Australia to lobby Turkey over Gallipoli wall

DARWIN - Australia will lobby Turkey in an attempt to stop a wall being built at Gallipoli during roadworks, Prime Minister John Howard says.

Mr Howard, who will visit Anzac Cove for next week's Anzac Day commemorations, said he received a report from his department last night that Turkish authorities intended to build the wall.

The wall would be erected above Anzac Cove to reinforce the embankment for roadworks to widen the road.

"Our ambassador (in Turkey) is going to talk to the Turkish foreign minister today, and ask that any work on that stone wall be put on hold," Mr Howard said in Darwin.

"Our reason for that is that it would alter the appearance in a very significant way and we don't want that to happen."

Shrugging off suggestions the federal government wasn't doing enough to try to protect the site, Mr Howard said it was Turkish land.

He said Turkish authorities wanted to resolve security issues, with 20,000 people expected to converge on Gallipoli next week.

"Clearly one of the things that the Turkish authorities have wanted to do is to make sure that security issues and the ease of traffic movement on the day ... is properly attended to," he said.

"It's easy for people to take pot shots at the (federal) government and to say we haven't done this and we haven't done that.

"This is Turkish land. I don't think the turks in any way have set out to do any damage in a malicious or malevolent way to the site.

"In the 90 years that have gone by there's been a lot of work carried out on the site which would have altered the appearance of it.

"Any suggestion that the site has remained exactly the same for the past 90 years and has suddenly been altered in the last ... couple of months is not correct."

Mr Howard said bones would continue to be found at the site.

The Sydney Morning Herald today reported a new crypt was planned at Gallipoli to house Anzac bones unearthed by roadworkers.

"There were 60,000 Turks killed at Gallipoli, there were 8,000 Australians, 2500 to 3000 New Zealanders, 22,000 British and I think 30,000 French," he said.

"Inevitably when so many people have died in such a small area bones are going to turn up.

"That is unavoidable, that is a completely different thing from allowing any work to be carried out which disturbed existing war cemeteries.

"If bones are discovered there are arrangements made for a respectful treatment of those bones."

A spokeswoman for New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who will also visit Anzac Cove, said she not been advised about the wall so could not comment.

- AAP