Gallipoli dead remembered on 102nd anniversary of WWI battle

CANAKKALE, Turkey – Australia’s foreign minister and New Zealand’s justice minister have joined hundreds of people on the site of the battlefields of the World War I Battle of Gallipoli to remember those who were killed on the 102nd anniversary of the start of the ill-fated campaign.

The solemn ceremony kicked off at dawn Tuesday under tight security following a series of attacks and bombings that have plagued Turkey.

On April 25, 1915, troops from Australia and New Zealand first landed at dawn on the Gallipoli peninsula under British command in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war.

More than 44,000 Allied soldiers were killed in the battle. Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000.

The battle helped forge Australia and New Zealand’s national identities.