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Anzac cove
Now a peaceful spot. Gallipoli is a compulsory stop for any New Zealander or Australian visiting Turkey and we wanted to see it ourselves, take Phoebe, learn more and pay our respects. We stayed in the nearby town of Çanakkale and caught the ferry across the Bosphorus to the European side of Turkey.
This was one place where we wanted a tour guide to do the memorials justice. When we joined the tour group we thought at first the guide would be too flippant and casual, but we needn't have worried. He treated the subject with great respect, balance and knowledge for which we were very grateful.
Even though it's nearly one hundred years on from the battles at Gallipoli, it doesn't take much to inspire anger at this gross display of stupidity. Where at least you might say the second world war was necessary to defeat the Nazis, World War One arose from no more than a few growing empires flexing their muscles against the constraints imposed by each other - just tribal warfare on a massive scale. But with new military technology it was tribal warfare that killed at least ten million people and scarred millions more. And Gallipoli was of
Lone Pine
Australian memorial. The descendant of the original 'lone pine' is not the tree shown - it is just outside the memorial. course one particularly futile battle in an unnecessary war.
Alex and I watched the Australian '80s movie
Gallipoli (young non-senile Mel Gibson) the night before going and this certainly brought out the anger. It may not have been one hundred percent historically accurate but I have no doubt it captured the essence of the war. Young men being put in a situation where they not only knew they were going to die, but that it would be to achieve absolutely nothing. Watching it made the blood boil.
We started at Anzac cove and walked around some of the memorials there. Gallipoli is such a beautiful spot; picturesque, lush and peaceful. The weather was stunning and it was hard to be too sombre. There really couldn't be a better resting place for the young men who died. The memorials and graves are stately and immaculately maintained, while there are trees, wildflowers and bees buzzing everywhere. The guide described in great detail the landings, recounting stories told by soldiers, the strategies and plans that went awry and plenty of anecdotes. We tried to impress on Phoebe the significance of the place without burdening her with the horror of what happened.
Coastline at Gallipoli
The top of Chunuk Bair is further to the right up the hill we took this photo from - the attack on this point proceeded up the terrain shown. What was so striking about the attitude of the Turkish we met (and not just in Gallipoli) was the inclusiveness and respect shown towards the soldiers on
both sides who fought there. The Turkish say the non-Turkish fallen soldiers are their sons too. Having seen other countries (Vietnam especially) where the scars of war are still so evident and resentment and animosity lingers, this was very refreshing. The mythology growing from Gallipoli is about as positive as you could imagine, binding the Anzacs and Turkish together. The sacrifices and bravery of the soldiers is honoured (and perhaps stories that contradict the positive mythology are ignored), but the overriding shared perspective is that this was a completely unnecessary tragedy inflicted on all the soldiers by powers outside their control. Neither the Anzacs nor the Turkish are cast as the aggressor or villain; if anything both sides bond over a disdain, fairly or unfairly, for British commanders and Ottoman rulers who put the soldiers there (a convenient part of the myth that neither our guide nor movies like
Gallipoli are keen to dispel).
A lot of the credit for this inclusive and repectful outlook must go to Mustafa Kemal, then
Chunuk Bair
New Zealand monument. The memorial is a little further down the hill. a commander of Turkish soldiers at Gallipoli and later known as Ataturk, meaning 'father of the Turks'. I'm not sure if we've mentioned it in the blog so far but there are pictures, statues and shrines (for want of a better word) to Ataturk - who ruled until his death in 1938 - absolutely everywhere. At Gallipoli there are statues and quotes from him at every turn. The way the guide explained it was; no Gallipoli means no Ataturk, no Ataturk means no modern secular Turkish republic.
I hadn't realised that Gallipoli was a similar nation-defining event in the recent history of Turkey as it is in New Zealand and Australia - Even though the corrupt and crumbling Ottoman empire was basically Turkish, the Turkish people tend to talk about it like it was some foreign entity which was cast off to form the country that exists today. The guide explained how the Ottomans came to join the war on the side of Germany instead of remaining neutral as they initially attempted; it seems amazing that there were such huge repercussions from a set of seemingly minor factors and coincidences. His attitude was essentially 'aren't we lucky we're no
Statue of Ataturk
Atop Chunuk Bair next to the NZ monument. longer ruled by these bumbling idiots?'
We visited the remains of some trenches, the grave of the famous donkey-leading medic Simpson and graves of Turkish soldiers. The (predominantly) Australian memorial at Lone Pine was majestic and peaceful, sitting on the side of a hill with views over part of the peninsular. We finished at the New Zealand memorial at Chunuk Bair, the highest point taken by the Anzac offensive but ultimately retaken by Ataturk after 48 hours of continuous fighting. The guide was glowing in his praise of the Anzac soldiers and we felt the pride in our countrymen that has since become part of the national identity in NZ and Australia. But at the same time you have to wonder if that national pride and identity could have been attained some other way.
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christine giles
non-member comment
Gallipolli
Nick, you would be a great history teacher or lecturer.I learn't lots to confirm the little knowledge i had .Think of the holidays u would get too.Love AC