Thousands to gather at Gallipoli dawn service

By Burak Akay

CANAKKALE, Turkey (AA) - Some 1,300 visitors from Australia and New Zealand will stand in silence amid the graves of their grandfathers in northwestern Turkey to remember the fallen Anzac troops of the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 in a dawn service on April 24, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said.

The event will mark the 103rd anniversary of the first landing by Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) troops on the Gallipoli (Gelibolu in Turkish) peninsula.

New Zealand’s Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy and Britain’s Minister for Europe and the Americas Alan Duncan are expected to be among those paying tribute, said Burak Ali Karacan on Thursday.

The unsuccessful eight-month campaign saw more than 44,000 British, Irish, French, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and Canadian troops and nearly 87,000 Ottoman soldiers killed.

The day is 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 Turkey, which emerged as a modern state shortly after the war, and the ANZAC countries.

The crowds will gather at Anzac Cove as the sun rises above the peninsula for the service.