Plans have been announced to move the bronze statue of Turkish founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, originally donated by the Turkish Government to the "Turkish Village" theme park in Niigata Prefecture, to the town of Kushimoto in Wakayama Prefecture. The statue had been stored on its side since the park’s closure. These efforts by the town of Kushimoto, which has close cultural ties to Turkey, are supported by The Nippon Foundation. The statue will first be sent to the Museum of Maritime Science in Tokyo for renovations before the move to Kushimoto. It is to be unveiled at a June 3 ceremony commemorating the Ertugrul, an 1800s Ottoman Navy frigate.

The bronze statue of Ataturk on horseback scheduled to be moved

Measuring 4.2 meters in height and 3.8 meters in width and weighing 4.2 tons, the statue was donated to Turkish Village in 1996. It was purchased by the city government after the park closure and was subsequently sold to a private company. The statue was removed from its base in 2007 due to fears of damage following the 2007 Chuetsu Earthquake. Although it had been wrapped in sheeting, news reports in Turkey described its circumstances as falling somwhat short of the respect due their national hero. Even the Turkish Embassy in Japan had expressed its concerns.

Turkey has close ties with Japan, and this year marks the 120th anniversary of relations between the two nations. The decision to move the statue to Kushimoto followed efforts by The Nippon Foundation to encourage negotiations between the parties involved.

Coastline where the frigate sank

After sailing to Japan in 1890 to visit Emperor Meiji, the Ertugrul sank on September 16 at the outset of its return journey home, shipwrecked in a typhoon a little way out in Kushimoto Bay. More than 500 crew members died. Local inhabitants joined in rescue efforts, saving 69 of them, who were then returned to the Ottoman Empire the following year aboard Japanese Navy training ships. The kindness shown by the local people and the Japanese Government was reported far and wide in Turkey, helping to establish a friendship between the two nations.

An incident in which Turkey sent a plane to evacuate 265 Japanese stranded in Tehran in 1985 during the Iran-Iraq War has been described as “a favor returned after 95 years.”

The area in front of the lighthouse where the statue is to be placed

Kii Oshima, an island administered by Kushimoto, is home to the Turkish Frigate Memorial and the Turkish Museum. The Japanese Emperor paid a visit to this island on June 3, 1929, and a memorial ceremony has been held there on this date every five years since. The statue is to be placed in front of the nearby Kashinozaki lighthouse. Memorial ceremonies on both land and sea are scheduled for this date, and representatives of the Turkish Government are due to attend the unveiling of the statue of Ataturk.

The southernmost point of Honshu

With a population of approximately 18,000, Kushimoto is known as the southernmost point on the main Japanese island of Honshu. Town Mayor Katsumasa Tajima is currently working with officials to prepare to receive the statue. A team from Turkey has been engaged in an underwater survey since 2007 around the scene of the shipwreck near the lighthouse.