GELİBOLU’YU ANLAMAK

This article argues that there is no static approach to the meaning of Gallipoli Campaign in Turkey. There is a social dimension that shapes the understanding of the battle continually. The understanding of the battle changes when a rival political group champions on the historiography of the battle. In Turkey, political groups, namely Kemalists and Islamists, contend over the meaning of the battle. This rivalry makes the history of Gallipoli Campaign as a symbolic battle ground between the groups. Since the Turks do not constitute a single political group, Gallipoli Campaign is what the groups make of it. In Turkey, Gallipoli Campaign is a historical heritage that is always under construction. (Ö.Ö.) 

Bouvet was hit and sunk by the Turkish coastal artillery not by the moored mines said researcher Prof. Ayhan Aktar from İstanbul Bilgi University. His interview with the diver/salvage operator Mr. Tosun Sezen was published in Turkish History Magazine in March 2016. Prof. Aktar wrote a short introductory piece to the new findings probably would change the historiography of the 18 March 1915 naval assault and disaster for the Allies who tried to pass the Dardanelles and capture Istanbul.

Exactly 101 years ago, a series of breath-taking developments in European and Turkish seas put the Ottoman Empire into a war that would destroy it. Recently revealed documents correct some misconceptions about how the Turks entered World War I
“Enver [Pasha] had wanted to stand back and let the Great Powers destroy one another. But his attempt to do so via secret deals with both Germany and Russia was ruined by the independent-minded German commander who sailed off with two warships and bombarded the Russian port of Sevastopol.” This is a paragraph from BBC History magazine’s April issue, reviewing “The Fall of the Ottomans” by Eugene Rogan, which is in line with the traditional narrative about how the Ottoman Empire, then led by de facto Commander-in-Chief Enver Pasha, “suddenly” entered World War I due to a fait accompli of a German admiral in October 1914.
Recently revealed historical documents which have not been translated into English yet, however, partly refute this traditional narrative, providing sound evidence to prove that Enver had actually ordered the German commander to attack Russia on the Black Sea, albeit without setting an exact timing.

Professor Eugene Rogan’s blockbuster new book on the First World War in the Middle East and the collapse of the Ottoman dynasty is the first major title in the West to foreground the experiences of Turkish and Arab soldiers. Over 400 pages, the narrative sweeps through various campaigns, the wartime diplomacy of jostling Allies voraciously encircling the crumbling Ottoman Empire, and the post-war order that emerged across the region. Rogan also deals head on with the fate of the Ottoman Armenians – one example of an issue from the conflict that continues to simmer a century later. 
 
This interview published on 21 March 2015 issue Hurriyet Daily News , was put this site by the courtesy with William Armstrong.
 

We present Major Halis’ military life , A Turkish Officer who played an important role to defend Ariburnu area against Anzacs on 25 April 1915.
Located in Maydos-Zeytinlik, Halis Bey arrived at the 27th Regiment Headquarters at approximately 02:00 on the morning of April 25th. Upon receiving reports of 04:30 landings in Anzac Cove, Halis Bey through Sefik Bey, is ordered at 05:55 to make headway towards the enemy on an intercept course. With his 3rd Battalion, Halis Bey maneuvers to Gabatepe at about 06:00. Initially passing through the hills of Kakma Dag, he arrives in the plains of Ece Ovasi. Halis Bey’s soldiers were under surveillance through enemy air-reconnaissance, but were well-protected. The 3rd Battalion eventually reached Kavak Dere where they assembled with Captain Ibrahim’s 1st Battallion, who arrived at such coordinate from an alternative path. Both Battalions then proceed onward and arrive in Kemalyeri at approximately 07:40, specifically, at topographic altitude of 165 meters. Halis Bey briefly addressed his soldiers here and encouraged them and provided much needed moral. ( S.H.A )
Serdar Halis Ataksor is the grandson to Halis Ataksor. He lives in İstanbul.  Recently, A documentary mentioned on his grandfather and Captain Leer, an Anzac officer who confronted Major Halis on Mortar ridge on 25 April 1915, was aired on Australia SBS Radio.

The victorious Allies’ post-war impositions attempted the complete dismemberment of the defeated Ottoman Empire. Even harsher than those inflicted on the Germans at Versailles, the conditions were forced onto a powerless sultan and central government in Constantinople. However, led by Mustafa Kemal, the hero of Gallipoli, the Turks were already planting the seeds of a resistance struggle in Anatolia that would eventually lead to the declaration of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Elsewhere, the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire led to the formal partition of most of the Middle East into colonial mandates. For better or worse, the order of nation states that emerged remained essentially stable for almost 100 years. Whether or not one believes that the Middle East’s present day problems can all be traced back to the rupture of the Great War, there is no doubt that the conflict shaped much of the region for the next century. Rogan’s book is a terrific account of how that happened.

I am not a historian , only an ordinary Turkish citizen. All my life , I always condemned massacres, killings, seizure or torture of civilians, innocent people regardless of their religion, sect or ethnicity etc. Therefore, I deeply regret the way my (some) forefathers’ treated innocent, civilian Armenians who were Ottoman citizens and where most of them were children, women or old people. They persecuted, killed, seized their properties during 1915 fateful months. I personally believe that “this was crime”
You use the term “genocide” while describing these events. I wonder why you use a legal term for the 1915 events, you don’t mark as “genocide” the nearly same events took place at the same decades, at the beginning of 20th century… You don’t name Germany’s treating Namibians in 1910 as a “Genocide”. Furthermore, Germany refused a simply “apology” You don’t say Belgium Kingdom was responsible for massacres in Congo in 1905 , and committed “Genocide” I have been asking these questions at different times but nobody, explained what the differences are. Why and how do these events differ? (T.Y)

100 years have passed since the Gallipoli Campaign. Within these 100 years, empires collapsed, countries dashed. Generations changed. The last Anzac soldier who came back from the battlefront rejoined his brothers 12 years ago in 2003. However, those who died on this land are still in their twenties. Them, the  young martyrs! We, the new generations owe them. About what? About patriotism, courage, heroism and sense of fidelity.Now I’d like to talk about our Gallipoli project, that was prepared in order to pay our debt even if a little. As TED Mersin College, we started a project for the 100th year of the war so as to let the new generations know more about Gallipoli and stories of both sides. We want to share the details of our project and our works and so contribute to “The Spirit of Gallipoli”. Here is a story of Gallipoli. 

There is no doubt that British Statesman Winston Churchill was one of the most influential leader in the 20th Century. In his 50th death anniversary , we present an exclusive interview with Dr. Warren Dockter. How Islam affected Winston Churchill’s  thoughts? Was Churchill’s tendency to İslamic culture used by his political rivals against him ? As the world entered the war, did he consider to open war against Ottoman Empire?  What was his opinion about Turks and especially Mustafa Kemal Atatürk? What was the importance of Gallipoli Campaign in his career?
Dr. Warren Dockter is a research fellow in Cambridge University. His first monograph, Winston Churchill and the Islamic World: Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East, places Churchill in the context of colonial discourse and reveals the extent to which orientalism influenced his opinions and policies regarding the Islamic world.  

We present an exclusive interview with Stephen Chambers , a well-known Gallipoli Campaign researcher . He has several books on Gallipoli Campaign’s important parts and their relations with terrain. You can read his books as a information or guide book. He has visited Gallipoli Battlefield for years.He explains his approaching  Gallipoli Campaign  “ There are some very good single volume histories available today, from authors like Les Carlyon and Peter Hart, but I did not want to re-write what has already been done very well. What is different in my approach is to concentrate on a small geographical area of Gallipoli, telling its story through both official and first-hand accounts from both sides and, providing a battlefield guide for those who may want to visit the area. “In this interview, he emphasized  that Gallipoli was an important, albeit unwanted, campaign for the British, but it is essential to remember that it was secondary to the main military efforts on the Western Fronts against the Germans. He also explain why Anzac was not a feint or Gully Ravine battle’s importance for Allied forces.This interview’s Turkish version will be aired soon.