Kemal Atatürk Memorial, Canberra

The Kemal Atatürk Memorial has an honoured place on ANZAC Parade, the principal memorial and ceremonial parade on Canberra, the national capital city of Australia.

Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kemal (1881-1938) commanded the Turlish 19th Infantry Division when it resisted the invading Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Ali Burni on the Gallipoli penninsular in 1915 during World War I.

He went on to be the founder and first President of Turkey, and so is regarded as the 'father of the nation': He was homoured by the Turkish parliament by being given the honorific name Atatürk that has that meaning.

In 1985, seventy years after the Gallipoli campaign, the Turkish Government agreed to recognise the name "ANZAC Cove" for the place on the peninsular where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed on 25 April 1915. In return for this gesture, the Australian Government established the memorial garden, around the Kemel Atatürk Memorial, that honours the heroism and self-sacrifice of the Turkish and ANZAC soldiers who took part in that bitterly fought campaign. Kemal Atatürk's words inscribed on the memorial are a major bridge between these nations that have now become firm friends.

Design

The memorial consists of a crescent shaped wall on a circular paved area. The form of the wall reflects the crescent Moon and five-pointed star of the Turkish flag. In the centre of the memorial is a time capsule containing soil from the battlefields of Gallipoli.

Centrally located in the wall is a bronze likeness of Atatürk – a gift of the Turkish government by Turkish sculptor Huzeyin Gezer. The inscription below are Atatürk's own words pays tribute to the ANZACs and reflects his understanding of the aweful costs of war.

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 living in our bosom and are in peace. Having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

Surrounding the memorial are pine trees Pinus halepensis grown from seed collected from the Gallipoli "lone pine".

The memorial was designed by PDCM Pty Ltd.