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In March 2008 four Australian women travelled to Turkey as the guests of Mrs Emine Erdoğan, wife of the Turkish Prime Minister Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Professor Edibe Sözen, of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP), to participate in a program of commemorative and cultural activities emphasising peace and international understanding.
This gesture of friendship and hospitality brought together ‘peace ambassadors’ from Turkey, Britain, New Zealand and Australia, all of whom were relatives of Gallipoli veterans. At a ceremony in AKP headquarters in Ankara on 17 March, Mrs Erdoğan officially opened the proceedings and welcomed the peace ambassadors to Turkey.
- Australian Peace Ambassadors in Turkey, March 2008
Mrs Erdoğan expressed her hope that the women of the world would be instrumental in promoting peace and international tolerance and invited each of the ambassadors to give a short speech relating their family member’s experience of the Gallipoli campaign. During the ceremony the ambassadors were presented with a commemorative plaque and bracelet to mark the occasion.
The Australian representatives who took part in the event were Karen Throssell, Ailsa Hawkins, Jo Hardy and Emma Slack-Smith. Other international guests were New Zealand representative, Jane Pierard and five British women – Gillian Christopher, Susan Manners, Mary Wilkinson, Margaret Gwillim and Shirley Saunders.
On March 18 the group boarded a charter flight to Çanakkale were they travelled with Mrs Erdoğan and her party to various locations at Helles to commemorate the 93rd anniversary of the 18 March Çanakkale Naval Victory Day. The ambassadors took part in the planting of olive trees at the Çanakkale Şehitleri Anıtı, (Çanakkale Martyrs Memorial) and visited Chunuk Bair and Yahya Çavas Şehitliği War cemetery. In recognition of the strong historical links shared by Turkey and Australia, a floral tribute was laid at the Turkish 57th Regiment Memorial Cemetery by the Australian women. After the official dinner in Çanakkale the ambassadors were introduced to Prime Minister Erdoğan and were guests at the premiere of a new historical television series.
The Australian party, accompanied by a guide, returned to the peninsula the following day and visited various sites of relevance to their family members before leaving for Istanbul.
Karen Throssell
Karen Throssell is the granddaughter of Captain Hugo Throssell of the 10th Australian Light Horse, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Hill 60, Gallipoli on 28 August 1915. More…
Ailsa Hawkins
Ailsa Hawkins remembers her grandfather as a quiet man who did not speak very much of his experiences in the trenches. He died when she was eleven years old and she has few memories of her conversations with him. ‘I’m certain he would have wanted to spare me, a child, the horrors of war that he must have experienced’, she said recently. More…
Jo Hardy
At the official ceremony in Ankara, Jo Hardy said:
I am the proud granddaughter of Private Alec Campbell, the last Australian Gallipoli veteran … He was the last living link with the ANZAC legend that defined our nation. More…
Emma Slack-Smith
Gallipoli Scholarship recipient (2002) Emma Slack-Smith said that when she was asked to visit Turkey she felt ‘honoured, excited and also extremely proud’. Ninety-three years earlier her great grandfather Clarence Robert Lundy, known as ‘Bob’, had also visited Turkey – as a member of the 1st Field Company Engineers, who landed at 4 am on 25 April 1915 at Anzac Cove. Emma did not know her great grandfather, who died in 1951, but her grandmother recalls that he spoke with great respect for the Turkish soldiers. He said that the Turks fought with morals. More…