Anzac Day: Hundreds gather in Türkiye's Gallipoli to remember WWI dead
Nearly 2,000 people made their trip to the former battlefields overlooking the Canakkale Strait to remember soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who lost their lives in a campaign 108 years ago.
The commemoration ceremony is held at the French Military Cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Hundreds of visitors from Australia and New Zealand have gathered at the site of the Gallipoli campaign in western Türkiye for a dawn service.
Tuesday's event marked the 108th anniversary of the first landing of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) troops on the Gallipoli (Gelibolu in Turkish) peninsula during a military campaign in World War I.
Nearly 2,000 Australians and New Zealanders made their trip to the former battlefields overlooking the Canakkale Strait for the annual sunrise commemoration of the start of the eight-month campaign.
The annual ceremonies mark the first landings of troops from the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, known as Anzacs, at Gallipoli at dawn on April 25, 1915.
Participants spent the night at the site in sleeping bags and blankets in the cold, waiting for the ceremony to begin while watching documentaries and interviews about the Battle of Canakkale during World War I.
In the programme that started at dawn, Australian Veterans Affairs Minister Matt Keogh and New Zealand Defense Minister Andrew Little delivered speeches on the significance of the day.
The letter of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, to the families of foreign soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle of Canakkale was also read.
The unsuccessful eight-month campaign saw more than 44,000 British, Irish, French, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and Canadian troops, as well as nearly 57,000 Ottoman soldiers, killed.
READ MORE: Hungarian Gallipoli Monument symbol of historic Türkiye-Hungary ties: Akar
Participants spent the night at the site in sleeping bags and blankets in the cold, waiting for the ceremony to begin while watching documentaries and interviews about the Battle of Canakkale during World War I.
The day is also commemorated in Australia and New Zealand as Anzac Day and Gallipoli is seen as one of the defining events that ushered both countries towards nationhood.
The battle also forged links between Türkiye, which emerged as a modern state shortly after the war, and the Anzac countries.
READ MORE: Significance of Türkiye's 108th Canakkale victory commemoration
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.