CANAKKALE - Thousands of Austrian, New Zealander and Turks gathered at Anzac Bay in Gelibolu Peninsula as dawn broke in northwestern province of Canakkale on Friday to commemorate their ancestors who died in the World War I, on the 93rd anniversary of Canakkale Battles.
Air Forces Commander Gen. Graham Lintott of New Zealand, addressing the gathering said more than 30,000 Australians and New Zealanders lost their lives in the battle 93 years ago. "We have gathered here to show respect to those who died or injured in Gallipoli," he added.
Separately, Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said they admired the courage, responsibility and sacrifices made by all soldiers regardless of what their uniforms were.
New Zealand`s Foreign Minister Vinston Peters said allied forces coming all around the world and the Turkish soldiers defending their territory showed an example of heroism, "we are gathering here every year to show that we will never forget those heros."
The gathering sang hymn and prayed for those who lost their lives in the devastating war and the dignitaries laid wreath at the battle monument.
Each year, thousands of people, many of them Australians and New Zealanders, travel to the battlefields in northwestern Turkey on Anzac Day, the anniversary of the April 25th, 1915, start of the campaign.
Anzacs, as the Australian and New Zealand forces, formed the backbone of a 200,000-man, British-led army that landed at Gelibolu in an attempt to take control of the Turkish Straits and capture Istanbul. The Turks held strong for more than eight months, driving the allies off their land in a campaign.
Nearly 1 million soldiers fought in the trench warfare at Gelibolu. The allies recorded 55,000 killed in fighting with 10,000 missing and 21,000 dead of disease. Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000.
(AY-ULG)