ERTUĞRUL FACİASININ TRABZONLU ŞEHİTLERİ
TRABZON MARTYRS OF THE ERTUĞRUL DISASTER

Summary/Abstract: The Ottoman Empire's interest in the Far East began when Japan swerved its policy of being a closed country and opened up to the world. After the prolonged policy of Japan, which ended the “Sakoku (closed country)” period, the Japanese Prince visited Istanbul and thus there was a need to respond to this visit. From the perspective of the Ottoman Empire, the visit to Japan had two purposes: The first is to get an ally against Russia, and the second is to contact the Muslim people, the colony of the European states. For this purpose, a sea voyage to Japan was planned and despite all the controversy, the Ertuğrul Frigate was chosen as the ship that will make one of the longest journeys in the history of the Ottoman Empire. However, Ertuğrul Frigate completed the 11 month-long journey by struggling with various accidents, bad weather and epidemic diseases and while it was just at the beginning of the return journey, it sunk on the shores of Japan as a result of the storm. On the ship, where 527 people were martyred and 69 were saved, there were also about 300 people going from the Black Sea Region. With 71 martyrs, the city of Trabzon has become the highest affected in both the region and the country. Considering the borders of Trabzon Province at that time, this number is around 230.

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