One of the most poignant yet least known pages in Turkish-Japanese friendship unfolded in 1921 aboard a small Japanese vessel in the Aegean Sea. The Heimei Maru, commanded by Major Yukichi Tsumura, set out from Siberia carrying 1,012 Turkish war prisoners and their families to Istanbul but was intercepted by the Greek Navy. The determination Tsumura displayed during those days transformed what could have been mere historical footnote into both a diplomatic crisis and a lasting legacy—so significant that today a street in Istanbul bears his name.
Exile Stretching from Siberia to Japanese Protection
The roots of this story reach back to the chaotic years of World War I. The Russian Empire had transported Ottoman soldiers captured on various fronts during the war to camps in Siberia. The Bolshevik Revolution that erupted in Russia in 1917 and the subsequent civil war plunged the fate of these prisoners into uncertainty. Japan, as one of the powers showing military presence in the region during the Siberian Intervention, effectively took control of a group of these Turkish prisoners around 1918. This group, comprising not only soldiers but also women and children, lived for years far from home, shrouded in uncertainty. Finally, in February 1921, the Japanese government decided to return these prisoners to Istanbul—not Ankara, whose government still had disputed international legitimacy—and to allow them to return home. This humanitarian gesture would soon transform into an unexpected international crisis.
The Dangerous Voyage of Heimei Maru
Departing from Vladivostok Harbor in late February 1921, the Heimei Maru followed a long and arduous route. On April 3, 1921, the ship passed through the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean. But the truly dramatic moment came two days later, on April 5: the Heimei Maru was stopped by the Greek Navy off Lesbos Island. At that time, the Turkish War of Independence was raging fiercely between Greece and Turkish nationalist forces, and the Greek side feared that the Turkish soldiers aboard would join the struggle in Anatolia. Greek authorities demanded that the approximately thousand-person group aboard the ship be surrendered to them. This demand marked the beginning of a months-long standoff that would leave the ship's fate in limbo.
Major Tsumura's Resolve
It was at this very moment that Major Yukichi Tsumura's role in the story came into sharp focus. Commanding the ship, Tsumura repeatedly and emphatically rejected the Greek demands for surrender, maintaining that the people aboard were under Japanese protection. According to sources, this stance carried personal risk; Tsumura was single-handedly assuming responsibility for protecting both civilians and military passengers under pressure from a powerful navy. Faced with Greek insistence, the ship was detained in Piraeus Harbor for approximately six months, from June to October 1921. During this period, conditions aboard deteriorated significantly, with food shortages reported. The League of Nations intervened to resolve the crisis, and through its efforts, 395 women and children were released on a separate vessel. The fate of the remaining prisoners became clearer when Italy intervened: Italian officials took charge of these individuals and temporarily housed them on Asinara Island off the coast of Sardinia. After a long and exhausting process, the prisoners finally reached Istanbul in May 1922—approximately fourteen months after the ship had departed Vladivostok.
Another Symbol of Turkish-Japanese Friendship: The Ertuğrul Tragedy
To place the Heimei Maru incident in a broader context, one must reference the best-known symbol of friendship between the two nations: in 1890, the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul sank due to a typhoon while returning from Japan, and the local population heroically rescued and hospitably cared for the surviving sailors. While the Ertuğrul tragedy is today frequently recalled in schools and official ceremonies as the foundational narrative of Turkish-Japanese friendship, the Heimei Maru incident—which embodied the same spirit—remains far less known. Yet both events reflect the same fundamental human impulse: an outstretched hand to those in distress, regardless of nationality. One reason Heimei Maru remained relatively obscure may be the event's complex, multi-sided diplomatic backdrop (involving Russia, Greece, Italy, and the League of Nations); by comparison, the Ertuğrul story—though tragic—had a simpler narrative structure that made it easier for public memory to retain.
The Unforgotten Legacy of a Hero
Although Tsumura's display of resolve remained largely off the public agenda at the time, he was remembered in Turkey decades later. Through research and archival work, approximately ninety-eight years after the event, a street in Istanbul's Beykoz district was named after Tsumura—a symbolic gesture of gratitude for the support the Japanese officer provided to the Turkish people. When President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referenced this story during a visit to Japan in 2019, it achieved broader public resonance. The Heimei Maru incident also became a subject of cultural production. Director Hayriye Savaşçıoğlu's documentary titled "Heading Home: Heimei Maru" visually documented this nearly-forgotten story. Novelist Zeki Marakoğlu's historical novel "Heimei-Maru" carried the event to new generations through literary narrative. It should be noted that the Heimei Maru incident has not yet been thoroughly explored in academic literature on Turkish-Japanese relations, and certain details of the story are transmitted with minor variations across different sources. Nevertheless, the event's basic framework—Turkish prisoners from Siberia transported on a Japanese vessel, the tension with the Greek Navy in the Aegean, and Tsumura's refusal to surrender the prisoners—is consistently found in multiple sources. Today, this story stands as an extraordinary yet little-known testament to the friendship between the two nations. Yukichi Tsumura, who never imagined he would be remembered by history as anything more than an ordinary soldier, changed the destiny of a thousand people through his decision and left a small yet indelible mark on the memories of two nations. Walking through the quiet streets of Istanbul and encountering his name is, in essence, carrying the trace of a silent act of resistance that took place a century ago in the midst of the Aegean Sea.