NOVEMBER 11 - Commemoration of the Armistice in Istanbul - lepetitjournal.com - TOP RANKING

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On this very mild Saturday, November 11, 2017, the Armistice commemorative ceremony took place in Istanbul, starting in the French square of the Topkapı Muslim cemetery.
Various representatives of the military, diplomatic and teaching corps were present, along with eleven students from the Lycée Pierre Loti's 1ères L and S classes, all members of the European section, accompanied by their principal Dominique Cornil.
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Imam Osman Gökrem, flanked by Father Eleuthère of the Saint-Louis des Français Catholic parish and Father Gwénolé, former parish priest of the aforementioned church, began by pronouncing Al Fatiha, the first sura of the Koran.
Wreaths were then laid by Bertrand Buchwalter, Consul General of France in Istanbul, General Tomescu, Deputy Commander of the NRDC-T (Nato) and Jennifer L. Dewis, US Consul General in Istanbul.
armistice istanbul
The playing of the Last Post, followed by a minute's silence, brought the first part to a close.
The delegation then visited the Latin Catholic cemetery in Feriköy, joined by numerous diplomats and representatives of Istanbul's French community, as well as five students from the Lycée Notre-Dame de Sion and their principal Yann de Lansalut.
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Bertrand Buchwalter took the floor to commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armistice of November 11, 1918, which put an end to the First World War. After recalling the historical facts, the Consul General of France in Istanbul recalled that 179 Muslim soldiers of the French troops occupying Istanbul and Zonguldak, who died between 1918 and 1923, are buried in the Topkapı Muslim cemetery, where this ceremony of remembrance takes place. He stressed that "our presence here this morning is a tribute to all those soldiers who sacrificed their lives. In this Feriköy cemetery, some soldiers died in Crimea alongside Ottoman and British soldiers, some during the First World War and others during the occupation of Istanbul that followed it."
"With the disappearance of the last witnesses to the '14 War, it's now up to us to be the custodians of their legacy. In this context, the cycle of commemoration of the centenary of the Great War, organized in France since 2014 and until next year, invites us to a time of historical and civic reflection and to remember the dark hours to better realize the price of fraternity and the cost of hatred. It also invites us to get involved, individually and collectively, to take up the baton from the witnesses who have disappeared, and to take on the role of passers-by to pass on the history and memory of the war to young people and future generations." said the Consul General of France.
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Father Eleuthère then intoned a hymn before saying a prayer and proceeding with a blessing. Then, in turn, Bertrand Buchwalter, General Tomescu, Judith Slater, British Consul General in Istanbul, Jennifer L. Dewis, Girgios Gaitanis, Greek Deputy Consul in Istanbul, Dr. Georg Birgelen, German Consul General in Istanbul and Ulric Shannon, Canadian Consul General in Istanbul, laid a wreath. and paid their respects at the war memorial.
Also present among the diplomats were Dylan Walsh, Australian Consul in Çanakkale, Radu Ionut Diaconiuc, Romanian Deputy Consul in Istanbul, Felix Bigl, Austrian Deputy Consul in Istanbul, and Aurélien Maillet, French Deputy Consul General in Istanbul.
After the Last Post and a minute's silence, the Turkish and French national anthems were played.
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The final event of the ceremony took place at the Palais de France, where students from Lycée Pierre Loti, led by Jordi Akçay, read moving texts in French, Turkish, English and German, recounting the high points of 1917, the "terrible year" of the Great War.
A passage from Colonel Stanton's speech at the US National Day celebration in Paris on July 4, 1917 preceded an extract from the Memoirs of Lieutenant Jim, who conducted the 369th Infantry Division band. Then, Eugène Baudoin, a sapper in the 3rd Engineers, recounted the day of April 16, 1917 to his family in 1974, followed by Russian painter Alexandre Zinoview's account of D-Day.
armistice istanbul Finally, an exchange of letters between a German soldier and his wife, illustrating the suffering shared by both sides, and an extract from the report sent by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to Enver Pasha on September 20, 1917, were the pieces chosen by the young people to pay tribute to the men and women of 1917.
The guests then gathered on the terrace of the Palais de France to exchange views on this important ceremony with each other and with some of the guests who had joined them, including Hayrı İnönü, mayor of Şişli.
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Nathalie Ritzmann (www.lepetitjournal.com/istanbul) Monday, November 13, 2017
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