Anzac Cove on the shores of Gallipoli, Turkey. Photo / Getty Images
A pilgrimage to the Gallipoli Peninsula around the Anzac commemorations requires planning but is well worth the effort, writes Ewan McDonald.
Some long-dead Greek who could not have foreseen its place in history called it Kallipolis, "beautiful city". Turks know it as Gelibolu; the rest of the world, particularly Australians and New Zealanders, as Gallipoli.
From the rocks, shingle and crags of the narrow spit separating the southern tip of Europe from the northern edge of Asia, three modern nations trace – if not their birth - certainly their labour pains. They are Türkiye, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Lest we forget. During World War I, Allied forces wanted to secure a naval route from the Mediterranean to Istanbul through the Dardanelles Straits, past Gallipoli Peninsula, and take the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The Ottoman navy sorted out the British and French fleet off Canakkale on March 23, 1915.
The naval battle led to ill-fated landings on the peninsula by British, French and other troops, primarily the transtasman mates now known as the Anzacs, a month later on April 25, 1915. In eight months, around 44,000 Allied and 86,000 Ottoman soldiers died.
For New Zealanders and Australians, fighting overseas for the first time under their own flags, Gallipoli and Anzac Day are the totems from which we trace our emergence as independent nations. Commemorations at the now-Turkish battle sites have become near-religious pilgrimages for many.
Frankly – and we’re not shilling for travel agents here – you should plan well ahead and consider an organised tour, particularly if you’re in an older age group.
There will be many already planning next year's piligrimage already.
Tour companies reserve most hotel rooms and local transport long before April. It'll also be more comfortable at the Dawn Service – see BJ Clark's comments. Alternatively, you can take an overnight excursion from Istanbul.
Several NZ-based tour companies organise packages that take in accommodation, transport and guided visits to other important sites. You could DIY and hire locals but… how good is your Turkish, and how good are you at their national sport of haggling?
And if you think the cost of living is a crisis here, you aint seen nothin’ yet. Inflation in Turkiye has been on a roller coaster; bread and other staples change in price monthly. A mate has a well-paid professional job in Izmir; well, he would if they paid him, which they don’t always get around to.
Turks are especially welcoming to Kiwis and Aussies, particularly around Anzac Day, but visitors should appreciate local sensitivities. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the visionary field-marshal who created the republic, made his name by repelling the Allies at Gallipoli and the country is marking its centenary this year.
This is a good time to point out we have been writing “Turkiye” because the notoriously thin-skinned president changed its English spelling in December 2022 (it’s always been the Turkish rendering). Some say it’s because a Google search for Turkey brings up the bird, a definition of “something that fails badly” or “a stupid or silly person”.
And during Erdogan’s reign, NZ military historian Ian McGibbon has noted a change in that renowned Turkish respect for the Anzacs. “Twenty years ago, there was no, ‘We beat you,’ or ‘You beat us.’ It was commemorating the event,” the Herald reported last week.
"Every Anzac Day now, four or five thousand Turkish youths come and march to Chunuk Bair, because they're following in the footsteps of Ataturk's division to where they stopped Australians and New Zealanders. There's an element of, 'This is where the Muslims threw back the Crusaders'."
Clark and McGibbon emphasise most everyday people in western Turkiye welcome Kiwis and admire the Anzacs. Ataturk frequently referenced his enemies' bravery: "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace."
There's doubt he ever said or wrote the words. But that's another story, and not one we need think about on Anzac Day. Today, we will remember them.
RSA national president BJ Clark, recalls what it’s like to make an Anzac Day pilgrimage and what commemorations are like in Turkey
Returning to Gallipoli is particularly significant and important because it has become the focal point of New Zealand as a nation - it was the first time our service personnel went overseas to fight under their own flag and it is where Anzac was born.
I had the honour to represent the RSA at Gallipoli for the centenary in 2015. We were accompanied by 24 young New Zealanders from the age of 16 to 18, the NZ Youth Ambassadors.
To look through their eyes as we went around the battlefields was very poignant. I was standing next to an 18-year-old who was gazing down on the grave of an 18-year-old and that was one of the things that brought it home to those young people how tragic Gallipoli was.
When we went to the Anzac Day service, a lot of people had arrived the day before, they'd slept overnight and heard the speeches, movies on Gallipoli, the chatting, the sleeping. It was very, very cold so you've got to be pretty keen to stay out overnight.
You sit there, and as the service is about to start, there's quiet all around. There's such a hush that you can actually hear the lapping of the water on the shore. It was quite eerie and very emotional. You can't help but look out to where people came ashore and faced an enemy that was in a much better position and firing down upon them.
They were exposed and you've got to say, for those people to jump off those boats and move ashore, there was a lot of bravery in that. They must have realised the likelihood that they were not going to last very long.
It wasn't a war that we won. We got our butts kicked. But one of the amazing things about Gallipoli is that the Turks hold an enemy in such high regard. I think it is because of their bravery.
When you realise how close the two foes were, the saying "you could have thrown a rock at each other" was actually true. They did call out to each other and have conversations, and you hear stories of where a battle stopped so the wounded could be taken off the battlefield.
Again, one of the things that struck me was the friendliness of the Turkish people today to people from an invading nation. We inflicted considerable cost on their military people and yet they still honour us by welcoming us into their country, by allowing us to hold remembrance occasions at Lone Pine and other sites.
I came out of my hotel one day and two Māori boys were sitting in a little square, playing their guitars and singing. The locals were standing there and enjoying their music. They couldn't talk with the people around them but the communication was in the music.
Another day we were walking down the street in Canakkale and a group of Turkish youths were playing basketball. Again, without being able to speak one another's language, two minutes later two groups of people were connecting through sport.
You read how these people left New Zealand thinking they were going on an exciting overseas trip and they'd be gone for about six months and they'd be home. As you go through the Dardanelles and into the bay that opens up into where Gallipoli is, it's beautiful. You can imagine those people on the ship going, 'Wow, look at this, this is wonderful'.
In a very short time the wrath of heaven opens up and they're under attack from large guns and rifle fire and machine guns. It must have been like walking into hell.
We say about our youth today, "What would they know about war?" I've heard of so many of our young people who've gone on their big OE and at the top of their list was to be in Gallipoli on Anzac Day.
Our young people want to go there and understand and breathe and be part of that. I have no doubt that when they leave there, they will leave a different person. If you look at the terrain where our people fought, if you look at the graves, you understand the waste, and the folly, and that will stick with those young people for the rest of their lives.
Some domestic regional flights have been affected.