Gallipoli 1915 Through Turkish Eyes (Ciltli)

Haluk Oral

For the forces at Gallipoli, there was no retreat beyond the trenches. Surrounded by the sea on one side andprecipitous cliffs on the other, trenches were veritable trps offering no escape. Though death ran rampantin the trenches, they were also the site of human stories that would become the stuff of epics. To the Ottoman soliders fighting no longer in the name of the Sultan, but for their own people and country, each trench was their homeland. For the Anzac soliders, too, the battle marked a turning point, as they began to question the British Empire, and with their epic heroism in a distant land so far home, started to from their own identity.

The powers at war in Gallipoli shared a common fate. In a fight to the death waged in trenches facing each another at distances of just eight, ten, twenty meters, they learned to respect one another, and their common fate would lay the foundations for a friendship that would flourish once the battle had drawn to a close.