The city of Çanakkale is a historic port city commanding strategic importance over the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea.
The city was formerly known as Kale-i Sultan (Sultan's Castle) during the Ottoman era. The castle was constructed in 1454 to control the maritime traffic through the Dardanelles Strait. The renowned Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis, one of the most important figures in Ottoman naval history, was born in Gelibolu (Gallipoli).
Çanakkale city, the Dardanelles Strait, and the Gallipoli Peninsula were the sites of some of the bloodiest naval and land battles of World War I. After nine months of fierce fighting, the British and French coalition forces, led by Winston Churchill, were forced to withdraw. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, commanded the 19th Division during this campaign. Hundreds of thousands of young soldiers from both sides lost their lives in the Gallipoli Campaign.
Atatürk's words, expressing the painful memory of this war and his universal message of peace, are inscribed on memorials both in Gelibolu and at Tarakina Bay in Wellington, New Zealand.
The great leader's words read: "To those heroes who 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; they lie side by side here in our country. To you, the mothers who sent your 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."
Today, the Gallipoli Peninsula is a National Park featuring war memorials and cemeteries honoring Turkish, French, British, Australian, and New Zealand soldiers. Every year on April 25th, war veterans and their descendants from both sides gather here to commemorate the Gallipoli Campaign.