Turkey commemorates 1942 refugee ship disaster victims

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey on Wednesday marked the anniversary of 1942 Struma disaster, which killed hundreds of people when a vessel carrying Jewish refugees was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in the Black Sea.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said commemoration ceremonies have been annually held in Istanbul’s Sarayburnu district on Feb. 24 since 2015.

“Today, with the ceremony in Sarayburnu, we remember with respect to those who lost their lives 79 years ago, as they were fleeing the Holocaust aboard Struma,” it said.

The Struma vessel, carrying Jewish refugees fleeing the persecution of Nazis and their allies during the World War II, was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in the international waters of the Black Sea on Feb. 24, 1942, resulting in the deaths of 768 people, including 108 children.