Turkish leaders on Thursday paid homage to the "heroism" of Allied troops who lost to forces of the Ottoman Empire 100 years ago at the Battle of Gallipoli.
"All the soldiers who took part in this battle deserve to be commemorated with respect for their bravery," said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a symbolic "summit for peace" in Istanbul.
The World War I Gallipoli campaign began on April 25, 1915. It ended in defeat for Allied forces, and with more than 100,000 killed.
More than 11,000 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) soldiers lost their lives on the battleground, which is now part of Turkey.
"It was an epic achievement by your ancestors and ours a hundred years ago that has not been forgotten," said Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
"The soldiers fought at Canakkale (Dardanelles) with heroism and fell with the same heroism," he added.
"We made war a hundred years ago, but here we are gathered to build peace together, by rejecting the rhetoric of hatred," the Turkish government leader said.
"Let us show the new generations that a war can lead to peace."
Twenty world leaders are due to visit the banks of the Dardanelles strait on Friday.
The event will also be attended by Britain's Prince Charles as well as the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, whose Anzac fighters helped forge their countries' national identities.
Anzac Day remains a day of remembrance in both countries and is marked on April 25.
- 'Drawing borders with a ruler' -
The international guests will also recall the tens of thousands of Ottoman Empire soldiers and the members of a Franco-British expeditionary force who fell.
The battle ended in a costly defeat for the Allies after nine months of fighting along the 80-kilometre-long (50-mile-long) peninsula, but was seen as a key moment in the founding of the modern nation of Turkey.
Erdogan in his speech Thursday made mention of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, which he said were the results of the powers victorious at the end of WWI "drawing borders with a ruler."
A series of national commemorations are planned, including the Dawn Service organised by Australia and New Zealand in the early hours of April 25, to mark the moment that the Allied forces disembarked a century ago.
The memorials are taking place at the same time as the world recalls the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces.
The Armenian Church on Thursday held a ceremony making saints of up to 1.5 million Armenians massacred by Ottoman forces as tensions over Turkey's refusal to recognise the killings as genocide reached boiling point.
Ex-Soviet Armenia and the huge Armenian diaspora worldwide have battled for decades to get the WWI massacres at the hands of Ottoman forces between 1915 and 1917 recognised as a targeted genocide.
But modern Turkey -- founded after the Ottoman Empire collapsed -- has refused to do so, and relations remain frozen to this day.
More than 20 nations, including France and Russia, have recognised the Armenian genocide.
Erdogan on Thursday admitted the "suffering" of the Armenian people but added that "the Armenian cause has become a smear campaign against the whole of Turkey, which we reject."
Turkish leaders on Thursday paid homage to the “heroism” of Allied troops who lost to forces of the Ottoman Empire 100 years ago at the Battle of Gallipoli.
“All the soldiers who took part in this battle deserve to be commemorated with respect for their bravery,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a symbolic “summit for peace” in Istanbul.
The World War I Gallipoli campaign began on April 25, 1915. It ended in defeat for Allied forces, and with more than 100,000 killed.
More than 11,000 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) soldiers lost their lives on the battleground, which is now part of Turkey.
“It was an epic achievement by your ancestors and ours a hundred years ago that has not been forgotten,” said Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
“The soldiers fought at Canakkale (Dardanelles) with heroism and fell with the same heroism,” he added.
“We made war a hundred years ago, but here we are gathered to build peace together, by rejecting the rhetoric of hatred,” the Turkish government leader said.
“Let us show the new generations that a war can lead to peace.”
Twenty world leaders are due to visit the banks of the Dardanelles strait on Friday.
The event will also be attended by Britain’s Prince Charles as well as the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, whose Anzac fighters helped forge their countries’ national identities.
Anzac Day remains a day of remembrance in both countries and is marked on April 25.
– ‘Drawing borders with a ruler’ –
The international guests will also recall the tens of thousands of Ottoman Empire soldiers and the members of a Franco-British expeditionary force who fell.
The battle ended in a costly defeat for the Allies after nine months of fighting along the 80-kilometre-long (50-mile-long) peninsula, but was seen as a key moment in the founding of the modern nation of Turkey.
Erdogan in his speech Thursday made mention of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, which he said were the results of the powers victorious at the end of WWI “drawing borders with a ruler.”
A series of national commemorations are planned, including the Dawn Service organised by Australia and New Zealand in the early hours of April 25, to mark the moment that the Allied forces disembarked a century ago.
The memorials are taking place at the same time as the world recalls the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces.
The Armenian Church on Thursday held a ceremony making saints of up to 1.5 million Armenians massacred by Ottoman forces as tensions over Turkey’s refusal to recognise the killings as genocide reached boiling point.
Ex-Soviet Armenia and the huge Armenian diaspora worldwide have battled for decades to get the WWI massacres at the hands of Ottoman forces between 1915 and 1917 recognised as a targeted genocide.
But modern Turkey — founded after the Ottoman Empire collapsed — has refused to do so, and relations remain frozen to this day.
More than 20 nations, including France and Russia, have recognised the Armenian genocide.
Erdogan on Thursday admitted the “suffering” of the Armenian people but added that “the Armenian cause has become a smear campaign against the whole of Turkey, which we reject.”
