A visit to the Gallipoli peninsula

In 1915 British and French Allied forces landed on the Anzac Cove on the west side of the Gallipoiı peninsula in an attempt to knock out the Ottoman empire out of World War I. The present historical park contains the war cemeteries of the various nations that had seen the same horrors of a stalemate trench warfare that weas so typical in other parts of Europe. Our BC member John from even had a story to tell about his uncle-in-law landing with the British forces in the Anzac Cove in 1915.

So Gallipoli is sacred ground to the Turkish nation (like Suomussalmi for the Finns or Westerplatte for the Poles).

You may stop reading here, but I would like to share the follwing excerpt from a poem displayed at the Gallipoli war memorial:

Mehmet then asked an English soldier
who seemed toı be at the playing age
'how old are you little brother, what brought you here at such an early stage'
'I am fifteen forever', the English soldier said
'ın trhe village from where I come I used to play war with the children
arousing them with my drum
then I found myself in the front
was it real or a game before I could tell
my drum fell silent
as I was struck with a shell'

Bülent Ecevit 1988

But do the Turks carry about any other suppressed memory about WWI? Probably more about this when we get further East...

For the rest of the day we were literally carried by a very strong tailwind along the coastal road to the village of Bolayır. A wind turning into heavy rainfall during the night...

GPS and more photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=14001