CYBER war between Myanmar and Turkey has been raging over the past weeks. After a diplomatic skirmish over Rakhine between Aung San Suu Kyi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- the truculent Turkish Prime Minister -- hackers from both sides attacked each other’s cyberspace.





Twenty-five Myanmar government websites were taken down by the Turkish pirates. The Union of underground Myanmar hackers claimed that 700 Turkish sites “felt the power of Myanmar” in reprisal. Fortunately, that war left no human casualties. But in Thayetmyo, near Magwe, a war cemetery is a reminder that Turks fell in Myanmar.

Located on the western banks of the Ayeyarwady river, Thayetmyo is a rather isolated, underdeveloped city. Still, it boasts a district administrative office, a population of about 100,000 and a flurry of architectural curiosities.

After the second Anglo-Burmese war, Thayetmyo demarcated the frontier between Upper Burma -- which at the time was under the authority of the Burmese king -- and Lower-Burma, which fell under colonial rule. As a British base, the small city saw the construction of the first golf course ever built in Myanmar. Its many colonial houses hosted Western diplomats, and the clock tower built in the centre of the town is a legacy of the foreign architecture of that time.

But up north, behind a range of rain trees, Thayetmyo unveils another peculiarity: a majestic marble cemetery bearing the names of over 200 Turks.

None of the Ottomans (the Turks’ name at the time) actually fought in Myanmar. Like the Burmese, they were the defeated enemies of the British Army.

During World War I, the Ottomans fought the Brits on many fronts. In Iraq, Palestine, Syria and elsewhere as Muslim soldiers tried to curb colonial imperialism. But at the end of the war, with the Brits coming out as victors and the Ottoman empire dislocated, many prisoners were transferred to Myanmar where they worked on big infrastructure projects as forced labourers.

Over 12,000 Turkish prisoners of war ended up in Myanmar. 1500 died here. Most of them are buried in Meikhtila, some rest here in Thayetmyo.





“There are not only Turkish soldiers but also soldiers from other countries,” explains U Phay Myint, a resident of Thayetmyo.

The [British] prisoners of war who died of the plague and smallpox were also buried here. - U Phay Myint, Resident of Thayetmyo

For decades, the cemetery was left abandoned and deteriorated. Due to a lack of maintenance, wild grass covered the tombs and the cemetery turned into an open-air waste disposal.

Turkish officials tried to access and maintain the cemetery since 1965. But Myanmar being completely shut down at the time, Turkish diplomatic efforts have failed. Modern Turkey established diplomatic contact with Myanmar in 1958, but only in 2012 did a Turkish embassy opened in Yangon.

In 2012, permission was finally granted to clean up and rebuild the cemetery. An imposing mausoleum in the middle of the graves was inaugurated in 2016 when the Turkish foreign minister visited Thayetmyo.

Turkish visitors quickly followed. “Two Turkish couples came here. They cried when they arrived. They said their grandparents were here,” says the custodian of the cemetery.

The Thayet city development council has subcontracted the maintenance of the cemetery to the Turkish embassy. As token of their appreciation, the Turks donated to Thayetmyo’s library.

Strolling down the cemeteries alley, one can observe inscriptions in Turkish, Burmese, and English covering the faces of the tomb stones. The cemetery is a reminder that the Turks and the Burmese were not always enemies. They used to be the victims of British imperialism back in the days. Today they argue over borders and racial categories drawn by the same Brits.

What is happening in Rakhine calls for cool heads, not angry telephone calls. A trip to the quiet town of Thayetmyo could definitely help calm things down.