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 last year (it’s always been the Turkish rendering). Turkey or Türkiye? Cultural sensitivities around Gallipoli Apart from the name, the bridge is awash with symbolism: it crosses the Dardanelles its 2023m central span recognises the centenary its 318m towers nod to March 18, when Türkiye honours soldiers killed at Gallipoli. Last month Erdogan inaugurated the world’s longest suspension bridge - the 1915 Canakkale Bridge – at Gelibolu. Election campaigns in Turkiye tend to raise the locals' blood pressure rather more than ours do. Sensing patriotic fervour and political opportunity, the autocratic and divisive president Recep Tayipp Erdogan has called an election for June. ![]() 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 next year. Turks are especially welcoming to Kiwis and Aussies, particularly around Anzac Day, but visitors should appreciate local sensitivities. 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. Inflation in Turkiye has been on a roller coaster bread and other staples change in price monthly. The country has a remarkable health service but has not coped well with Covid-19 a year is a long time in pandemics but it's another factor to take into account.Īnd if you think the cost of living is a crisis here, you aint seen nothin’ yet. You could DIY and hire locals but… how good is your Turkish, and how good are you at their national sport of haggling? Several NZ-based tour companies are already advertising 2023 packages that take in accommodation, transport and guided visits to other important sites. ![]() First-timers should do their homework before rocking up with up to 10,000 others who will descend on the towns of Canakkale, Eceabat and Gelibolu that week. Those who have visited Gallipoli may note some subtle – and not-so-subtle – changes in atmosphere. It will be the first time New Zealand "civilians" can return, with several registered for this year's Dawn service on the peninsula. This month, for the first time since 2019, Aotearoa and Australian delegations return to Gallipoli, with Veterans' Minister Meka Whaitiri attending the Dawn Service and visiting the Māori Contingent Pā site at Number 1 Outpost, Shrapnel Valley, Beach Cemetery and Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery, where some of the fiercest fighting took place. Commemorations at the now-Turkish battle sites have become near-religious pilgrimages for many.Ĭovid-19 halted those. In eight months, around 44,000 Allied and 86,000 Ottoman soldiers died.įor 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. 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. ![]() What happened at the Battle of Gallipoli? The Ottoman navy sorted out the British and French fleet off Canakkale on March 23, 1915.Īdvertise with NZME. 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. They are Türkiye, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Turks know it as Gelibolu the rest of the world, particularly Australians and New Zealanders, as Gallipoli.įrom 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. Some long-dead Greek who could not have foreseen its place in history called it Kallipolis, "beautiful city". Photo / Getty ImagesĪ pilgrimage to the Gallipoli Peninsula around the Anzac commemorations requires planning but is well worth the effort, writes Ewan McDonald. Anzac Cove on the shores of Gallipoli, Turkey.
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