Thousands of people gather at locations across Turkey and in cities and towns in Australia and New Zealand every year to honour the soldiers who lost their lives during a tragic campaign in 1915.
Ceremonies are held near the former World War I battlefields on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula, as well as in other areas, where attendees observe a minute of silence in remembrance. The services include wreath-laying tributes and the singing of national anthems from Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand.
These annual ceremonies mark the first landings of troops from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli at dawn on April 25, 1915.
Where is Gallipoli? What happened there?
Gallipoli is a narrow peninsula of land in modern-day Turkey.
When Britain went to war in 1914, Australia went to war to support Britain as an ally.
In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers were part of the effort to seize the Gallipoli Peninsula from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). The aim was to move across the land and eventually capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was an ally of Germany.
The Australian and New Zealand soldiers first landed on the beaches of Gallipoli at dawn on April 25, 1915, meeting strong resistance from the Ottoman Turkish soldiers. The fighting dragged on for eight months before the allies were evacuated from the peninsula.
Soldiers of all nationalities involved in the fighting were killed at Gallipoli, including more than 8000 Australians.
A moving tribute to the Anzacs killed at Gallipoli is often attributed to Atatürk in 1934:
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 faraway 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.
Sources: Kids News/The Independent
