I recently found out about a lovely tribute to Turkish people near my home. A small town near Portsmouth, (Gosport) in the south of England, has been nicknamed "Turktown" for as long as people can remember and many were unaware of the origins of this.

It dates back to 1850 when a Turkish or Ottoman frigate was paying a visit there. The Turkish crew remained there for several months and became good triends with the locals. Then tragedy struck and 26 of the sailors died of cholera. The town's people buried them a local cememetry and they were given beautiful white marble gravestones with the turkish flag. This graveyard has been kept immaculate ever since.

If only the family of those men could have known how how much they were honoured

(Note: for some reason the link wont post in one line here. You will need to copy and paste it:-

http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk/CustomPages/
CustomPage.aspx?PageID=26944§ionID=4553)

Great article, thanks!

Link didn't work though, not even through copying and pasting..
But typing in "Turktown" on Google works, first hit is the right one!

I know, I dont understand why the link wont work . Anyway, I was hoping that perhaps there is a connection with this and the fact that Portsmouth Football Club have a star and moon on their emblem!! However, I can't find a definitive reason for this on google.

However, I sent a Portsmouth FC shirt to someone in Turkey and he wears it with pride

Turktown - Gosport

hey dear, I made it work!

edit: it looked good in the preview section but no, I failed.............

Turktown - Gosport

hey dear, I made it work!

edit: it looked good in the preview section but no, I failed.............

Here is a link that tells the story of Turktown and shows an image of one of the Turkish graves.
http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk/CustomPages/CustomPage.aspx?PageID=26944§ionID=4553

Thanks aenigma x for this very interesting post! I checked the Portsmouth football club site and located their emblem.
Very cool!

Found this on Wikipedia.org:

Club crest
Portsmouth F.C.'s club crest, like its nickname, is derived from that of the city. The official emblem contains a gold star and crescent on a blue shield. Portsmouth's adoption of the star and crescent (usually synonymous with Islam) is said to have came from when King Richard I, granted the city "a crescent of gold on a shade of azure, with a blazing star of eight points" which he had taken from the Emperor's standard of Governor Isaac Komnenos, after capturing Cyprus. It is one of the most recognisable football crests in English football and is nicknamed 'the smiley crest' because of its similarity to a smiling face.

Throughout its history Portsmouth have tried different variations of the crest before reverting back to the basic gold star and crescent. In the 1950s and 1960s the traditional crest was emblazoned on the shirt in white rather than gold but this was due to white being a cheaper alternative.

Between 1980 and 1989 the club scrapped the original crest and replaced it with a new design. This crest showed a football on top of an anchor (representing the navy) and a sword (representing the army). An interchangble version included a circular version of the star and crescent crest in place of the football.


Portsmouth F.C. badge in the early '90s.
The return of the original crest in 1989 only lasted 4 years when it was replaced by the city's coat of arms in 1993. This design centred around the basic star and crescent but was unpopular with many fans who thought it was overelaborate. After only four seasons the original crest was again reinstated and remains to the present day.

Thank you!

So there is no connection
Still its a cool shirt (as Illusion said!)

awww hello to the residents of this beautiful town then from turkiye

Thank you for sharing this with us. It was very intersting.
I think this will be good to see here.



The immaculately-kept Turkish graves at Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery, Gosport ‘Turktown’

Bu mesajı okumak kalbimi sızlattı.Onlara gösterdiğiniz saygı için teşekkür ederiz.Onlar sizin evlatlarınız olmuşlar artık,Çanakkalede uyuyan askerlerinizin bizim evlatlarımız olması gibi..

Thanks for your respect towards our ancestors.They are your counry's children anymore, as your sleeping soldiers in Dardanel are our country's.

Who maintains the grave stones?
The article didn't seem to say (or I missed it)!

Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=2044620&mode=1

a folklore expert J.E. MANN says he knows this issue from early ages but the only thing he has found is an unsigned handwriting document. it is said in this document that the relationship between gosport and Turks goes to crusades; the English crusades brought the Turkish captives to gosport and keep them in the area now used as '' Gosport police centre''..This areafirst is used as captive camp later as captive graveyard...But there is no official documents about that and never an archeological excavation is performed there.. on the other hand the Haslar hospital thats used since 1745 has a clear relationship between Turks.. Since 1996 this hospital was belong to english royal navy and a part of the graveyard of this hospital was seperated for Turks.. The first Turks buried there were the Ottoman navy sailors who has visited Gosport ..They were the victims of cholera epidemic..But there is also another claim that a Turkish colony has really lived there...
the gravestones thats in Clayhall Royal Navy graveyard proves this claim ..because the 23 of the gravestones were belong to the years 1850 and 1851... the first place of graveyard was not its last place...while building another structure to the hospital the graves carried to their new place,near Alver Lake in 1902 and in 1985 Turkish General Staff restored the gravestones and graveyard .. The visit of Ottoman ships to Gosport attracted lots of attention and the gosportians liked the sailors ..the news in the local newspaper proves this...The sailors went shopping and stayed there for six and a half month...there are also some more Trukish marks in this area; in Fort Nelson Castle one of the most important piece of Royal Navy weapon museum is a Turkish cannon which is made in 1464...This connon is sent to England in 1857 and in 1708 another cannon is sent by mistake and stands in this museum...

this article is published in september 2004 in the weekly magazine named ''TOPLUMSAL TARİH'' and prepared by Dr. Zeynep Aygen tutor of Porstmouth university ...




translated by ramayan

Ecellent translation........I see...sniff....my editing services ...sniff sniff sniff....are no longer required

Wow - thanks Ramayan