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April 25, 2005
ANZAC Day
Today was ANZAC Day, which commemorates an event that inextricably linked two countries a world apart -- Australia and Turkey (and New Zealand, as well). It marks the date in 1915 when British, French, and ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers landed at Gallipoli in an attempt to force the Dardanelles, open a sea route to Russian Crimea, and knock Ottoman Turkey out of World War I. The invasion was ultimately unsuccessful -- but only after months of horrifying trench combat that yielded little gain. Out of those trenches, however, two countries were born. Though Australia had gained formal independence from the United Kingdom 15 years earlier and the Turkish Republic would not emerge from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire for another 8 years, the national psyches of both countries were forged at Gallipoli. While the two countries met in combat 90 years ago, they have been closely bound ever since by their shared legacy of colonial manipulation and tragic sacrifice.
It is traditional that along with the prime ministers of Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand, thousands of backpackers from each country descend on Gallipoli each year on ANZAC Day. Today's 90th anniversary of the invasion was no exception. From the Sydney Morning Herald:
At Gallipoli, [New Zealand defence chief Vice-Marshal Bruce Ferguson said] "We learnt to shake off the shackles of colonial dependency - we learnt we must stand for what we believe in."
The New Zealand defence chief said that even now armies heeded the lesson of the Dardanelles campaign. "No commander today will risk young lives so needlessly."
"None of us can ever conceive what a hell on earth this place was for eight months." He said we must never forget that the Turks, "who were defending their homeland", lost 87,000 lives.
Vice-Marshal Ferguson's speech underlined the remarkable nature of Anzac Day: 17,000 people, most of them young Australians, gathered at Gallipoli yesterday to remember not a triumph, but a defeat. [emphasis mine]
Posted by Daniel Widome at 11:28 PM to Australia/NZ,
