Another legacy of Gallipoli

Updated September 29, 2010 12:05:24

Last Friday night, I was with some Malaysian visitors, amongst them an official from Malaysia's Ministry for Islamic Affairs. He told me he was impressed with a mosque he had visited that afternoon in the Sydney suburb of Auburn. But he was a little confused - why did they name it "the Gallipoli Mosque"?

I explained to him that Australia's first encounter with Turkey took place on the beaches and hills of a place Turks know of as Gelibolu. The Battle of Gallipoli was a fight to the death in which over 130,000 men were killed and double that number wounded. It was the beginning of a long friendship between the two nations.

By now, our guest was even more confused. "So you show friendship between Australia and Turkey by naming your mosque after a place where your two countries first fought?"

What could I tell him?

Could I mention the ANZAC troops who, whilst retreating, left cigarettes and food and even kind messages scrawled on cigarette paper for the Ottoman troops?

Would he understand the actions of a group of ANZACs who refused to attack some Ottoman troops as they prostrated toward Mecca?

Perhaps if my guest had travelled around the mosque, he would have seen on the noticeboard a sign saying "The Auburn RSL Club will be holding its ANZAC Day Service at...".

Some years back, a group of Turkish filmmakers called Ekip Film Productions got together with Turkish, British, New Zealand and Australian experts to make a movie about the campaign. The result of their joint efforts was a movie-length documentary Gallipoli, screened on both sides of the Tasman in 2005 to mark the 90th anniversary of the ill-fated invasion. The film, which received excellent reviews, portrayed the campaign through the eyes of three Australian, two British, three New Zealander and two Ottoman troops.

Here's how Ekip Productions describe the campaign:

"Gallipoli is unique in world history a story of enemies who displayed mutual respect during the battle and who became friends after it. No battle has forged such strong comradeship and everlasting peace in its aftermath. On the shores of Gallipoli, Australia and New Zealand became nations and Turkey embarked on its journey to become a republic from the ruins of an empire."

The Gallipoli invasion was yet one example of Australians fighting other people's wars.

Some 36,000 Australians, mostly young men in their twenties, lost their lives. Even in 1920, many Australians regarded this war as being fought for King and Empire.

In a recent book review published in The Canberra Times, Frank O'Shea writes about Irish returned soldiers causing major controversy when they marched in 1920 under the Australian flag, not the Union Jack. In doing so, they effectively "declare[d] that they had fought for Australia rather than for Britain... the Irish in Australia were Australians as well as Irish whereas the loyalists were British first and Australian second."

Apart from being an ambiguously defining moment in Australian nationhood, the Gallipoli campaign was also the beginning of the rise of one Mustafa Kemal Pasha.

In January 1915, this young Ottoman lieutenant-colonel was transferred from a cushy position in Sofia (now in modern Bulgaria) to the front line, taking charge of the 19th Division of the Ottoman Fifth Army. Their job was to defend the Gelibolu Peninsula from invading forces.

Armed with intelligence reports showing the Allies were determined to march on Istanbul, Kemal saw this as a battle for the Ottoman Empire's survival.

Mustafa Kemal knew this was a fight to the death. "I am not commanding you to fight. I am commanding you to die," he told his troops. Almost two thirds of casualties in the battle were from the Ottoman side.

Despite these heavy losses, the Ottomans won the battle. Istanbul was saved, and Mustafa Kemal eventually carved out a nation from the remains of the Ottoman Empire. He eventually went onto become Turkey's first President and is referred to by Turks by the reverential title of "Ataturk" or "Father of the Turks".

Within half a century of being defeated by the Turks at Gallipoli, our ancestors were good-natured enough to stretch the White Australia Policy by opening Australia's doors to Turkish workers. Among them was the Ilhan family, who had relatives that fought at Gallipoli. Two years ago, the late John Mustafa Ilhan could write these words in metropolitan tabloids:

"I am the proud son of Turkish parents. I missed being born in Australia by a few years, but each day I thank my lucky stars that I came to this country. I had relatives who fought against the ANZACs yet today, if there was another world war, I would fight for Australia without hesitation."

Next time you go to an AFL or ARL game and see "Crazy John" adverts across the ground, remember that the Crazy John mobile phone company would not have existed if the ancestors of a young entrepreneur named John Ilhan had not migrated from Turkey to Australia.

I'm sure the fallen soldiers, ANZAC and Ottoman, the Johnnys and the Mehmets, would have been happy to see a young Muslim Turk at the heart of Australian life. Perhaps it's time our mono-cultural warriors also put down their weapons.

First posted April 25, 2008 09:00:00