The Kemal Atatürk Memorial is a memorial directly opposite the Australian War Memorial on Anzac Parade, the principal memorial and ceremonial parade in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) who, as a Lieutenant Colonel, commanded the Ottoman 19th Infantry Division when it resisted the

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood com ...

(ANZAC) at Arı Burnu on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915 during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He started the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

, and went on to be the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first president, receiving the honorific ''Atatürk'' ("Father of the Turks") by the Turkish parliament. In 1985, seventy years after the Gallipoli Campaign, the Turkish Government recognised the name " Anzac Cove" for the place on the peninsula where the Australian and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

troops landed on 25 April 1915. In return for this gesture, the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

established the memorial garden, around the Kemal Atatürk Memorial, that honours the heroism and self-sacrifice of the Turkish and Anzac soldiers who took part in that bitterly fought campaign. This is the only memorial to an enemy commander on Anzac Parade.

Design

The memorial consists of a crescent shaped wall on a circular paved area. The form of the wall reflects the crescent

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

and five-pointed star of the Turkish flag. In the centre of the memorial is a

time capsule A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ...

containing soil from the battlefields of Gallipoli. It was designed originally by architecture firm PDCM. Centrally located in the wall is a bronze likeness of Atatürk – a gift of the Turkish government by Turkish sculptor

Hüseyin Gezer Hüseyin Gezer (1920 – 27 December 2013), was a Turkish sculptor. He was born at Kıravga village of Mut district in Mersin Province in a village 1920. He attended elementary school in Mut, middle school in Silifke and graduated from Necati ...

. The inscription, attributed to Atatürk, pays tribute to his former foes and reflects his understanding of the cost of war: AS Kemal Ataturk 3

"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."

The quote honours all former enemy soldiers who have died in Turkey. There is however some doubt as to whether the words are Atatürk's. Surrounding the memorial are

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

trees ''Pinus halepensis'' grown from seed collected from the Gallipoli " lone pine".

2007 refurbishment

The memorial was refurbished in 2007 and rededicated in time for Anzac Day (25 April). The pavement was altered to incorporate a larger five pointed star motif as used in the flag of Turkey, to match the existing wall in the form of the crescent moon. At the points of the star five pink-

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

columns matching the granite used for the central sculpture. The columns are lit at night. The flags were moved from the side to the front of the memorial. The memorial was designed by PDCM Pty Ltd.

References

External links

Australian Light Horse Studies Centre

Ataturk Memorial Garden, Canberra.

Memorial in New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemal Ataturk Memorial, Canberra Military memorials in Canberra World War I memorials in Australia Ottoman Empire in World War I Australia–Turkey relations Canberra Turkish-Australian culture

Design

2007 refurbishment

See also

References

External links