There is no reason for us to be "mindful" of Turkish casualities; Turkey was the enemy. But, yes, it is ludicrous that Australia celebrates its LOSS on Turkish soil annually. But, then, the whole Anzac thing becomes more ludicrous and insulting to the Anzacs themselves, yearly, as Australian governments, all lacking the Anzac spirit, or any courage at all, sell out the sacrifices made by ordinary Australians in two world wars, in minor ones, and now in stupid involvements in Muslim countries while people from those countries have flooded here. These same craven governments have also slimed the Anzac image by making the country a hostage to Communist China, selling of huge tracts of our country to Chinese communists, ruining our economy, and going soft on crime and border protection. All Anzac Day does is highlight our fall.

Perhaps another reason for the lack of 'antipathy' towards Australia commemorating there is: (a) they won! And (b) the vast majority of the 'cannon fodder' of those repeated charges were undertaken by Syrian Arabs, who were subject to a brutal Ottoman rule for hundreds of years, the 'Turks' were the officer class.
With such history it is unsurprising that Hungary puts up razor wire on its borders, it has had the Ottoman neighbour problem for hundreds of years. As the author says, a cursory understanding of history can provide a range of perspectives. A good essay.

If you think the ANZAC story is distorted go and have a look at how the war is portrayed by Turkish film makers and writers.
History as it's taught in today's academies has nothing to do with truth, it isn't based on facts and the main purpose is of the discipline is to transmit a set of values.

Firstly I'd have to say who cares what readers or writers for that matter of the "Red Flag" think.
For those wondering about the validity of honoring the fallen at Gallipoli.

"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 faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."

But I think the most important thing to remember is it's not about you its about them...the Fallen.

I've got mixed feelings about ANZAC day.
I don't want to take anything away from the ANZACS or what they did.
"Lest We Forgot" is an important part of both my families and our nations history.

But I will not support today's soldiers as they are nothing but paid mercenaries and I do not like ANZAC day being some kind of drumbeat military parade which amounts to the promotion of future wars by today's warmongers.

Australia's defence force is highly professional.

The ANZAC Day march and other observations are anything but 'warmongering'. The reverse is true.

The defence force does what is demanded of it by the federal government that you elect. This is a democracy.

ttbn and JOM.

Not necessary to add to those comments! I subscribe to those theories.

Hey onthebeach,
I never said they weren't professional but calling them a 'Defense Force' might be a stretch, or maybe just a flat out lie.
They are an Offense (not Defense) force, when did foreign troops last invade our shores?
- An honest and reasonable question.

I watched some of the coverage yesterday and all I saw were paid mercenaries whining that they got no recognition for going to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Well you shouldn't have been a paid mercenary doing the dirty work of other nations - that's not 'Defense', we had no reason to be at war with these countries, and if they get themselves killed or PTSD then that's their stupid fault for signing up to stand in front of a bullet that another nation fires in defense of their own sovereignty.

Soldiers today only disgrace the ANZACS memory (by being paid mercenaries), but hey that's my opinion and my relatives fought and lead men into battle at Gallipoli so I'm entitled to my opinion, whether others agree or not.

I will show all the respect under the sun for what the ANZACS endured for us, but these modern mercenaries can expect little respect from me.
They aren't defending the nation, they are creating enemies and painting a target on this nation instead.

I agree with many people ANZAC Day has lost much of it's meaning to me and many of my close friends. In fact I never go to any march (no longer able to march anyway) or commemorative service now, and though I'll put my gongs up, for a short time while meeting quietly with a couple of mates with similar sentiments, the day's means nothing to any of us now.

We think the day's been hi-jacked, by politicians and others who never went abroad to a war zone, and to many of those who wish to 'celebrate' and 'enjoy' the day, when it's really a day of quiet reflection and somber moods. Still I've said all this previously and somebody or other will wish to strip apart much of that which I've opined before, and to be very candid I couldn't careless, to be perfectly honest with you.

Let the others, the younger folk have the day as theirs. As for me and my kind, we've all reached that age (our mid seventies)and it's now time where we're all slowly dying off, much to the delight of the governments of the day, so it really doesn't matter in the scheme of things, too much really!

Couple of points for young William Hill, History has never been your strong suit matey!

The Turks were the Ottoman Empire who had subjugated masses of other peoples and countries and initiated the Armenian Genocide. Just as bad as any other Colonial power but as Willy regards them as "Foreigners" so he cannot criticise them. In fact he has to adopt a craven, cringing lefty attitude to the Ottomans.
Secondly the Officers in Gallipolli were mostly Germans sent there to stiffen up the Turks.
Armchair Critic has a point about us being offensive but hardly fair to have a go at the ADF as they do and go where they are told. Mind you isn't the best form of defense attack?

Ohhh noooo!! I know that! :)

I find the comment on this site about the Japanese coming here to commemorate their military loss to be very interesting.

Perhaps we should invite them to come over.

For JBowyer's benefit.

The Ottoman Empire had subjugated a great many people's and nations over the course of its existence there is no denying it. Not unlike the history of the Russian Empire which we were seeking to support in its contest with the Turks for influence over the Caucasus and the Black Sea. The Armenian Genocide was undoubtedly a major crime but the difference between it and the crimes of the Nazi's and Japanese was that they transgressed across the borders of their respective continents. I am fully aware of the deportations and mass killings of the Armenians that was carried out by the Committee of Union and Progress government. Further the genocide of the Armenian's was not a consideration in Australia's decision to go to war against Turkey, perhaps you believe it is but the Australian government then and since have never advanced that as a justification. History requires seperation of intent from what actually happened. I also fail to see how it is 'cringing lefty' to argue against slandering the ANZAC commemoration from a Marxist publication.

I made reference to the book Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars a few days ago. I could not fit in to the post so I will post it here.

Enforcement
Factor I
As in every social system approach, stability is achieved only by understanding and accounting for human nature (action/reaction patterns). A failure to do so can be, and usually is, disastrous.

To secure the draft, individual brainwashing/programming and both the family unit and the peer group must be engaged and brought under control.

Factor II - Father
The man of the household must be housebroken to ensure that junior will grow up with the right social training and attitudes.

By the time his son must go to war, father (with jelly for a backbone) will slam a gun into junior's hand before father will risk the censure of his peers.

Factor III - Mother
The female element of human society is ruled by emotion first and logic second.

As the transition becomes more difficult to manage, the family unit must be carefully disintegrated, and state-controlled public education and state-operated child-care centers must be become more common and legally enforced so as to begin the detachment of the child from the mother and father.

Factor IV - Junior
The emotional pressure for self-preservation during the time of war and the self-serving attitude of the common herd that have an option to avoid the battlefield – if junior can be persuaded to go - is all of the pressure finally necessary to propel Johnny off to war. Their quiet blackmailings of him are the threats: "No sacrifice, no friends; no glory, no girlfriends."

Factor V - Sister
And what about junior's sister? She is given all the good things of life by her father, and taught to expect the same from her future husband regardless of the price.

Factor VI - Cattle
Those who will not use their brains are no better off than those who have no brains, and so this mindless school of jelly-fish, father, mother, son, and daughter, become useful beasts of burden or trainers of the same.

The Third Man,
Turkish war crimes weren't limited to the Armenians, 400,000 Greeks and countless Shia and Zoroastrians were also murdered in that era, Kurdish militias and death squads were sent into Mesopotamia by the Ottoman commanders specifically to carry out such atrocities.

For the Third Man's benefit, Hitler admitted the Armenian Genocide which happened after Gallipoli was the inspiration for his own holocaust. If you are going to try a snide attack mate at least get your facts and your arguments straight.
What exactly is your beef with what I said? Now think, before you answer this time.

Third Man,

My incomplete knowledge of the Gallipoli campaign was that it was supposed to secure the Dardanelles in order to free up supplies to Tsarist Russian ports. There was no intention to invade Turkey in order to seize land for the long term, as there clearly was in the cases of Nazi Germany and fascist Japan, with their explicit goal of conquering - with Italy as a junior partner - all of the world and dividing it amongst themselves.

In that intention, the fascists had much in common with the present-day Islamo-fascists of ISIS, by the way. We fought fascism then - a generation of heroes - and we may have to fight it again. And just as the left (by their control of the miners' and wharfies' unions) sabotaged the war effort between 1939 and 1945, I wonder if the left will try to do the same again against ISIS.

Joe

William, get your head out of "The Red Flag" and read some real history books. You know that people rare telling the truth when books by soldiers, journalists, historians, and eyewitnesses to history all present facts which cross connect and back each other up.

It is not the intelligent thing to do to simply read what the enemies of your civilisation say, and then think that you are being smart by parroting their propaganda. The Left has got you house trained if you think that always opposing you people's interests, and always taking a contrary view, is what "smart" people like yourself do. Smart people read history, William. Smart people love knowledge. They don't need 'the Red Flag" to do all their thinking for them. The Left wants you to be ashamed of your own people's history, William, and it is air bushing it to conform to it's ideology.

Reality check, Stuart.

The Turkish Empire had ben trying to conquer Europe since the fall of Constantinople. Destroying the Byzantine empire was critical to isolating Europe from trade with India and China. After Europe was isolated, it could be conquered, and the Turks tried for hundreds of years to do just that. It was a pity the Commonwealth forces did not win at Gallipoli and driven our Turkish enemies out of Europe for good.

Japanese soldiers did land in Australia, William. A reconnaissance party landed by submarine in the Northern territory looking for a suspected allied aerodrome, but it was not there. Your appalling lack of knowledge of history is manifest right there.

The British empire was the greatest civilising force that this world has ever seen. Today, Britain is still held in high regard by many of it's former colonies who remember with affection that the British did far more good than harm. This is contrary to almost every other empire that ever existed. You should be proud of that.

Hi there LEGO...

Apropos your very last paragraph concerning the many benefits of former British colonization. You're so right when you cite them as giving many of it's former colonies the benefits and advantages of their many unique civilising and humanizing ways of living, in the aftermath of their administration.

While it is true, not all former British colonies and protectorates took advantage of their former British rulers most did, therefore we should be thankful that we live in a country that has adopted and pursued much of what the British Empire practiced during their early settlement.

I want to apologise for the comments I made earlier that may have been offensive to some Australians who have served our country in a military capacity.
Its not that I have no respect for these people as Australians.
I certainly don't wish any harm to come to any of them during any foreign engagement.

I know they themselves do not decide the conflicts which they are sent to fight in, and that these decisions are made by politicians and others.

But it's hard for me to support any of the conflicts they fight in given that we've not been directly attacked or invaded, and that it seems obvious that they are often used to carry out other nations military aspirations.

I believe that in times of peace they should be at home putting their skills to other uses within our nation and not fighting wars for others.

Armchair Critic, so nice to have someone just apologise. Thank you.

No need to thank me JBowyer.
I went a little to far in my comment and an apology was due.
Thanks for your response, it made me feel like I did the right thing.

Armchair Critic
I agree with you, that we shouldn't be constantly engaged in other countries wars.

This is the reason I would prefer America and our own country, didn't feel
pressured by their belief in the United Nations to intervene in other countries wars.

They try to act like the world police, but it is pretty hard to know who is right and wrong in these wars.

We often have no idea of the history between tribes in these countries.