TURKISH SOLDIERS'CEMETERIES IN MYANMAR

NEARLY 2200 TURKISH PRISONERS OF WORLD WAR ONE(1914-1918) LIE BURIED IN VARIOUS PARTS OF MYANMAR (BURMA).



TURKISH WAR CEMETERY IN THAYETMYO , CENTRAL MYANMAR,HAS SOME 14OO GRAVES AND THE ONE AT THE GARRISON TOWN OF MEIKTILA ON THE MAIN YANGON–MANDALAY HIGHWAY HAS NEARLY 800. A TURKISH MOSQUE CAN BE SEEN NEAR IT.



NAMES AND RANKS ARE MENTIONED ON THE GRAVES AND THE DATES OF THEIR DEATHS ARE SHOWN AS DURING THE MIDDLE 1920s. THE CAUSES OF THEIR DEATHS ARE NOT KNOWN (MYSTERY?).



THE TURKS WERE BROUGHT BY THE BRITISH COLONIAL AUTHORITIES AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR AS PRISONERS OF WAR.THEY WERE MADE (FORCED?) TO WORK ON ROADS CONSTRUCTION. THE PRESENT HIGHWAYS IN CENTRAL AND UPPER MYANMAR ARE MAINLY THE RESULT OF TURKISH LABOUR. DURING THE CYPRUS CRISIS WE HAD A "CYPRUS IS TURKISH COMMITTEE, BURMA" WHICH SUPPORTED THE TURKISH CYPRIOTS' CLAIMS ON THE BASIS OF GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY AND HISTORY. THE TURKISH CYPRIOTS' JOURNAL "HALKIN SESI" PUBLISHED OUR ARTICLE ON TURKISH WAR CEMETERIES IN BURMA AND THIS AROUSED INTEREST AMONG THE TURKS.



THE TURKISH AMBASSADOR RESIDENT IN INDIA, ACCREDITED TO BURMA ALSO, VISITED THE CEMETERIES AND HIS HISTORIAN WIFE MADAM EMEL SEIFULLAH ESIN, WROTE A PASSIONED ARTICLE WITH PHOTOGRAPHS OF THAYETMYO AND MEIKTILA TURKISH CEMETERIES IN 'TURKISH CULTURE', ISTANBUL.



OUR MYANMAR MAGAZINE " ISLAM ALIN" POINTED OUT THAT "THE TURKS BURIED ON OUR SOIL WERE HOLY WARRIORS OF THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATE AND IT IS VERY MERITORIOUS TO VISIT THEIR GRAVES FOR 'ZIYARET' AND TO PRAY FOR THEM".



FEB 19, 2008 MAUNG-KO GHAFFARI

CHIEF EDITOR, " ISLAM ALIN"( THE LIGHT OF ISLAM)

NO 58, 130 STREET, KANDAWGLAY, YANGON _MYANMAR(BURMA)

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MUSLIM JOURNALS & WEBSITES, PLS PUBLICISE.