Turkey marks 100th anniversary of Gallipoli Campaign victory

Turkey on Wednesday commemorated the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli Campaign by the Allies in the World War I in the southwestern town of Canakkale.

More than 1,000 people including soldiers and government officials joined the commemoration ceremony in Canakkale, about 340 km southwest of Istanbul.

The participants observed the passing of a warship fleet consisting of more than 20 destroyers, frigates, speed boats and submarines, while fighter jets also made demonstration flights at the ceremony.

Addressing the event, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the battle marked a turnaround against the Allied Forces in favor of the Turks during World War I.

The country's ancestors who died in Canakkale had displayed a main quality of Turkey's future: "brotherhood," which he called a holy legacy, Davutoglu said.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that his country will host international events on April 24 to mark 100 years of the Gallipoli Campaign.

Representatives including several world leaders from about 50 countries are expected to attend the events in Canakkale.

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, was a battle in World War I that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire between April 25, 1915 and Jan. 9, 1916.

The peninsula forms the northern bank of the Dardanelles, a strait that provides a sea route to what was then the Russian Empire, one of the Allied powers during the war.

Russia's allies Britain and France launched a naval attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula in a bid to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople, now known as Istanbul.

However, the attack was repelled by fierce Ottoman resistance, forcing the Allies to stage a land campaign in April that the Ottoman forces would also defeat in eight months' fighting.

Although the Ottoman Empire, allied with Berlin, was on the losing side, the Gallipoli Campaign is still regarded by Turks as one of the greatest Ottoman victories. Endit