KAYSERI, Turkey
Thousands of young people from 60 countries are preparing to come to Turkey’s western Canakkale province in April as part of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 battle in the Dardanelles Strait, a major event in world history.
The Ankara-based Anatolian Youth Association announced that they would take around 250,000 young people to the province on April 11, to allow them meet their ancestors on the 100th anniversary of the battle.
“We will take thousands of young people from 60 countries including Palestine, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq, with around 5,000 buses to Canakkale,” Ersan Bilgin, chairman of the association, told The Anadolu Agency on Sunday.
2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the battle in the Dardanelles Strait in Canakkale province's district of Gallipoli, which marked a turnaround in favor of the Turks during World War I against the Allied Forces.
The victory against the Allied Forces in the Dardanelles Strait gave Turkey a massive moral boost that enabled it to wage a war of independence and eventually, in 1923, form a republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
“During the battle, soldiers from 60 countries were martyred. Through this visit, we will allow the youth to meet their ancestors," he said. "Almost everyone who will come from foreign countries will visit the cemeteries of their grandfathers for the first time."
