Gallipoli centenary marks another snub for Turkish minorities
Hundreds of non-Muslim soldiers killed in the Gallipoli campaign 100 years ago were ignored in elaborate centenary observances.
Centenary observations of the Gallipoli campaign that ended with the Ottoman Empire's victory against the Allies sadly became another occasion to expose how the non-Muslim minorities in Turkey are snubbed. Non-Muslim soldiers who lost their lives were not saluted and their names were removed from the list of martyrs issued by the Defense Ministry.
The Gallipoli observances were guided by anti-minority narratives and actions that were enflamed by comparisons between the Gallipoli centenary and the approaching 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, when he was the foreign minister in 2011, said: “We will inform the whole world about 2015. Contrary to what some claim and disparage, we will tell the world that this will not be the anniversary of a genocide but of honorable resistance of a nation at Gallipoli.”
Because of such partisan utterances, Gallipoli observances turned into ceremonies where nationalist sentiments peaked and non-Muslim minorities were utterly disregarded. For example, the List of Martyrs issued by the Ministry of National Defense omitted the names of non-Muslim martyrs although it had listed them in an earlier publication. Today, if you search for a non-Muslim soldier on the ministry's official website, you will get the message, “No record could be found.”
In the Canakkale Martyrs Cemetery, where Muslims and non-Muslims are buried together, a memorial ceremony attended by Davutoglu was held March 18. Only the Quran was recited — and there was no mention of non-Muslim martyrs.
