Last Fall we visited Gallipoli. Gallipoli is the name of the peninsula on the European side of Turkey at the beginning of the Straits of Dardanelles that leads through the Sea of Marmara and onto Istanbul.



Throughout history this Strait was important as any navy that could pass through the Straits of Dardanelles had a good chance of then capturing Istanbul, the capital of the Eastern European world. The Strait is only 1.4 km wide at the narrowest point, so offered the best opportunity to cross between Europe and Asia Minor.

The Gallipoli peninsula was the site of the 1915 WWI Allied forces failed attempt to force their way through the Strait toward Istanbul and resulted in more than 500,000 casualties on all sides. Winston Churchill organized a naval assault that included British, French, Australian, New Zealand and Indian Troops. Many countries joined with Turkey in the defence. Many lives were lost including 55,000 Turkish and 36,000 British.

Visitors come every year from all over the world, but a very large contingent from Australia and New Zealand, who lost many and suffered many casualties in the battle as well. Each April 25, Australia recognizes the sacrifices of their war dead on Anzac Memorial Day.

Much of the peninsula is now a National Park encompassing 31 war memorials.

A new Welcome Centre explains the history of the Strait and the 1915 Gallipoli Battle with the assistance of a series of 7 progressive theatres. Each theatre presentation takes you to a different point in the battle, for instance:

- in one theatre you are standing on a moving floor simulating the deck of a Turkish ship at sea laying mines on the sea bottom of the Dardenelles,
- in another, rather than sitting in seats, you stand in a maze of trenches during a battle with injured all around
- in yet another, you are in the Captain's quarters of a battleship planning an attack.

We spent most of the day driving through the park and visiting War Memorials for many of the countries that took part.

Anzac Cove is the site of the ill-fated Allied landing where the Turkish forces held off the invasion from April through August and become the site of the bloodiest battle of the entire campaign.




Another monument is a statue of Huseyin Kacmaz holding the hand of his granddaughter. This man fought in the Balkan Wars, the Gallipoli Campaign and the War of Independence, and was the last Turkish survivor of the Gallipoli when he died at age 110 in 1994.



A Turkish monument now stands near Anzac Cove and repeats the famous 1934 words of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) (see note about Ataturk at bottom), a Divisional Commander who successfully commanded the Turkish defence at Gallipoli and later became the hero of the Turkish War of Independence, Founder of Turkish Republic and is still today considered a hero throughout Turkey.

"To us there is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets...
You, the mothers, who sent your sons from faraway countries,
Wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom....
After losing their lives in this land they have become our sons as well."

'Johnnie' - name signifying an ordinary British/Australian/New Zealand soldier
'Mehmet' - similarly, a symbolic name for an ordinary Turkish soldier.


This monument represents a Turkish soldier carrying one of the Allied soldiers.










































































ATATURK

Mustafa Kemal, was proclaimed Ataturk (Father Turk) by the Turkish Parliament in 1935. Until that time, Turkish Muslim's had only one given name but it was decreed in 1935 that all Turks should choose a family name as well. It was one of Ataturk's many reforms to transform the Turkish society during the 1920's and 1930's.

Others included the abolishment of polygamy and the fez (a hat considered a mark of Ottoman backwardness), new Western-style legal codes, civil rather than religious marriage and the Arabic alphabet was replaced by a modified Latin one. Women obtained the right to vote and serve in Parliament.

Today you see his photo everywhere and his face appears on many flags. While at Gallipoli, we passed a building with a collage of many small photos of Ataturk that were situated in a manner to make an overall photo of Ataturk.