ALL QUITE NOW
GALLIPOLI - 2023
View from the top of Chunuk Bair where the headquarter of Mustafa Kemal was located, commander of the Turkish forces in Gallipoli in 1915-1916. One the most of significant incidents in the Gallipoli Campaign happened here where Mustafa Kemal, the future president and founder of the Republic of Turkey got hit in the chest by a piece of shrapnel and saved by his pocket watch.
Inside of a restored trench.
On the left is a view from Anzac Cove towards Arıburnu Hill. This hill was also another headquarter of Mustafa Kemal during the war. It is a very strategic hill where one could see the battlefield. Arıburnu was one of the key points for the Allied forces to win the campaign; but after seeing it and its steep slopes and harsh terrain from Anzac Cove, I realized that it was an impossible mission to accomplish at the time which ended in failure and Anzac soldiers were sent to be slaughtered without any second thought.
On the right is the castle of Kilidbair, one of the oldest castles in the Ottoman Empire that was built in the 15th century, which was another key point for Allied Navy to capture and gain control over the Dardanalles, so that they can pass through to capture Constantinople, today’s Istanbul, and knock out the Ottoman Empire from World War 1; nevertheless they didn’t even come closer for this sea campaign ended in failure. It is also a very strategically positioned castle where the sea is narrow and because of this it is very difficult for even a single ship to pass, let alone a huge navy. You can see the castle and it's fortifications in the photo.
These two photos may give an overall idea how difficult campaign it was for Allied Powers. Although the sea campaign was a big failure they decided to land on these harsh terrains and kept sending bodies as open targets for almost a year.
Another restored trench.
On the photo left, you see Mustafa Kemal's statue between two trees standing above the trench and under the flag. What I see in this photo is the story of the Republic of Turkey or one might also say it is the story of Mustafa Kemal. The trench below represents the Gallipoli War, a war that, as it were, called for its commander to make victorious so that he can set out to found and become the first president of the Republic of Turkey. Finally, the flag represents today's Turkey and the statue of Mustafa Kemal as its founding father stands both next and under the flag.
On the right side is the cemetery which is located in Seddul Bair, also where the Canakkale Martyrs Monument located. Little known fact about Seddul Bair is that it is also where an Indian regiment came to shore and fought against Turkish forces, not only with Australians and New Zealanders but also with the French and the English. Gallipoli has a very strategic location although it is a very small peninsula full of mountains and hills with its steep slopes and harsh terrain where more than a half of a million people died. I had no idea about the terrain before I went there but now I can say that in a small peninsula with all its casualties it is a very big graveyard and there are countless martyrdoms everywhere around the whole peninsula such as this one. I was quite shocked when I saw this martyrdom particularly and the reason is because one gravestone has 40 names on and with other countless gravestones it is the largest martyrdom in the peninsula.
A Turkish soldier represented by a statue with its bayonet penetrating the clouds.
On the left is an old woman looking towards Anzac Cove from Chunuk Bair.
On the right photo is a trench, some parts of which were partially restored, while other parts of the trench were got covered by the earth over time.
A statue of a Turkish soldier carrying an Anzac soldier representing a true incident. An Anzac after being wounded and got stuck in the middle of No Man's Land (a term used in World War 1 for the space between two trenches where all the fighting happens) seeking help got carried by a Turkish soldier leaving his own trench to help the wounded Anzac soldier. After carrying the Anzac from No Man's Land to the Anzac trench he returns his own trench safely. This kind of moments happened in Gallipoli regularly when it is compared to the Western Front, due to the narrowness of the landscape of the peninsula. Lacking the space to fight and also for the reasons of diseases soldiers sometimes had to recover their dead from No Man's Land. When doing this labor, soldiers from both sides would find themselves talking to each other and offering food and cigarettes. There were also some occasions when soldiers of the both sides would throw food to each other from to trench to trench even though they were enemies. There was a shortage of everything in the Gallipoli War but there was no shortage of humanity. This was the essence of the Gallipoli War and this statue still representing that very humanity today.
The columns of Canakkale Martyrs' Monument.
A lone and young tree growing on the spot where the trenches were. There are many statues and monuments all over Gallipoli but for me the real monuments and statues are these trees such as this one and plants growing on the grounds where death happened constantly but now nature is giving back life to the peninsula.
A restored trench (on the left) and a trench that is still standing (on the right) without the wooden logs but with trees being the logs today.
