Gallipoli was 'an honourable war', says film-maker

By IAN STUART

They may have done some awful things to each other in 1915 but the respect Turkish soldiers held for the Anzac troops who landed on Gallipoli in 1915 was huge.

Turkish film-maker Tolga Ornek says that nearly 90 years after the Gallipoli debacle, New Zealanders get a warm welcome in Turkey.

Mr Ornek is in New Zealand filming the relatives of those who died at Gallipoli.

He said Turkish diaries and letters showed they had never held any animosity towards Anzac troops.

In the past 20 or so years, the Anzacs had grown in popularity in Turkish culture and societies.

"The Turks saw the Anzacs come to Gallipoli and saw them embrace Gallipoli and their history and cemeteries," he says.

"The Turks were really impressed with that and still are impressed.

"Turks I speak to are just blown away that these people travel across the world and come to Gallipoli to find one headstone or just see the landing place, or stand at Chunuk Bair in August or April 25."

The failed eight-month Gallipoli campaign is considered one of the epics of New Zealand military history.

Of the nearly 9000 New Zealand troops who served on the Gallipoli peninsula, 2721 died. The total casualty list was 7473.

Mr Ornek said there were numerous hotels named after the Anzacs and many Turks bought T-shirts with Anzac inscriptions.

"A lot of people talk about honour in war but I think Gallipoli is one where we can say there was honour in war.

"Both sides were really, really professional and respected the other soldier.

"It was probably the last example of an honourable war and you see that in all the diaries and letters."

His documentary on Gallipoli and the Anzacs is due to be shown in New Zealand on Anzac Day.

It features Kiwi, Australians and Turkish soldiers.

Mr Ornek says he hopes the documentary will give a balanced view of the campaign, as told by soldiers from both sides.

"It is to show the terrible fighting, the terrible conditions on Gallipoli, were the same for both sides," he said.

"Both sides just hung on and they coped with the situation in the terrible conditions."

He said the research for the documentary had shown him the terrible human suffering, particularly the 90-year-old diaries.

"After the fourth or fifth page you forget the nationality of the person.

"It doesn't matter if he is Australian, a New Zealander or a Turk. You just see his suffering as a human being.

"It impacted me so much, the way they described the conditions and the way they tried to cling to humanity."

Mr Ornek has visited the Ataturk Memorial at Tarakena Bay on Wellington's south coast.

It was a huge gesture to have a memorial park in Wellington commemorating Gallipoli and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a Gallipoli soldier who later led Turkey, he said.

After the war, Ataturk said Anzacs who lost their lives on the rugged peninsula were lying in the soil of a friendly country and rested in peace.

"There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehemets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours," Ataturk said.

"You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosoms and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they become our sons as well," he said.

Mr Ornek marvelled at the bond that exists between New Zealand, Turkey and Australia.

"If you talk about camaraderie after the war, what better example can you have," he said.

"It is such a big gesture that your country would put our first president and a man who fought at Gallipoli against your country and honour him with a statue."

"It says a lot about camaraderie but it says a lot about your country too."

Mr Ornek said visiting the park in Wellington had a huge impact on him, and he tells anyone in Turkey who will listen.

"For the first time in my life I went to two countries, Australia and New Zealand, where I wasn't hesitant to say I was a Turk.

"They made me proud to say I was a Turk."

Allied forces withdrew from the peninsula after eight months.

The total casualty list for the campaign was nearly 400,000, including more than 130,000 dead.

Mr Ornek said many New Zealanders had contacted him, having kept the diaries, letters, mementoes and memories from relatives who served on Gallipoli.

"It was beyond anything I had hoped for."

The documentary

* Is due to be launched next year, in English and Turkish, in time for the 90th anniversary of the Anzacs' landing on April 25, 1915.

* Will tell the Gallipoli story through the eyes of three New Zealanders, three Australians, two Britons and two Turkish soldiers.

* The three New Zealanders were Lieutenant Colonel Percival Fenwick, Sergeant George Bollinger and Sergeant Walter (Bill) Leadley, who all survived the campaign.

* Colonel Fenwick, a doctor, was evacuated from Gallipoli with typhoid in June 1915. He continued to serve in hospitals. Sergeant Leadley was evacuated with dysentery in September, and Sergeant Bollinger, who was later commissioned, died on the Western Front in June 1917.

- NZPA