Chennai: The warmth of the reception was overwhelming. By international naval standards, the ‘TCG GEDIZ’ may be only a small frigate, albeit a modernized guided missile career. The ship became famous on being featured several times on the TV serial JAG before joining the Turkish fleet. Returning from its historic voyage to Japan in recreating the journey of 125 years ago, the TCG Gediz made a goodwill stop in Chennai after having berthed in Mumbai on the outward voyage.
The occasion was marked by a reception on the deck on Thursday evening. Commander Yusuf Kocaman recounted the historicity of the voyage undertaken to commemorate a naval event that took place off the Japanese coast a long time ago.He stressed the importance of the two stops in India. The new Naval Officer-in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Commodore Alok Bhatnagar, welcomed seafaring colleagues from Turkey who have been away from home in a 120-day trip. He wished them even better wind and calmer waters on the journey home.
The Turkish Consul General in Mumbai, E. Sabri Ergen, was on board to stress the importance of the diplomatic initiative of his country. Having worked in Brussels for over a decade liaising with EU and Nato, he is a seasoned diplomat. Pleased with the prospect of warships going on goodwill visits rather than being engaged in serious battle action, he spoke of such visits even helping the trade ties between India and Turkey, which at the moment is unbalanced with India exporting $7 billion worth of goods and services while the trade the other way is worth only about $ 700 million.
The Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, who hosted the seamen of Gediz at his palace in Triplicane over the last two days, was also on board to greet genially the select visitors from the Indian Navy and other friends of Turkey from Chennai.
The crew put on a neat fare for all on the deck, with the chief chef on board taking pains to explain to guests the vegetarian dishes among the homely spread he had put out for the evening on the still waters of the Ambedkar dock in Chennai harbor.
There can’t be a Naval evening without a band and the musically inclined crew of Gediz put up a great show rendering musical hits from the past. With a cake being cut to mark the landing in Chennai, a good time was had by all on the deck, despite Chennai’s sticky weather on an unusually hot July day.
