Gallipoli

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Turkey is the last country which is on my list during this world trip that has been going on for almost a year now. Coming from Bulgaria with the night train I arrived in Edirne just over the border in Turkey. I’ts still very early in the morning – about 04:00 when I wait in the trainstation till early dawn.

Then I take a minibus to the bus station and take a bus to the peninsula Gallipoli, known for the battlefields from WWI. I arrive in the town Eceabat, located on the east side of the Dardanelles, the water passage that was besieged for centuries because of its strategic location. Because it is too late at the day to do something today, I stay in my hostel and plan my trip over the war zone for tomorrow.

After breakfast I walk to the bus station where unfortunately I can only take the bus to the town Kabatepe at half past eleven. This hamlet is located about 3 km south of where the most popular Anzac battlefields lie and is, so to speak, the kickoff. At the information center in the town I ask how I can get to the various cemeteries and monuments.

The answer is very simple - no bus runs so you will or have to walk or try to get a lift. I start my walk over the rolling hills that make up most of the landscape here. About 3 quarters of an hour later I arrive at my first memorial - the Mehmetcige Saygi Aniti also called the Mehmetcik monument. The monument is impressive, with a Turkish soldier carrying another wounded soldier. I take a moment here to refresh my memory with regard to the battlefield and the supposed idea of success behind it.  

World War I had broken out in 1914 with the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire as the Central powers together with Turkey. They fought against Russia, France, England and later the United States. In the west, the struggle had ended with an all-devouring trench warfare that was stuck. The Allies planned to attack the capital of the Turkish (Ottoman) empire (Istanbul) to put this country out of the war, to relieve Russia and to establish a sea route to this country. For the first time, a combined army from Australia and New Zealand (renamed Anzac) would be deployed. The battle would last almost a year and would be woefully in vain despite countless deaths and injuries.

The campaign ended in a glorious victory for the Turks, who hoped for a revival of the once powerful Ottoman Empire. The struggle cleared the way for the Turkish War of Independence and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey eight years later, on the orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, one of the commanders at Gallipoli. The defeat of Anzac would exert a great influence on the consciousness of the own identity of the countries of the former British Empire and Anzac day is celebrated with greatness and pride.

In my travel guide I look at my map and see dozens of (war)sites and will have to make a real choice – mainly because of the fact that a memorial is impressive but I do not actually have to see them all. It is a short walk to the next site and I walk the distance. A large white memorial with inscriptions of victims known as the Bloody Ridge memorial. Now I try to hitchhike - people have seen that I am here as a tourist (to view the monuments and cemeteries and show my respect) and as expected I am indeed recognized and taken for free to the next site.

Again a large white memorial but what I am more interested in are the trenches that are still clearly visible here. "Johnston's Jolly" or as the Turks say Kirmizi Sirt tells us that the trenches were not very deep (as in Western Europe) also because the ground was very hard with stones in relation to the trenches in Europe where it was terribly wet and swampy. 

I get another lift and ask where these people are going - they say that they skip a whole group of monuments and ask where I want to go. What shall I do? I decide to go with these people because it seems, with all due respect, all a little alike. Together we take a look at the Talat Goktepe monument where again a monument is of a Turkish soldier - also here a cemetery with a large white memorial.

Finally I visit the Chunuk Bair monument - also here original trenches with lots of wood on the sides and a beautiful view of the landing sites of the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who have tried here for about 9 months a way "upstairs" to find and secure the very important street of the Dardanelles to" Istanbul in order to neutralize Bulgaria and to help Russia who had already lost some important battles and were at their last legs. The result was that the Allies retreated and the war raged through and the Germans could once again fully focus on the other fronts and Turkey on the eastern front (Caucasus) where it fought against Russia.

I'm lucky when I meet people who can bring me back to Eceabat where I do some shopping and walk back to my hostel. 

• Name: TJ's hostel (Eceabat)

Address: Cumhuriyet Caddesi 5

Price: 15,000 Lira (single)

Phone nr. : 814 3122

Website: www.anzacgallipolitours.com

Content:

It is a large building with a number of floors about 100 meters away from the main square. You have different rooms including "doubles", "singles" but also dormitories.

The hostel is run by a Turkish-Australian couple and is fully equipped for the average backpacker. The rooms are clean and there is space enough - so you can exchange your book and (on request) the fim Gallipoli is shown. Breakfast is also served and you can book a tour to the battlefields of Gallipoli.