75 years ago, on February 24, 1942, the Struma, a vessel outbound from the port of Constanza carrying Jewish refugees who were fleeing persecution in their countries and the Holocaust during the World War II, sank after it was torpedoed off the cost of Şile, in the international waters of the Black Sea, where 768 people perished, including 103 children.

Turkey feels the responsibility of passing along the memory of this tragedy to future generations, in line with its sensitive approach towards humanitarian tragedies. In this respect, commemoration ceremonies have been held for the last two years on February 24th to remember those who lost their lives in Struma.

This year, a ceremony, hosted by the Governorship of Istanbul, will once again be held on February 24, 2017 in İstanbul to commemorate the people who lost their lives in this painful incident and a wreath will be cast into the sea in their memory.

Hereby, we respectfully commemorate all those who lost their lives during the Holocaust, an unprecedented atrocity in the history of humankind, and particularly those who perished in Struma vessel 75 years ago on this day, while trying to flee from the Holocaust.