Politics

What’s really going on at Anzac Cove?

Jun 19, 2017

Monuments and cemeteries of British and Australian army forces in Gallipoli in Canakkale.

A photograph of Anzac Cove has sparked concerns that renovations are instead replacing a much revered Australian memorial.

The monument in Gallipoli, created in 1985 and honouring fallen Australian soldiers, featured words attributed Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The Arui Burnu monument once read as follows: ‘Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … 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 … 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. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.’

While the words may or may not belong to Atatürk, they offered comfort to generations of descendants of the 8,000-plus Australian Anzacs buried at Gallipoli.

However the photos posted on social media by a tour guide show some of the words have been removed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVdqQE9BmQy/?tagged=anzaccove&hl=en

As one visitor to the site said, rather than destroy it, why wasn’t it gifted back to Australia or New Zealand.

According to The Guardian, Australian and Turkish sources, including historians in both countries, believe that when the restoration is complete the sentiments on the Anzac Cove Atatürk memorial may be markedly different and instead could be political and could reflect a growing Islamist interpretation of Australia’s part in the 1915 British-commanded Anzac invasion of – and later retreat from – Gallipoli.

Minister for veterans’ affairs, Dan Tehan, said there was refurbishment work underway. “The Turkish government have advised the Department of Veterans’ Affairs they are undertaking refurbishment work on Turkish memorials on the Gallipoli peninsula,” Dan Tehan said. “No Australian memorials or cemeteries are affected by this work. The Australian government is grateful for the work of the Turkish government in ensuring the peninsula remains in good condition and is cared for in perpetuity.”