ROK Turkish Olympiad winner gives medal to Korean War veteran

Today's Zaman

Turkish Olympiad winner Nyeon Kwon of South Korea has given her medal and award worth TL 1,500 to a Turkish veteran of the Korean War, in a unique demonstration of loyalty, according to a Bugün report published on Sunday.

Turkish Olympiad winner Nyeon Kwon of South Korea
presents veteran Ali Batman with her gold medal

Kwon said she has always had great respect for Turkish soldiers and remembers her grandfather telling stories of their heroism. In a recent ceremony organized by the Association of Social and Economic Solidarity with Pacific Countries, Kwon, 15, presented Korean War veteran Ali Batman with her gold medal and money award. “Thank you for the Korean War,” Kwon said. “We will not forget your help.” Kwon explained that even though there is great distance between the two countries, she feels close to the people of Turkey.

Batman then pinned a badge of the Turkish Republic’s founder and first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on Kwon. “We shared bread with South Korean children. Now those children have grown and explained our struggle to their children,” Batman said. “Through the Korean War we have become blood brothers,” he added.

The first hot conflict of the Cold War, the Korean War took place between North and South Korea in 1950-53. Desiring to enter NATO, Turkey sent a brigade of 5,500 troops to Korea under the command of Brig. Gen. Tahsin Yazıcı. The Korean War greatly improved relations between South Korea and Turkey, which still have great respect for one another.

Published on Today's Zaman, 03 July 2011, Sunday