Officials and visitors from Australia, New Zealand and Turkiye gathered in northwest Turkiye on Saturday to commemorate the 111th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli. The solemn ceremony began at 5:30 am local time near a beach where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or Anzacs, first landed at Gallipoli at dawn on April 25, 1915.
The hour-long event included mournful hymns, prayers and the laying of wreaths by the participants, which included representatives from many countries around the world.
The Gallipoli campaign, part of a British-led effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire, ultimately failed, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides during the eight-month conflict. It aimed to secure a naval route from the Mediterranean Sea to Istanbul through the Dardanelles and knock the Ottomans out of the war.