GANAKKALE: Turkey on Wednesday marked 100 years since the start of the Gallipoli Campaign by the Allies in World War I, an event seen now as a glorious victory by Ottoman forces and a crucial moment in the creation of the modern Turkish state.
On March 18, 1915, joint British-French naval forces sought to force their way through the Dardanelles Straits separating Europe from Asia in a bid to take Istanbul, then known as Constantinople.
However the attack was repelled by fierce Ottoman resistance, forcing the Allies to stage a land campaign in April that the Ottoman forces would also defeat in a months-long battle.
Although the Ottoman Empire, allied with Berlin, was on the losing side in World War I and subsequently collapsed, the Gallipoli Campaign is regarded in Turkey as a heroic victory.
“100 years ago, history changed,” the Hurriyet daily said in its headline.
Addressing a ceremony marking the 100 years at the town of Canakkale on the Dardanelles Straits, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the battle as a unifying moment in the history of Turkey.
Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2015
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