Yesterday was Anzac Day
I should have mentioned that yesterday was Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand. When I visited Australia last year, I visited the war memorial in Sydney (which, sadly, was sealed up - apparently, antiwar protesters kept defacing it. Utter lack of respect, IMHO). I also visited the huge memorial in Canberra, which looks a lot like the mall in Washington (DC) - only with red sand rather than the reflecting pool. So a day late, I'll give a tip of the hat to the memory of all the brave Aussies and New Zealanders who fought and died for their countries.
Comments
Well done!
[Lyndon Samson] April 26, 2005 9:01:32.111
As an Aussie I can bestow upon you the honourary title of "Good Bloke" for your respectful post.
Sharing the sorrow, but have to correct a mistake...
[Kerem Ispirli] April 26, 2005 23:25:52.053
Yesterday was also Anzac Day in Turkey. Many Anzacs from Australia and New Zealand were in Gallipoli/Turkey. They stayed outdoors till the dawn and made their "Dawn Ceremony" for the memories of their ancestors, who died in WW1 at western coast of Anatolia while fighting in the command of Allied Forces (England, France and so on) against Turkish Army. Later in the day, officers from Turkish Army, New Zaeland, Australia and England made a ceremony for both Turkish and Anzac martyrs in Gallipoli. Moreover, this year Price Charles was one of the participants of this ceremony. ... What had happened between Turkish and Anzac people in Gallipoli is a long and tragic story, which is told in many books and documentary films. What I want to tell here is, Anzacs were victims of imperialist governments' greed on Turkish homeland, which is thousands of miles far away from Australia and New Zealand, say, "uttermost ends of the earth". Unfortunately, Anzacs were not the ones who died for their countries. Last word, from the leader of Turkish people: "THOSE HEROES THAT SHED THEIR BLOOD AND LOST THEIR LIVES... YOU ARE NOW LYING IN THE SOIL OF A FRIENDLY COUNTRY. THEREFORE REST IN PEACE. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE JOHNNIES AND THE MEHMETS TO US WHERE THEY LIE SIDE BY SIDE HERE IN THIS COUNTRY OF OURS... YOU, THE MOTHERS, WHO SENT THEIR SONS FROM FAR AWAY COUNTRIES, WIPE AWAY YOUR TEARS; YOUR SONS ARE NOW LYING IN OUR BOSOM AND ARE IN PEACE. AFTER HAVING LOST THEIR LIVES ON THIS LAND THEY HAVE BECOME OUR SONS AS WELL." Mustafa Kemal ATATURK, 1934 Also check out; http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/
Imperialism
[George Paci] April 28, 2005 14:42:14.478
"...Anzacs were victims of imperialist governments' greed on Turkish homeland..."
..the same Turkish homeland that was the center of the Ottoman, um, Empire. The Greeks and Arabs of the time probably had some choice words about imperialist governments, as well.