Day #5- Gallipoli

 After just a few days in Turkey, I’ve noticed a recurring theme: the country carefully crafts a particular narrative with its history. This specific story has shown itself in Istanbul, especially in how artifacts or art are presented in museums. While traveling today from Istanbul to Cannakale, our group stopped at Gallipoli to learn about the Ottoman's WW1 history. During this stop, I noticed how the carefully crafted narrative is most evident in the way Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s heroism and the transformation of the Ottoman Empire into modern Turkey are highlighted, often emphasizing his leadership and reforms.

 The battle of the Gallipoli Peninsula was fought for control of the Dardanelles Strait, the only way by water to get into the Black Sea. Having control of the Black Sea was important to the British, who wanted access to the Black Sea to help the Russians. However, standing in their way were the Ottomans, who did not want to give their enemies any advantage at all. After a failed Navy assault by the British, they planned a land invasion of Gallipoli, which would end up turning into a 260-day conflict with both sides taking hefty losses, ending with an eventual British retreat with a total estimated death toll of 250,000. One of the war heroes who came out of this battle was Atatürk, who was hailed for his commanding and battle skills, giving him celebrity status amongst the Ottomans. The selective story is visible here through the idolization of Atatürk's heroism, represented by his large statue and plaque in Gallipoli. 

Other than our daily readings, our main source of Turkish history and culture, past and present, while in Turkey comes from our excellent tour guide, Saba! Saba’s educational lectures, however, remain influenced by the Turkish government’s narrative, presenting a version of events that aligns with the state. Saba’s lecture on Atatürk was incredibly informative in explaining how Atatürk united the country and was the figurehead of the Turkish civil war, fighting to free Turkey from the European powers. However, the Turkish retelling does not address the Armenian genocide, during which the CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) forced the migration of millions of Armenians, an event that directly contradicts the narrative of unity within the country. 

The glorification of Atatürk continued into the 1920s and 1930s as the now-new country of Turkey took shape. During Saba’s lecture, he mainly talked about the reforms Atatürk implemented to help begin the modernization of the government to make the country more similar to its European peers. These were great reforms that included giving women more rights, introducing surnames (last names), and increasing literacy by introducing a new alphabet. Atatürk also pushed for secularism in the government. These rights are amazing and were a good step forward for the country. However, the government purposefully emphasizes these ideas and reforms to glorify Atatürk and the country's history, distracting people from the whole story. The Turkish-pushed story fails to mention the population swap between the Turks and the Greeks, who had lived in each other’s countries for hundreds of years. Millions of people had their lives uprooted and were forced to move back to their “home” countries. The reforms also fail to mention that Atatürk ruled in a very authoritarian style with little democracy. The Turkish government promotes these idealized reforms while downplaying others through internet search engine manipulation. If you look up “Ataturk” or related terms, many of the top searches are government-run websites that present sanitized historical summaries. Tour guides like Saba complete a 4-year “tour guide” degree from universities where the government likely influences the curriculum to emphasize certain facts and historical events over others.

In 1934, Atatürk gave a speech at Gallipoli commemorating the ground invasion. During this speech, he called Turkey a “friendly country” and said there is no difference between the Australians and Ottoman soldiers lying side by side in their graves. This speech is publicized by the Turkish government at Gallipoli with a large plaque displaying the speech to promote Atatürk’s and the country’s image. However, can Turkey truly be called a “friendly country” given its history, including atrocities that remain unacknowledged? The Turkish state continues to downplay or deny the Armenian genocide and actively hides its history and other undesirable pieces of history from its people to promote a curated national identity and image.