THE GALLIPOLI WARS

" Those heroes that shed their blood and
lost their lives...! You are now lying in
the soul of a friendly country, therefore
rest in peace. There is no differences 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).

Ataturk, the greatest leader of the Turkish Nation, said these words on a memorial day for the enemy soldiers who were killed between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916 at Gallipoli. We lost 250,000 brave soldiers and allied forces lost 250,000 brave soldiers as well. It was World War I.

We were with the Germans, the Austrians and the Hungarians. The Germans forced us to take part in the war to lessen their load. But our alliance didn’t continue in the World War II. Russia was a new country which would join in the allied countries as Britain and France. They wanted to occupy the Turkish straits and make it easier to sail through the straits for the Russians and for themselves. Our soldiers fought for our land. They didn’t want our land to be a part of a foreign country. And we were alone at this war against the allied forces.

The Australians and The New Zealanders came to Gallipoli with the other allied forces. We call those soldiers ‘Anzacs’. Besides both two sides fought bravely, they showed respect each other.

At the end of the Gallipoli war, the allied forces neither could pass through the straits nor occupy Istanbul. But too many fathers, husbands, sons, uncles, grandfathers of Turkish and foreign people were killed. It was a very different war from other wars. There was respect and admiration. Descendents of the Anzacs come to Gallipoli every 25th April to keep alive and to commemorate the events of the war.

My students and I wanted to find the stories of these brave soldiers. Each solider had his own life, loved ones, values and faith. The stories were about their last letters and their last moments.

We wish people would stop fighting. Therefore we make the world a more beautiful place for our children.

‘Peace at home, peace in the world.’ Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Irem Ebru Gursoy, Teacher of English, Etimesgut Anatolian High School, Ankara / TURKEY