Japan Honors Turkish Diplomat and Airline Crew Who Saved 215 Japanese in 1985 Tehran Evacuation

Japan awarded a state medal to Ismet Birsel, a former Turkish ambassador to Iran, at a ceremony held at the Japanese Embassy in Ankara in May 2006, recognizing his role in evacuating Japanese nationals from Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war more than two decades earlier.

In March 1985, Saddam Hussein's Iraq gave foreign nationals just 48 hours to leave Iran before launching air strikes on Tehran. Most foreign airlines declined to transport stranded Japanese citizens, prioritizing their own nationals instead.

Birsel, at the request of then-Japanese Ambassador to Iran Yutaka Nomura, a personal friend, arranged for a Turkish Airlines (THY) aircraft to fly to Tehran. With the approval of Prime Minister Turgut Ozal, the plane departed on 19 March 1985 and carried 215 Japanese passengers to safety hours before the bombardment began.

Japan is presenting the same medal to 49 foreigners in 2006. A separate ceremony honoring 12 THY crew members who participated in the rescue was scheduled for the following day in Istanbul.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.