Leading Greek academic to examine shifting Turkish perspective on ANZAC commemoration

A starring world will research however changing governmental narratives successful Turkey are reshaping the way 1 of World War I’s astir important campaigns is remembered, successful an upcoming online lecture.

The Gallipoli run remains 1 of the astir defining and arguable subject campaigns of the First World War, widely regarded arsenic a nonaccomplishment for British and French forces while holding heavy nationalist value for Australia and New Zealand done the ANZAC story.

Professor Vlasis Vlasidis, adjunct prof astatine the University of Macedonia, will contiguous a lecture titled “Gallipoli and evolving commemoration – the caller Turkish perspective” connected Thursday 23 August astatine 7pm AEST (12pm Athens time). The talk will beryllium streamed online via YouTube and Facebook and delivered successful English.

The lecture will analyse however remembrance of Gallipoli has evolved implicit the past century, peculiarly successful Turkey, where caller developments person altered the commemorative landscape.

In the decades pursuing the war, remembrance of Gallipoli became a shared, if separate, experience. Veterans from Britain and crossed the Commonwealth regularly returned to the battlefields, visiting cemeteries established by the Imperial War Graves Commission. By the precocious 20th century, tens of thousands of visitors from Australia, New Zealand and Britain were attending yearly Anzac Day services and ceremonies successful Çanakkale.

Turkish commemorations, meanwhile, developed on their ain lines, with chiseled ceremonies and memorials marking their nationalist acquisition of the conflict.

However, successful the past decade, important changes person emerged under the authorities of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Large-scale museums dedicated to idiosyncratic battles person been constructed, while caller monuments prominently featuring Mustafa Kemal Atatürk person been installed astir existing British and ANZAC memorials.

These additions, alongside expanded interpretive signage, are seen by some observers arsenic diminishing the visibility of ANZAC and British perspectives astatine the historical sites.

The developments person reportedly caused interest among the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and veterans’ groups, with some suggesting the changes person contributed to a diminution successful visitor numbers successful caller years.

The upcoming lecture aims to unpack these tensions and connection penetration into however nationalist memory, authorities and practice intersect astatine Gallipoli much than a period aft the war.