Australians, New Zealanders gather at Anzac Cove in Çanakkale for dawn service
ÇANAKKALE
Visitors from Australia and New Zealand arrived at the northwestern province of Çanakkale's Anzac Cove early on April 25 to participate in the dawn service commemorating the 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign.
Attendees waited for the service while watching documentaries about the Gallipoli campaign, which lasted from February 1915 and January 1916 during World War I, on a giant screen set up at the ceremony area, huddled in sleeping bags and blankets.
Chris Brant from Australia said that he came to pay respect to his great uncle who was wounded while fighting in Gallipoli in 1915.
Another attendee, Jim Phillips, also from Australia, reflected on the lessons of war, suggesting that standing on the battlefields more than a century later underlined the importance of learning from history.
Anzac stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps that fought in Çanakkale in 1915 and later in the Middle East and Europe alongside their allies.
Anzac Day commemorates the anniversary of Australian and New Zealand soldiers' landing in Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. Marking one of the most significant chapters of World War I, the Gallipoli Campaign served as a turnaround in favor of the Turks fighting against the then Allied Forces.
Speaking at the event in Çanakkale, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke of the human cost of war and the importance of preventing conflict in the future.
He told a dawn service at Anzac Cove that New Zealand’s contribution of 16,000 soldiers to the Gallipoli campaign was disproportionately large from a national population that was then only 1 million people.
“Anzac troops came ashore here shoulder-to-shoulder with their brothers from half a world away. Some anticipated adventure far from home. But as the sun rose and the shadows drained from the gullies, it was not adventure that greeted them, but horror,” Luxon said.
“It would be a disservice to those whose valor we remember, if we forget the real lesson of this campaign: that we should do all we can — all we can — to prevent anything like it happening again,” he added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also commemorated the 110th anniversary of the Çanakkale land battles.
"The sacrifices, courage, and determination of the Turkish nation have entrusted us with the ‘Spirit of Çanakkale.’ By embracing this sacred legacy, we will remain true to our ancestors, keep the spirit alive no matter the conditions and pass it on to future generations," Erdoğan said.
Hundreds of thousands of people also gathered across Australia and New Zealand on April 25 for dawn services and street marches to commemorate their war dead on Anzac Day.
