August 2 To Gallipoli

 Neither of us had contemplated visiting Gallipoli but something pulled me in that direction so we signed up for a tour and were both extremely glad we did.  We had a very early start because the drive would take a few hours with a breakfast stop on the way – a delicious gozleme.  On the way west we passed swathes of bright sunflowers their faces turned to the sun and farmers harvesting. It was quite an interesting drive through the countryside. 

Our breakfasy being prepared

The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge 

Along the route we drove past the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, a road suspension bridge spanning the Dardanelles. The year ‘1915’ in the official name honours an important Ottoman naval victory against the navies of the United Kingdom and France during World War I. It was after that trouncing that the British ordered the ANZACs to land on the west side of the peninsula to their peril.

Bulent, our Turkish guide, was quite engaging and very knowledgeable. He has been taking groups around this tragic site of  immense horror for almost 30 years. He calls the ‘lone’ pine at Lone Pine his baby as he has watched it grow from a very small tree from one of the seeds collected from the original tree and brought back to Australia after the doomed Gallipoli campaign. The day was packed with so many pieces of history, things I never knew about, but Bulent fitted them together like a macabre jigsaw puzzle. At times, in fact much of the time, the front lines of the Turkish and Allied forces were only metres away. At one place where they were dug in during a stalemate, Johnston’s Jolly, the soldiers from both sides exchanged food, tobacco etc thrown across no-man’s land. There was a bond born of mutual helplessness.

Ari Burnu Memorial written by Ataturk

We saw many memorials which marked specific sites of conflict but at one stood a very moving memorial inscribed with a quote attributed to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first President of the Republic of Turkey. It reads:

Those heroes who 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 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.

Atatürk, 1934

Reading the headstones at the ANZAC Cove cemetery made the history so horribly real

Beach cemetery at ANZAC Cove. Those who died were little more than children. Such a travesty

The Sphinx

Bulent took us to many landmark place including a place where we could see a projection on the escarpment called the Sphinx. It is named after the Egyptian monument located near Mena Camp where the First Australian Infantry Force arrived and trained before they were deployed to fight in the Gallipoli campaign. The Sphinx was named by the ANZACs on landing day. They clawed their way up steep cliffs beside the Sphinx. 

ANZAC Cove

One of the most moving memorials that speaks of the camaraderie between Turks and ANZACs - a Turk carrying a wounded ANZAC. It almost makes you weep

Lone Pine Cemetery

A sobering centotaph at Lone Pine

A diorama. Mines were placed under the enemy posts earning the Aussies their name 'Diggers'.

The entrance to one of the tunnels that pit this entire area

The Nek was a key for gaining the high ground but wave after wave of Aussie soldiers were mown down 

What is left of the trenches is preserved

The areas where the trenches were are protected. It was extensive and it was chilling to imagine the young men surviving in these places throughout a blistering summer and chill winter. In many places the enemy soldiers were only a few metres away. 

The Turkish memorial and one of the cemeteries

So much work has gone into preserving and honouring what took place in that horrendous and disgraceful theatre of war. The rrecords of the ANZACs are fairly good and those who died are acknowledged but they are still uncovering records and information about the Turkish soldiers who lost their lives here.  I almost felt a sense of shame that we fought those Turks. Walking among the Turkish people visiting on that same day with us brought home very clearly the total futility of that campaign, in fact the whole war. They were mourning their dead too. There seems to be a deep mutual respect and  bond between the Turkish people and the Aussies and the Kiwis. 

The memorial to NZ soldiers who gained this high point at the Battle of Chunuk Bair

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

We were all in rather a sober mood and a litttle unsettled when we climbed back into the bus. And the trip back to Istanbul was a bit unnerving too because the driver was speeding – and didn’t always have his hands on the wheel (or his mind on the road)! But the scenery was lovely with the setting sun painting the sky in pink-mauve watercolour patterns as we drove close to the shores of the Marmara Sea. Then we reached the fringes of Istanbul – it was like driving into a maw edged with discoloured jagged teeth but was soon replaced by flashy city lights and dense traffic - quite a contrast to today's extraordinary and very moving excursion. It had been an emotionally draining day but we were very pleased we had taken that journey into the past.