ANKARA - Japan will decorate 13 Turks with the Order of the Rising Sun in gratitude for a 1985 operation to repatriate Japanese citizens trapped in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, the Japanese embassy said here Thursday.
Turkish Airlines (THY), Turkey's national carrier, agreed to airlift the Japanese after Japanese airline companies refused to fly to Tehran.
The embassy said the order would be bestowed on the then Turkish ambassador in Iran, the then director-general of THY and 11 other people, including pilots and stewardesses who were on the flight.
During a visit to Turkey in January, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met and personally thanked one of the Turkish pilots who flew the plane.
The statement said the 13 Turks were among 49 people who would receive the order this spring, granted to foreigners twice a year in recognition of their contributions to Japan's development.
05/04/2006 15:58 GMT