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May the memories of the Aussies, NZ'ers, Turkish, and British that fought here be remembered and the ties between these countries not be forgotten...
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=104724
08.03.2007
ABDURRAHMAN BÃœYÃœKKESKİN
ANTALYA
A tourist from New Zealand who says she has always wondered about the country where her grandfather fought has decided to move Turkey.
Kaye Cordes, 50, notes that her Irish grandfather, Walter Morton, fought in the Battle of Gallipoli as a private in the British Forces and that after being injured there twice he stayed on in the country until 1960. After reading her grandfather's war diaries, Cordes, who was a nurse at a rest home in the New Zealand city of Dunedin, became curious about Turkey and Gallipoli. She decided to brace herself for the 24-hour plane ride to Turkey and notes that she fell in love with the country and its people after a 15-day holiday here.
Cordes decided to visit the Antalya Inter-Cultural Dialogue Center (AKDIM) during a vacation there in order to gather more information about Turkey. "I was curious about the people of this country where my grandfather fought in Gallipoli. I was very impressed by the wealth of Turkish culture and music. The people are so warm and lively. In New Zealand, relations between people are very artificial and based on personal interests. After seeing Turkey, I asked myself why it was that my grandfather had fought against the people of this country in war. I can only hope that my grandfather, when he was healthy, asked himself this same question. I doubt that he was able to get a good answer, since at that time New Zealand was a colony of Britain. I came for a holiday to Manavgat, but when I come back here again, it will be to stay," she said.
Cordes explains that she was only five when her grandfather died, but that in the diaries of her grandfather's there are many painful events recounted. She asserts a need for better Turkish-New Zealand relations so that their painful past will not be relived. Cordes, who says that God gave her grandfather the chance to live despite the injuries he received in Gallipoli, vows she will work to spread information about Turkey upon her return to New Zealand. "These days here have been the best I've ever lived in the world. ... I am truly experiencing culture shock right now. I will return with my daughter to live in Manavgat. People here are always smiling, and they set aside time to talk with others. In New Zealand, people live egoist lives, and they see time spent in conversation with one another as a waste."
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