GALLIPOLI PENINSULA, Turkey - With thousands expected in Turkey for the 90th anniversary of the World War I Gallipoli landings, officials working to get the peninsula in shape face charges that the remains of Australian and New Zealand soldiers are being destroyed in the process.
For the past two months, dozens of men and earth-shifting machines have been working to widen and reinforce the road leading to Anzac Cove, the site of the April 25, 1915 landings of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) on the peninsula in northwestern Turkey.
But the work, which Turkey says was undertaken at the request of the Australian and New Zealand governments to accommodate tourists arriving in busloads, has spawned controversy amid press reports that the remains of Anzac troops were unearthed and destroyed during the excavation.
Turkey has denied that any bones were dug up during the roadwork and gave assurances that utmost care was being taken, but Bill Sellars, an Australian journalist and writer who lives on the peninsula, contradicts this version.
"I was one of a number of people who have seen remains being disturbed. Whether they belong to Turkish soldiers or the allied Forces I do not know, but this is a sacred area and I find it disturbing," he told AFP.
He explained that workers had cut into the hillsides to widen the road, dumping a lot of soil and asphalt on to the beach where Anzac troops landed.
"I find it sad that Turkish officials have consistently denied what is plain evidence and not contacted any people speaking about the issue," Sellars said.
"Whether dedicated to tourism or improvement, current work and future work will greatly harm the historical topography of the area. It will prevent people from standing in the same place their forefathers stood and experience the suffering and the pain they felt," he said.
The mood was less sombre among Australian tourists visiting the Cove where Anzac troops landed as part of the allied bid to wrest the strategic Dardanelles Strait from Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire.
The eight-month campaign ended in defeat and withdrawal for the allied forces and the deaths of 35,000 Allied troops, including British, French and Indians as well as 11,410 Anzacs. Turkey is believed to have lost some 86,000 men.
Colonel Graham Fleeton, a tour guide and military historian who has been visiting the peninsula since 1999, acknowledged that dirt had been pushed on to the beach where the landings took place, but said the media had exaggerated the scale of the problem.
"I do not think they have disturbed any major areas. The work has not been horrendous," the 61-year-old told AFP while guiding a group of tourists along the beach.
Australian MP Harry Quick said he approved of the roadwork and voiced hope that Turkey would take good care of the historic site.
"You need proper roads to get all the visitors back and forth and the work seems to have been done reasonably well," he said.
"I would like to think that Turkish people who have been looking after the site for 9O years would not have done anything stupid and spoil what is considered holy land by Australians," he added.
Neil Creigton, a 62-year-old consultant, agreed.
"I do not think they have done anything sacrilegious," he said.
"Given the attitude of the Turkish government and the ancient nature of the site, which has witnessed wars for 5,000 years, who would know whose bones they were?" he asked.
Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders are expected to attend a solemn dawn ceremony on Monday at Anzac Cove to commemorate their war dead.
Britain's Prince Charles, and the prime ministers of Australia, New Zealand and Turkey will be present at the services.
04/23/2005 13:25 GMT