman Empire
Relations between the two countries started in the 19th century. A foundational event occurred in 1890, when the [Turkish frigate Ertuğrul|Turkish frigate Ertuğrul] hit a reef and sank off the coast of Wakayama, Japan, after having an audience with the Meiji Emperor. The surviving sailors were taken back to Istanbul by two Japanese frigates. A monument commemorating the Ottoman sailors was erected in Kushimoto of Wakayama Prefecture, called the Kushimoto Turkish Memorial and Museum. In 2015, the movie "125 Years Memory" was released, marking the 125th anniversary of friendship between Japan and Turkey. The motion picture reflects two important historical incidents in Japanese-Turkish relations, the aforementioned sinking of the Ertuğrul and the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Iran in 1985.In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Nipponophilia took hold of the Ottoman press with hundreds upon hundreds of articles written about Japan. As an Eastern people who originated in Central Asia, many Turks felt a special affinity for another Eastern, Asian nation like Japan, which had modernized without becoming westernized. Further adding to the mutual attraction between the Turks and the Japanese was their shared enmity towards Russia, the archenemy of the Ottomans for centuries and the new archenemy of Japan. Already starting to promote the ideology of Pan-Asianism, the Japanese began to court the Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman Empire. The Meiji Emperor sent princes of the House of Yamato to visit the Sultan-Caliph, Abdul Hamid II, bearing gifts and proposals for treaties and generating much excitement in the Ottoman press. Abdul Hamid II admired Japan to a certain extent but was fearful of the popular rumors that the Meiji Emperor would convert to Islam and proclaim himself Caliph, thereby displacing the Sultan-Caliph as the object of veneration from all the world's Sunni Muslims.
The Committee of Union and Progress greatly admired Japan, which they took as their model. The fact that an Asian nation like Japan had defeated Russia in 1905, the traditional enemy of the Ottoman Empire, was very inspiring to the Unionists, and Unionist newspapers all portrayed Japan's victory as a triumph not only over Russia, but also over Western values. The Unionists especially admired the Japanese for their embrace of Western science and technology without losing their "Eastern spiritual essence", which was seen as proving that one could modernize without embracing Western values, providing the inspiration to make the Ottoman Empire into the "Japan of the Near East". The Turks originated as a people living north of the Great Wall of China, with the first mention of the Turks in history occurring in a letter written to the Chinese emperor Wen in 585 AD. Over the centuries the Turks had wandered across Eurasia, settling in very large numbers in Anatolia after their victory over the Romans at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Unionists were proud of the East Asian origins of the Turkish people, and spent much time glorying Turan, which was the name they had adopted for the homeland of the Turks in East Asia that was located somewhere north of the Great Wall of China. As the Chinese and Arabs were the traditional enemies of the Turks, there no ties of friendship to celebrate with those peoples. Ziya Gökalp, the chief ideologue of the Young Turks charged in a 1913 essay that "the sword of the Turk and likewise his pen have exalted the Arabs, the Chinese and the Persians" rather than themselves and that the modern Turks "needed to turn back to their ancient past". Gökalp argued it was time for the Turks to once again study the important figures of their own Turco-Mongol tradition, such as Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Timur, and Hulagu Khan.
The modernization policies carried out by the Unionist regime starting in 1908 after the Young Turk revolution were closely modeled after the modernization of Meiji Japan. One Unionist, Colonel Pertev Bey wrote after the revolution of 1908: "We will rise shortly... with the same brilliance as the Rising Sun of the Far East did a few years ago! In any case, let us not forget that a nation always rises from its own strength!". In an inversion of Western paranoia about the "Yellow Peril", the Young Turks often fantasised about creating an alliance with Japan that would unite all the peoples of "the East" to wage war against the much hated Western nations that dominated the world, a "Yellow wave" that would wash away European civilisation for good. For the Young Turks, the term yellow stood for the "Eastern gold", the innate moral superiority of Eastern peoples over the corrupt West. In the eyes of the Unionists, it was the civilisations of the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and the Far East that were the superior civilisations to Western civilisation, and it was merely an unfortunate accident of history that the West had happened to become more economically and technologically advanced than the Asian civilisations, something that they were determined to correct. The Young Turks were very impressed with how the Japanese had fought the Russian-Japanese war, observing that because of Bushido, the fierce warrior code of the samurai, that all Japanese males were indoctrinated in after the Meiji Restoration that the Japanese had no fear of death as for them it was the greatest honor to die for the Emperor while the Russians were afraid to die and did not know why they were fighting in Manchuria, thus giving the Japanese the edge in combat. The Unionists intended to emulate the Japanese example by creating a militaristic educational system designed to make every man a soldier and every woman into essentially a soldier-making machine; the concept of jihad would play the same role in motivating the Turkish soldier to fight and die for the caliph as Bushido did for the Japanese soldier to die for his emperor. From the Meiji Restoration to 1945, Japanese students were taught that Bushido was the highest moral code, that for a man it was the greatest honor to die for the Emperor while for a woman it was the greatest honor to bear sons who would die for the Emperor. As with the case of the oligarchy that ruled Meiji Japan, the purpose of the modernization policies of the CUP regime to allow the nation to win wars, and the educational policies of the CUP regime, which were closely modeled after the Japanese educational system, were meant to train the male students to be soldiers when they become adults. The Turkish historian Handan Nezir Akmeșe wrote that the most important factor in Unionist thinking was the "devaluation of life", the belief that Eastern peoples like the Japanese and the Turks attached no value to human life including their own, and unlike the Westerners who allegedly clung pathetically to their lives when confronted with danger, Easterners supposedly died willingly and happily for the cause.
Efforts to establish treaty relations between Japan and the Ottoman Empire failed because of Japan's insistence that it receive capitulations like the other Great Powers and the Empire's demand that the two countries negotiate only as absolute equals. During World War I, Japan was one of the Allies while the Turkish Ottoman Empire was one of the Central Powers.
| Years | Ottoman Exports to Japan 1 yen= 12 kurush | Ottoman Imports |
| 1902 | 1,189 | 41,860 |
| 1905 | 342,389 | 50,632 |
| 1907 | 130,394 | 70,598 |
| 1910 | 944,824 | 81,166 |
| 1912 | 138,665 | 162,675 |
Republic of Turkey
Following the founding of the Republic of Turkey, diplomatic relations were established in 1924 and first embassies were opened in 1925. The first Japanese ambassador to Turkey was Sadatsuchi Uchida, who later in 1926 proposed and established the Japan-Turkey Society, a non-profit organization aiming mutual exchange between Turkey and Japan.During the 1930s, Japan engaged in a secret attempt to create an Islamic state in Central Asia with Japanese backing, with the Ottoman Crown Prince Şehzade Mehmed Abdülkerim as its Sultan at the Kumul Rebellion. The plot failed to materialise.
While Turkey had declared war on Japan in February 1945, it was also entirely symbolic. So in 1985, the almost century-old gesture of kindness was reciprocated during the Iran–Iraq War. As hostilities escalated to an extent that all aircraft were threatened with being shot down, Turkey sent an aircraft in to rescue 215 Japanese nationals who were living in Tehran at the time. The Turkish government issued a statement: "We have not forgotten the rescue of the sailors of the Ertuğrul. Thus, once we heard there were Japanese citizens in need of help, we went to their rescue."
2010 marked the 120th anniversary of Turko-Japanese relations with over 186 events held throughout Turkey during the year. In this year, Turkey held the
"." On 10 July 2010, Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, cousin of the emperor, attended the opening ceremony of the Kaman Kalehöyük Archaeological Museum. The museum was built with funding from Japan. The prince has often engaged himself actively to promote Japanese-Turkish relations. Moreover, in the wake of Great East Japan earthquake in March 2011 and the earthquakes in Turkey's eastern part in October and November 2011 respectively, both countries provided each other with support, which strengthened the relationship between the two nationals.
The year 2019 is the "Turkey Year" in Japan.
Japanese activities in the Ottoman Empire
Official relations between Japan and Turkey were established after Japan ratified the Treaty of Lausanne on 6 August 1924. This occurred after the government of Turkey led by Mustafa Kemal, abolished the Ottoman sultanate and announced the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. Although, official relations of the two countries did not exist before 1924, interactions between the two countries and efforts to acquire knowledge of each other had continued for nearly 50 years. Direct interaction between the two regions began after the Japanese started to travel abroad in the Meiji period. Japanese visitors, including members of the imperial family, military officers, and merchants, engaged in various missions and activities in the Ottoman Empire and recorded their experiences in numerous documents.Before the direct interaction
Until the 19th century, knowledge of each region remained limited and indirect, but did exist, relying on foreign sources. One of the earliest mentions of Japan in the Turkish records can be found in the map showing the place called “Japonya” on the manuscript named Dîvânu Lugâti t-Türk by Kashgarlı Mahmud, which was written in 1074 to introduce the Turkish language and history to the Arabic readers. In the 17th century in the Ottoman Empire, significant works, contributing the Ottoman Empire`s geographical studies, containing information about Japan, which were Cihannüma and Tuhfetü’l-Kibâr fî Esfâri’l-Bihâr, were written by Katip Çelebi.He touched upon various segments of Japan, such as political structure, status system, religion, language, and diet. He mentioned that the political power was divided and Europeans tried to spread Christianity, but it did not succeed, resulting in the execution of Japanese converts. A map of the Japanese archipelago was also depicted, and important cities such as Kyoto, shown as “Miyako” were introduced. It is pointed out that the information provided by Katip Çelebi was based on the translation of European sources, which were acquired before the Tokugawa shogunate introduced the policy of limiting foreign access to the domains.On the Japanese side, direct interaction with not only the Turkish region but also the Muslim civilization as a whole was limited except for the Japanese communities in Southeast Asia. However, a small number of artifacts and some information about the Huns and Turkish states came through China. By the Edo period, it had been confirmed that the Japanese authorities were aware of the existence of the Ottoman Empire from European sources, especially from the Dutch.Despite its policy to limit foreign access to the domain, which is often called Sakoku, the Tokugawa shogunate was able to acquire knowledge of contemporary affairs in Europe through the Oranda fūsetsu sho, which were submitted by the Dutch merchants annually. Information about the Ottoman Empire, which frequently had conflicts with European countries, appeared in the Dutch documents. A series of reports from 1685 to 1720 explain the flow of the Great Turkish war, including some information about specific battles such as the Second Battle of Mohács and the Battle of Zenta, as well as the Treaty of Passarowitz.
The emergence of Japanese visitors
In the 19th century, the Meiji Japanese government and the Ottoman government were in a similar situation in the way both countries were trying to revise unequal treaties with the West, as well as they started their modernizing program through internalization of the Western idea.Japanese people started to visit European countries for observational purposes, and the Ottoman Empire, located between Europe and Japan, was often used as one of the places for the stopover points of their journey.Even before the establishment of the Meiji government, a small number of Japanese started to visit Europe. During the late Edo period, there were some Japanese people who stopped in Egypt, which was nominally an Ottoman territory, on the way to visit Europe, such as Fukuzawa Yukichi in 1862 and Nakai Hiroshi in 1866, and there is also a photograph from 1864 showing Japanese people with the Sphinx in Cairo.However, the earliest recorded Japanese visitors to the main part of the Ottoman Empire were Fukuchi Genichiro and Shimaji Mokurai after the establishment of the Meiji government. Fukuchi Genichiro served as one of the translators of the Iwakura mission. When Fukuchi was in Paris, he was given a mission to observe the judicial system in the Ottoman Empire and arrived in present-day Istanbul on 11 April 1873. Buddhist monk Shimaji Mokurai, who was on another observational mission in Europe, joined Fukuchi in London and accompanied him to the Ottoman Empire.Although Fukuchi`s activities in the Empire remain unclear due to the lack of historical archives, Shimaji`s diaries, Kōsei Nissaku provide information about their experiences in this trip. He recorded his impressions on the city, palace, and mosques as well as the knowledge on Turkish culture and history he gained. Although these diaries contain some inaccuracies, they still constitute the earliest firsthand Japanese records.After a 12-day stay in Istanbul, Fukuchi and Shimaji stopped in Smyrna and subsequently returned to Japan, traveling via Egypt and India.
The gradual deepening of Japan-Ottoman relations
From the mid-1870s onward, Japanese people began constantly visiting not just Europe but also the Ottoman Empire for observational purposes,although it was largely limited to government officials and military officers. As more Japanese stayed in the empire, intergovernmental interaction gradually progressed to a higher level.In 1876, a first Secretary Trainee at the Japanese Legation in the United Kingdom, Nakai Hiroshi, and a First Secretary at the Japanese Legation in Austria, Watanabe Kouki, visited Istanbul on their way back to Japan.Although it was an unofficial visit, it was the first time that a Japanese diplomat had stayed in the Ottoman Empire. They had opportunities to meet the Grand vizier and the foreign minister of the Ottoman Empire, and during their conversation, the Foreign Minister expressed his desire to establish diplomatic relations with Japan.Nakai recorded his experiences in the Ottoman Empire in his work Manyūkitei.
Several years after the visit of Nakai and Watanabe, relations between the two countries deepened enough for Japanese visitors to have an audience with the Ottoman Sultan. The Meiji government sent a mission of seven Japanese staff to observe Persia, led by diplomat Yoshida Masaharu in 1880, and after leaving Persia, they went to Istanbul via Trabzon and Samsun in 1881.In Samsun, they inspected a cigarette factory, visited the Russian consulate, and landed at Galata pier in Istanbul on 11 February with the support of Russian sailors. However, soon after their arrival, some of the members went to Europe, and three members, Yoshida Masaharu, Furukawa Nobuyoshi, and Yokoyama Magoichiro, stayed in the Ottoman Empire.They were permitted to have an audience with Sultan Abdul Hamid II twice. During the first visit on 12 March, they exchanged conversations with the Sultan at the Yıldız Palace, and during the second visit on 19 March, they were invited to a dinner attended by the sultan, high-ranking government officials, and two Ottoman princes. All three Japanese members were awarded Ottoman decorations, and after the meal, when Yoshida mentioned that he had never listened to Turkish music before, the Sultan immediately summoned a traditional ensemble to perform, and the audience continued late into the night.In addition, Furukawa, who was an army captain, conducted an assessment of the Ottoman Empire`s national condition, economy, political system, and geography, as well as sought further information by meeting several foreign diplomats who were staying in Istanbul.He also visited a military school in Harbiye to inspect the Empire`s both army and navy conditions. He recorded his detailed research in his writing Perushia kikou. They left the Ottoman Empire on 22 March.
Tani Kanjyo, who was the minister of Agriculture and Commerce, visited Istanbul during his work trip in 1886.He and his companion stayed in Bursa for three days, where they experienced the Turkish bath and inspected the silk factories. He also had an audience with Sultan Abdul Hamid II in Yıldız Palace on 31 December, and was awarded an Ottoman decoration. He wrote his experiences and reflections of this trip in his diary ''Yōkō Nikki.''
Japanese military`s interest
The Japanese military began paying attention to the Ottoman affairs earlier than the private sector did. After the Meiji restoration, the Russo-Turkish Wars were used to learn modern Western warfare in Japanese military schools, and various specialized books about the wars for military officers were published in Japan.In the late 19th century, Japanese military officers started to conduct intelligence activities in the Ottoman Empire.Lieutenant Colonel Fukushima Yasumasa of the Japanese Army visited the empire in 1889 and 1896 and submitted the report Aou Nikki to Prince Komatsu Akihito, Chief of the General Staff.Major General Terauchi Masaki of the army visited the empire in 1896 and had an audience with Sultan Abdul Hamid II and inspected the military facilities in Istanbul.For the Japanese Navy, it sent its first domestically produced warship Seiki led by Lieutenant Colonel Inoue Yoshika to Europe and stopped in Istanbul, also having an audience with the Sultan in 1878. In 1897, the Japanese navy dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Shimamura Hayao to the empire to observe the ongoing Greco-Turkish War. He was not able to accomplish his mission to observe the war, however, he submitted his report about his inspection.
Japanese Imperial Family and the dispatch of the Ertuğrul
A member of the Japanese imperial family visited Istanbul for the first time,and in response, the Ottoman Empire dispatched the warship Ertuğrul to Japan. These events not only marked the beginning of exchanges between the Imperial Families of the two countries but also led to the appearance of Japanese residents in the Ottoman Empire, elevating the relationship between Japan and the Ottoman Empire to a new level.In 1887, Prince Komatsu Akihito arrived in Istanbul with his wife during his journey to the West, which he undertook not only for imperial diplomacy but also to observe European military conditions as a lieutenant General.He received a warm welcome from Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The Sultan provided him with accommodation at the Küçüksu Pavilion and arranged ships for his transportation, additionally Şeker Ahmed Pasha, who was a military officer also renowned as a painter, was appointed as an escort. The prince was authorized to visit the treasury of the Topkapı palace. Additionally, Sultan Abdul Hamid II held a military parade and traditional dance performance for the Prince Komatsu Akihito in Yıldız Palace and medals were given to the members of this mission, including the prince himself. The Sultan and the Prince had a conversation that lasted for hours, and the Prince gave the Sultan his photograph taken in Berlin with his autograph in both Kanji and the Latin Alphabet, which was later placed in the Sultan`s personal album.
In 1888, in response to the warm welcome given to his family, Emperor Meiji sent a letter expressing his gratitude to the Sultan, along with the highest-ranking decoration and Japanese woodworking tools knowing that the Sultan‘s hobby was wood crafts. The Sultan, receiving these gifts, began considering possible measures in order to return Japan’s courtesy, which led to the decision to dispatch the frigate Ertuğrul.
Ertuğrul incident
Sultan Abdul Hamid II sent the frigate not only to visit Japan but also to enhance his authority as a Caliph by stopping at several cities with Muslim populations, on the way. On 14 July 1889, Ertuğrul, led by Osman bey departed Istanbul, and 11 months later on 7 June 1890, arrived in the Port of Yokohama. The delegation had an audience with Emperor Meiji and presented the Sultan`s letter and gifts as well as Osman pasha conducted a speech in Turkish by the request from the Emperor. They were conferred Japanese decorations and had a dinner party with Japanese high ranking statesmen. The delegation led by Osman Pasha had been delayed in its departure due to a cholera outbreak. Although Japan warned them of an approaching typhoon, they set sail as scheduled in accordance with orders from the Ottoman government.Several days after its departure, on the night of 16 September, the Ertuğrul ran aground off the coast of Ōshima on the Kii Peninsula amid a violent storm and sank. Despite the devoted rescue efforts by the people of Kushimoto, only 69 members survived and more than 500 ottoman crew, including Osman pasha lost their lives. This caused a media sensation in Japan, and news about the incident appeared in various newspapers every day. Some newspaper companies, such as Jiji Shinpō, and individuals, such as Yamada Torajirō, carried out fundraising activities for the Ottoman Empire as a media event. Public discussion intensified, especially regarding how the Ottoman survivors should be transported back to the Ottoman Empire. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was initially unwilling to dispatch the Japanese Navy, and when a rumor spread that a Russian ship would be used for this mission, harsh criticism of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs broke out. On the other hand, the Japanese Navy, despite its financial difficulties, wished to send its battleship to the Ottoman Empire in order to conduct a training voyage for young officers. With strong pressure from public opinion, the government decided to dispatch the two battleships Hiei and Kongō on 26 September 1890.
On 22 December, near the Dardanelles, Ottoman survivors were successfully handed over to an Ottoman ship. However, the Japanese ships were not allowed to enter the straits due to the regulation limiting the entrance of armed vessels. The Ottoman Navy suggested that the Japanese officers transfer to the Ottoman ship to approach Istanbul, but the Japanese officers rejected the offer and requested permission to sail to Istanbul with their own ships. They waited for a response at the port of Smyrna, and after special permission was granted by the Sultan, they arrived in Istanbul on the morning of 2 January 1891, and on the same day they had an audience with high ranking Ottoman military officers in Dolmabahçe Palace. During their approximately 40-day stay, they participated in numerous goodwill events. These included exchanges between the militaries of the two countries, attendance at banquets, inspections of Ottoman military facilities, visits to palaces, mosques, and museums, as well as visits to foreign legations such as those of the United States, Greece and the British. They also experienced several audiences with Sultan Abdul Hamid II at Yıldız Palace. In addition, the dispatched Japanese military officers observed various aspects of Ottoman society, religion, culture, and institutions. Upon returning to Japan, Ōyama Takanosuke and Inoue Toshio published Tōruko Kōkai Kiji and Tōruko Kōkai Kikō, respectively. Two Japanese ships left Istanbul on 10 February 1891 and through this voyage, many young naval officers, including Akiyama Saneyuki, who would later be active in the Russo-Japanese War, were able to gain valuable experience.
Activities of Noda Shotaro
On the ship, Hiei, which carried the Ottoman survivor back home, there was a Japanese journalist Noda Shotaro who played a significant role in the relations between Japan and the Ottoman Empire. He was the first Japanese person who resided in the Ottoman Empire and first journalist who was stationed and published the articles. Furthermore, he was the first Japanese person who conducted Japanese language education in the Ottoman Empire and was regarded as the first Japanese who converted to Islam.Noda Shotaro was born in Aomori prefecture in 1868 and studied in Keio Gijuku, and he started to work in Jiji Shinpō which was founded by the same intellectual who founded his school, Fukuzawa Yukichi. Soon after he entered the company, he was given a mission to deliver the money that was collected in the fundraising activities for the Ottoman Empire and boarded Hiei on 5 October 1890. On the way to the Ottoman Empire he sent several reports explaining his voyage, information about foreign newspapers and activities of Japanese individuals stationed at the stopover cities such as Hongkong, Singapore and Colombo. He also tried to learn the Ottoman Turkish language from the Ottoman survivor on the ship, in order to prepare for the forthcoming journalist activities, and he even made name cards written in the Arabic letters with help from one of the survivors, Ali Efendi.
After his arrival in Istanbul, how much he participated in the official events is unclear due to the lack of documents, however, he published 8 articles while two Japanese battle ships were in Istanbul and on 6 January he successfully delivered the money to the Naval Ministry. He also interacted with local newspapers such as Tercümân-ı Hakîkat and Mizan and through those activities he started to be famous in the Ottoman Empire with help from smooth communication due to his knowledge of Ottoman Turkish. His activities including the donation were covered not only in local newspapers but also in English and French newspapers that were published in the Ottoman Empire.
Sultan Abdul Hamid II and his government repeatedly asked Japanese Naval officers to provide one of their crew members, who is fluent in languages, to remain in Istanbul to establish Japanese education in the Empire for the Ottoman military officers. However, since these naval officers were valuable to the country, the Japanese navy declined the request and also declined to send other officers from Japan, and they suggested asking Noda Shotaro instead. On 8 February, when Noda was attending a farewell party, he had an audience with Sultan Abdul Hamid II for the first time. Noda himself reported that Sultan approached him, held his hand and expressed his happiness that Noda is trying to learn the Turkish language. The sultan spoke to him in Turkish without a translator thinking that Noda would understand, however he reported that he could not understand most of the conversation and at last he was accorded a cigarette case which was decorated with diamonds. Two days later on 10 February, the day that two Japanese ships were about to leave Istanbul, Sultan`s messenger came to Hiei three times requesting Noda to remain in Istanbul to learn Turkish in order to get further information about the Ottoman Empire; he initially declined, however he was convinced and accepted this offer. The Ottoman messenger did not mention that Noda would be a Japanese language teacher in this request, even though the first intention was to establish Japanese language education.
While he was living in Istanbul, he was well taken care of by the Ottoman government. The government provided him with a room in the military school and money, and two military officers Recep Efendi and Sabri Efendi were assigned to take care of him. Furthermore, he was given opportunities to have an audience with the Sultan every Friday. He started to learn Turkish from those two officers, and in return he provided Japanese language lectures to them. The number of students gradually increased and, although no document indicating how many actually learned from him, Noda himself reported that in August he had seven students. Since it was impossible to find Japanese learning materials in the Ottoman Empire, he requested his colleague Imaizumi Shutaro to send some textbooks and writing tools such as ink and brushes. To show his gratitude, he had his four students write letters to him in Japanese using these tools, and two of the letters were published on Jiji Shinpō 31 January 1892. Later, one of his students Mustafa Asım Efendi published the first Turkish-Japanese language book and dictionary.
The Ottoman official documents indicate that he underwent circumcision and became a Muslim on 21 May 1891. He received the Muslim name Abdülhalim and in addition to Turkish language, he studied Ottoman history and Islam. In the letter he sent to the Sultan, he even expressed the need to study Arabic language to understand the Quran. His conversion was widely reported by local newspapers with photographs and some reported him on the front page. However, he never mentioned his conversion to the Japanese media, even though he had been continuing to send reports and news articles to Jiji Shinpō.
He asked the Ottoman government to return home and was approved. There is no document to indicate the reason for his decision, however he left the Empire in mid-December 1892. In Japan he published a series of articles explaining Turkish culture until he left Jiji Shinpō.
Japanese commercial activities and Yamada Torajiro
On 4 April 1892, Yamada Torajiro arrived in Istanbul to hand over the donation money he had collected through his campaign for the Ertuğrul incident. He was also intending to find an opportunity to start a private trading business between Japan and the Ottoman Empire. Noda, who was already residing in Istanbul assisted Yamada during his first stay and introduced him to important Ottoman figures including businessmen and government officials. Yamada left Istanbul in July 1892 to prepare his new business and came back in 1893. He started to introduce Japanese products at the Ottoman Chamber of Commerce, and later he ran a Japanese store in Pera district with the Nakamura family and several Japanese staff. He spent almost 22 years in Istanbul with some temporary returns to Japan. He offered mediation and guidance to Japanese visitors in Istanbul for many years. Yamada also published some articles about the Ottoman Empire in the Japanese media such as Taiyō and released his own book, ''Toruko Gakan.''Japanese Activities in the final years of the Ottoman Empire
As tensions between Japan and the Russian Empire increased, Japanese officers stationed in Odessa infiltrated using false identities and monitored Russian ships passing through the Bosphorus Strait with help from the owner of the Japanese store in Istanbul, Nakamura Kenjiro, during the Russo-Japanese War. Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese war led to a sharp rise in pro-Japanese sentiment in the Ottoman Empire. Japanese individuals who were staying in the Empire, such as Yamada Torajiro, Tokutomi Kenjiro and Inabata Katsutaro recorded its warm welcoming atmosphere in their writings. After the war, because of its geopolitical significance, Japan stationed military officers in the Ottoman Empire under the guise of long-term assignments for officials dispatched to third countries, assigning them to intelligence activities, despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations. Among them, Muraoka Chōtarō, who was stationed from 1911 to 1912, even participated in the First Balkan War on the Ottoman side.From July 21 to 24, 1911, General Nogi Maresuke stopped in Istanbul on his return from Great Britain after attending the coronation ceremony of King George V. He stayed at the Pera Palace Hotel and had an opportunity to have an audience with important political figures of the regime established after the Young Turk Revolution and the deposition of Abdul Hamid II, including the Sultan Mehmed V, Crown prince Vahideddin and, Minister of War Mahmud Shevket Pasha. Ottoman military officer Pertev, who experienced the Russo-Japanese war in the battlefields of Lüshunkou and Mukden as a military observer, served as an attendant for him.
Cultural exchanges continued, exemplified by Yamaoka Mitsutarō’s pilgrimage to Mecca as the first Japanese Muslim and Itō Chūta’s study abroad in the Ottoman Empire to learn architecture. However, the outbreak of the First World War placed Japan and the Ottoman Empire on opposing sides, leading to the withdrawal of Japanese-owned businesses in Istanbul and figures such as Torajiro Yamada were consequently forced to returned to Japan.
The war ended with the defeat of the Central Powers, including the Ottoman Empire. In 1921, with the intention of expanding its influence in the Mediterranean world, Japan independently attempted to return Ottoman prisoners of war and their families, who had been held in Russia, to Istanbul aboard the Heimei Maru, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Tsumura Yukichi. The British, displeased with this initiative, made the Greek Navy capture the ship. Japan, however, refused to hand over the Ottoman prisoners to Greece, and the vessel was detained for six months. Eventually, the prisoners were transferred to Italy. In 2019, a street in Istanbul’s Beykoz district was named after Tsumura, honoring his courage in refusing to give the prisoners to Greece.
Although the Ottoman Empire collapsed, Japanese activities in the region continued and further developed after the establishment of the Republic, building upon the foundations laid during the imperial period.
Political relations
Turkey and Japan are both members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), G20 and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Also Turkey is a member of the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and Japan is an observer.There are 4,444 Turkish citizens living in Japan, constituting an important aspect of Turkey's relations with Japan.
The Japan-Turkey Society was established in 1926 and has since been promoting amicable relations between Japan and Turkey through seminars, the arts, language and cultural exchange and even culinary exchange activities.
The Turkey-Japan Cultural Dialog Society was founded in 2006, but records cultural and other types of exchange activities between Japan and Turkey since 1873.
According to the public survey in Turkey conducted by the Japanese Foreign Ministry in 2012, 83.2 percent of respondents answered that the relations between Japan and Turkey are "friendly" or "almost friendly".
Japan criticized the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria. Foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said in a statement: "Japan is deeply concerned that the latest military operation would make the settlement of Syrian crisis more difficult and cause further deterioration of the humanitarian situation. Japan once again underscores its position that the Syrian crisis cannot be solved by any military means."
Both countries cooperated during the escape of the former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn.