A hundred years since the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzacs) at Gallipoli, Turkey, on April 25, 1915, a pre-dawn memorial service began at dawn. An estimated 11,400 troops from Australia and New Zealand were killed in the course of the campaign at the cove.
Attending events at Gallipolis, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that the soldiers “were as good as they could be in their time, now let us be as good as we can be in our time.”
Founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, said: “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”
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