Anzacs cut from Gallipoli memorial
The removal of a much-loved Gallipoli tribute to Anzac soldiers has sparked fears a hardline Islamist narrative is endangering Kiwis’ warm relationship with the Turkish people.
This week, a Gallipoli tour guide posted a photo of the effaced Ataturk Memorial at the north end of Anzac Cove.
‘‘Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives,’’ it had read. ‘‘You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.’’
The words, somewhat recklessly attributed to Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, became entrenched in Anzac mythology after World War I.
They are inscribed on monuments in Wellington and Canberra, and have been repeated by a succession of New Zealand and Australian prime ministers each Anzac Day.
But they have been roughly chiselled off the Gallipoli monument as part of a sweeping ‘‘renovation’’ of all Turkish memorials and epitaphs on the peninsula, beginning last month.
More than 30,000 Kiwis visit Turkey every year, and traditionally receive a warm welcome. But the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been cracking down hard after a failed coup attempt.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises against all non-essential travel to both Ankara and Istanbul due to a heightened risk of terrorism and the potential for civil unrest. Those visiting Gallipoli are advised there is ‘‘some risk’’ to their safety, after a terror threat ahead of this year’s Anzac Day commemorations.
Turkish sources told the Guardian the removal of the tribute to the Johnnies reflected ‘‘a growing Islamist interpretation’’. Erdogan’s government was casting Gallipoli as a clash between invading ‘‘crusaders’’ and jihadi defenders.
Auckland RSA president Graham Gibson called for the words to be reinstated.
‘‘It would be a shame to rub out 100 years of history,’’ he said.
‘‘Those words are beautiful, they will still be remembered in New Zealand and Australia.
‘‘It would be good if common sense prevails and the Turkish people ensure these words are returned.’’
University of Auckland international relations professor Stephen Hoadley said this kind of action could make relations with New Zealand more problematic. It reflected a ‘‘disturbing’’ reemphasis on Islamism, and he questioned how welcome Kiwis would be at Anzac Cove.
‘‘The Turkish government has been very hospitable up to this point.’’
University of New South Wales history professor Peter Stanley said the visitors’ centre now depicted Gallipoli as a clash between Islamists and crusaders, and described the dead Turks as ‘‘martyrs’’.
‘‘Turkish memorials on Gallipoli have praised Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s leadership. Their destruction [signifies] a new, theocratic interpretation,’’ he said.
Work on the memorials was a chance to say something different about Gallipoli to thousands of visitors.
But New Zealand historian Christopher Pugsley, who visited Gallipoli last month, believed the deletion was only temporary, and the famously conciliatory words would be restored at the site where many New Zealand soldiers lie buried.
Pugsley said workers had been systematically going around the monuments in what appeared to be simply refurbishment.