Turkish Navy Frigate commander carries pleasant memories of Chennai

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Turkish Navy Frigate TCG Gediz Commander Yusuf Kocaman may have
steered his ship out of Chennai Port on Saturday morning towards
Maldivian Capital Male but the pleasant memories of the city will
continue to haunt him to return soon.



“Next time when I visit Chennai, I will drop anchor for a minimum of
three days. Two days are not enough,” says Kocaman on board TCG Gediz,
which was acquired from the United States in 2000.



Kocaman, who met Chennai mayor Saidai Duraiswamy, was in all praise
for the city being peaceful. “Your city is peaceful and you have a
wonderful chief minister. She is a lady instrumental in the
development of the state ” said Kocaman, whose frigate was earlier
known as USS John A Moore, the 11th ship of the United States Oliver
Hazard Perry class of guided-missile frigates.



Kocaman has been in all praise of the shore temple in Mahabalipuram
which he visited during his short stint in the city. “It is an ancient
temple and had beautiful sculptures,” the commander of the ship said.



“I also visited St Thomas church. I was told that it was 2,000 years
old. But to my surprise the building looks as it has been built anew,”
he said.



Talking about Gediz’s Chennai visit, he said Turkey is marking the
125th anniversary to retrace the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul’s historic
125 year-old voyage from Istanbul to Yokohama.



Interestingly, Kocaman was expecting joint naval exercises with Indian
Navy. “We wanted to have joint Navy exercises with INS Sumitra, the
fourth and last Saryu class patrol vessel of the Indian Navy.



“But unfortunately it never happened. We only had two days of
reception. Next time we will plan to have atleast three days of stay
in Chennai Port

He also recalled his interaction with INS Sumitra crew in Djibouti.



“Chennai is the 15th port and we will be going to Male next. We will
be sailing for another four months. We will be returning to Aksaz
Naval Base in Turkey on July 31,” he said.



“By then we would have sailed 20,300 nautical miles which is equal to
perimeter of world. We would also have visited 18 ports in 13
countries,” he said