The battle of Gallipoli, what the Turks call Canakkale, continues to hold great weight in modern-day Turkey. Here is why
The sound echoes across the crowded stadium as the Janissary band beat their drums, dressed in boldly coloured Ottoman-style costumes.
Not only were the Allies striking the heart of their empire, but they were also attacking the seat of the caliphate, which allowed the Ottomans to retain religious and political influence beyond their diminishing physical borders, across the Muslim world. Indeed, when Turkey gave up its claim to the caliphate, immediately upon independence, it opened the way for Western colonisation and military intervention across the rest of the Middle East, which continues up until today.
But the context is very much a contemporary one. After a closing prayer from the Mehter, the political speeches begin. When the mayor of Çanakkale, Ulgur Gokhan, takes the stage, sections of the crowd erupt into boos. Gokhan is from the opposition CHP, Turkey's main social democratic party, and those booing are supporters of the conservative AK Party . Other pockets of the crowd, however, clap and cheer.
"Then parents would send off their boys to Canakkale saying ‘be a martyr, or a veteran.' Now they send them to fight against terrorist organisations to Syria," he continues, referring to Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkey's ongoing cross-border operation. She wasn't sure if she would come here today, but says she is glad to have the chance to connect with other families who have lost someone as well as the sense of being part of a larger history.. "When you come here, you feel like you're part of something. You realise there is more than your own suffering, and it makes it bearable."
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