The Flight That Brought 215 Japanese Citizens Home

On March 19, 1985, Turkish Airlines aircraft landed in Tehran. The 215 Japanese citizens were waiting at the airport with little time left before Iraq's deadline. The planes carried all 215 of them out of Iran before it passed. Other countries had evacuated their citizens on their own flights; Japan's evacuees left on Turkish aircraft, sent at the Japanese government's request with the agreement of Turkey's. For many Japanese citizens, the operation became a powerful example of international cooperation, and one of the defining episodes in the relationship between Japan and Turkey.