Anzac Day is commemorated by Australia and New Zealand on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.
In 1934, nineteen years after the 1915 landing, the first ANZAC veterans returned to Gallipoli. On them, on behalf of the Turkish nation President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave this message as soldier-statesman whose genius turned the Gallipoli campaign against the Allies, his famous words of reconciliation: … to Mothers who lost their sons at the Gallipoli Battle :
“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives;
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers,
who sent their sons from far away countries,
wipe away your tears;
your sons are now lying in our bosom
and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons as well.”
ATATURK 1934
“Extraordinary friendly exchanges between the Turks and our fellows this morning early.Some of our chaps ran right over to the enemy trenches and exchaged bully, jam, cigarettes etc. The whole business was wonderful and proves how madly unneccessary this part of the war is” Lt T.E Cozens,AIF,DIARY,19 October. Jonathan King 8. section page: 187.
“…. On 18 May when I was shot, there was a sniper Turkish girl. She was beautiful, huge and aged 19 or 20. Throughout the day, she continuously fired her gun. Although she shot many of us, I felt sorry when an Australian has shot her. As we have caught her dead body, we found a man’s body by her side.There were 52 bullets in her body. This war is horrible.”
” Between April 25 and December 20, 1915, in an area of 20 kilometres by 8, the following numbers of troops were killed:
86,000 Turkish 8,700 Australian 2,700 New Zealanders 27,000 British and Indian”
“While Turkish armies were fighting with British, Anzacs and the French at Gallipoli, they were also fighting the Russians in the Eastern front and British-Arab alliance in the south.
At a time when there were no young men left in Anatolian villages, Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire collaborated with the Russian invaders.. pillaging and murdering women and children in villages which were left defenseless after all men were conscripted to fight the enemies who were in a feeding frenzy – trying to devour what was left of the collapsing Ottoman Empire.
Armenians in border regions were thus deported to southern provinces and many perished during the arduous exodus.
Generations of Armenian militants later resorted to vicious terror tactics murdering numerous Turkish diplomats as revenge killings for an alleged genocide during the war years”
“ After the terrible punishment inflicted upon the brave but futile assaults all bitterness faded … The Turks displayed an admirable manliness … From that morning onwards the attitude of the Anzac troops towards the individual Turks was rather that of opponents in a friendly game.‘[ Charles. E Bean, the Australian official historian, The Story of Anzac, Vol II, Sydney, 1924, p.162 ]
Me and Lorenzo in front of the Turkish soldiers memorial in Gallipoli
PS : Sometimes l see that people search in google ” turkish anzac pics” and they visit my post. I just want to tell those people that turkish soldiers didnt even have shoes to wear in the war , how could they take pics of Anzacs?? The existing photos of the war and of Anzac soldiers were taken by anzacs themselves.
