18 March is Remembrance Day for Gallipoli Campaign, 1915, also called Dardanelles Campaign or Dardanelles Battle. This Sunday we will commemorate those who died for our country in this battle as we do every year.
The Gallipoli Campaign is very closely related with the Armenian deportation. Because the British government decided to start the Campaign on January 2, 1915, in response to an appeal by Grand Duke Nicholas, commanding the Russian armies, to relieve pressure on the Russians on the Caucasus front. This Campaign was very important for Winston Churchill.
Grandchildren of Anzacs who died in Gallipoli also come from New Zealand and Australia for commemoration and we remember those who lost their lives during this Campaign, together. This joint sorrow has brought us closer with them. Surely grandchildren of the Armenian women who knitted socks for soldiers in Cankiri, Agop Elmaysan and some other doctors, who healed the wounded soldiers at the front and some of the Galatasaray High School students who voluntarily fought will surely be remembering their grandparents and will share this commemoration. Not only me but I am sure many other Turks wonder why we can’t do the same with all Armenians for our losses in WWI. If a mutual understanding of what has been lived through can be created, then we can leave the past behind and look forward for a better relationship in future. I hope this will happen one day.
Armenian Holocaust:My Story blog by Selma Aslan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Gayriticari-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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