Photo/Illutration Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko acknowledge the audience after attending a ceremony in Istanbul on Dec. 5 marking the 100th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Japan and Turkey. (Koichi Ueda)

ISTANBUL--Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko on Dec. 5 attended the centennial ceremony marking diplomatic relations between Japan and Turkey and looked back on 100 years of friendship. 

“It is my heartfelt hope that the ties between our two nations will strengthen and deepen even further into the future,” Fumihito said.

He also referred to a Turkish saying about friends during times of rain and said, “Our nations have accumulated a history of helping each other during difficult times.”

Fumihito touched upon past incidents, such as the 1890 sinking of the frigate Ertugrul off the coast of Wakayama Prefecture in which local villagers provided assistance to survivors and the dispatch in 1985 of a plane by the Turkish government to evacuate Japanese nationals fleeing fighting in the Iran-Iraq War.

Fumihito also referred to the sending of search-and-rescue teams by each nation when the other was devastated by a major earthquake.

“I hope that such incidents which symbolize the ‘bonds’ between our two nations will continue to be talked about for the next 100 years,” Fumihito said.

About 400 people attended the ceremony, including Osman Askin Bak, the Turkish youth and sports minister, and a son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Cultural performances were presented by Turkish folk dance troupes and a Japanese “taiko” drum team.

Fumihito and Kiko boarded a Japanese government plane on the morning of Dec. 5 to fly from Ankara to Istanbul.

Prior to the centennial ceremony, the couple visited historical sites, including the Hagia Sophia mosque and Topkapi Palace, which once served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire and the residence of its sultan.

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