Representatives of countries that faced off in one of the most iconic events of the war were honoring the dead in a joint ceremony, on the eve of the centenary since troops landed here.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Britain’s Prince Charles were expected to lay wreaths at a memorial for the fallen Turkish soldiers at Gallipoli before the ceremonies move to the British memorial site, where Prince Harry, Charles’ son, is scheduled to deliver a speech.
The main events are scheduled for Saturday, the anniversary of the dawn landings by troops, mostly
from Australia and New Zealand, who were rowed in to narrow beaches with scant cover only to encounter rugged hills and fire from well concealed Turkish defenders.
The doomed Allied offensive aimed to secure a naval route from the Mediterranean to Istanbul through the Dardanelles, and take the Ottomans out of the war. It resulted in over 130,000 deaths and came to be seen as a folly of British war planning. Around 44,000 Allied troops died in the campaign about 86,000 were killed on the Ottoman side. The campaign, however, helped forge national identities for countries on both sides.