Turkey Part 3: Gallipoli

Gallipoli: Aussie pilgrimage
Any trip to Turkey must really include a pilgrimage to Gallipoli and we have booked two nights and a half day tour. Boarding our trusty kamil Kok coach we took the 5 hour journey down to the peninsula. Gallipoli is held up by the Australians as the turning point for the establishment of its own national identity. The sacrifice of so many left a scar on the national psyche that is remembered 100 years on.
Arriving, in the area it is probably no surprise that the place is full of Australians and very touristy. Everybody seemed to have had the same idea. To summarise the Gallipoli campaign we can say that it was a gigantic cock up, where thousands of Australian and New Zealand forces (ANZACS) were pointlessly slaughtered with no military gains. I have read up on this event and it is bleak reading which I don't want to dwell on instead I'll note the more unusual stories emerging from our tour.

Gallipolli: The tour
Our tour was a half day round the cemeteries and war memorials of the area. They showed us the landing area where the forces should have landed, the area where they actually landed and gave us a detailed historical account of the campaign. Below I have described the more unusual stories.
During a more friendly exchange Australians threw cans of bully beef, fruit and rations to the Turks as a present. The Turks gladly accepted all except the bully beef which they threw back saying hey did not like it and please do not send again. Who can blame them, shows they have really good taste.
Ataturk the most famous Turkish General and father of modern day Turkey took a bullet to the chest which was stopped by a pocket watch. He gave the pocket watch to a German general who replaced it with working one. The broken one is in a museum in Berlin and the working one is in the Ataturk museum in Ankara. It is no understatement to say that without this pocket watch Turkey would have looked very different.
In the local museum there are two bullets which collided in mid air and fused together. Statistically this is not impossible but it is improbable. Makes you think how many bullets were flying through the air for this to happen?
The hills that were facing the troops would have been a nightmare to climb. Landing at the wrong place just made it impossible to make any advances.
From the high ground it is possible to see the whole landscape from miles around and the water as well. The ANZACS were at a serious strategic disadvantage.

Gallipoli: Peace not War
What strikes me about this event is what happened in the peace. The emotional maturity and respect that was generated by the Turkish people towards the Australians and vice versa. This was very much reflected in our tour. In all the dialog about the war each side was referred to in third person. The guide avoided us and them terminology thus neutralising, as much as possible, any emotional engagement.
Bang!! And they're off
For the last two nights about sundown there has been a massive bang about 10 o clock. On the second occasion we worked out its significance, Ramadan. Ramadan is the Islamic festival of fasting, it lasts for about a month and during sunlight hours a practicing Muslim abstains from eating or drinking during daylight hours. Ramadan started at the beginning of the week and the end of the fasting is indicated by this huge bang. I am visualising this as the starting gun for a race, these guys must be starving and incredibly thirsty and to hear this sound must be an incredible relief.

Cultural observations and other
If you don't like bread, then you are in big trouble in Turkey. Bread is served with every meal as a starter, it is served as part of the meal no matter what the meal. For example, chicken kebabs are served on top of bread, and a doner kebab is served wrapped in bread.