March 18th

Monument to Mehmetcik
Originally uploaded by ccarlstead

I found myself a bit confused when it was announced that we were having an assembly at school for March 18th, and then when I passed the information on to my students they kept asking me why. I could only turn the question back to them and ask “Well, what is March 18th?” After some thought you could see the lights come on in their head… “ohhh, MARCH 18th.” It took a while, actually until the assembly, for such enlightenment to reach me. It turns out that March 18th is celebrated as Çanakkale day here in Turkey. Now I’m sure you’re wondering what in the world Çanakkale day is, thinking I still haven’t answered the question. Çanakkale Day celebrates a Turkish victory over the allied forces during WWI, which protected the passage through the Dardanelles and helped to protect the path to Istanbul. I suspect it is celebrated here, not just because the Turks won this fight, but also because it is where Atatürk started his visible leadership. He was the one who organized the Turkish forces and seems to be responsible for their victory. What I appreciate about the day is that Turkey not only recognizes its own loss of life, but acknowledges the many deaths on both sides of the fight. I think it best summed up in one of Atatürk’s quotes:

"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 there sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our boson and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well." Atatürk 1934