Commemorative Concert to be held for the fallen soldiers & people of Turkish nation between 1912 - 1923
A commemorative concert will be held at Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall, Harbiye, Şişli, Istanbul between 11:00 – 13: 00 on May 17, 2019 in remembrance of the fallen high school students, teachers and all martyrs of our nation who sacrificed their lives for the sovereignty of our homeland especially between the years 1912 -1923.
During the Balkan Wars (1912 - 1913), Battle of Gallipoli (1915 - 1916), Battle of Galicia (1916 - 1917), the other battles of World War I (1914 - 1918) and Turkish War of Independence (1919 - 1923), a great number of high school students (AGED 17 - 18) and teachers VOLUNTARILY went to the battlefronts for defending our country. Owing to the attendance of almost all the senior class students to the aforementioned battles, only a few students could graduate from the high schools between 1912 - 1923.
Due to the fact that plenty of high school students lost their lives defending the sovereignty of the Turkish nation, monuments were built to honor the martyred students in each high school that they studied at.
As most of the senior class students of Kabatas Erkek (founded in 1908), Istanbul Erkek (founded in 1910) and Vefa High Schools (founded in 1872) participated in the battles between 1912 - 1923, the 20-member music band is comprised of the students and teachers from the mentioned high schools.
BATTLE OF GALLIPOLI (17 February 1915 – 9 January 1916)
The Battle of Gallipoli was a campaign of the First World War that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula (Gelibolu in modern Turkey). The Entente powers, Britain and France, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire by taking control of the straits that provided a supply route to Russia, the third member of the Entente. The invaders launched a naval attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula, to capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The naval attack was repelled and after eight months' fighting, with many casualties on both sides, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn.
On 19 May 1915, 42,000 Ottoman troops launched an attack at Anzac to push the 17,000 Australians and New Zealanders back into the sea. Short of artillery and ammunition, the Ottomans intended to rely on surprise and weight of numbers but on 18 May, the crews of a flight of British aircraft spotted the Ottoman preparations. The Ottomans suffered around 10,000 casualties in the attack, of which 3,000 men were killed; Australian and New Zealand casualties were 160 killed and 468 .
The losses were so severe that a truce was organised on 24 May, to bury the dead lying in no man's land, which led to a FRIENDSHIP between the armies, much like the Christmas truce of 1914 on the Western Front.
Ottoman forces defeated Entente forces at Gallipoli peninsula at the end.The Gallipoli Campaign (1915 - 1916), in which the high school students of our nation participated, has become one of the bases of an enduring camaraderie between Australia, New Zealand and Turkey
MOST OF THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THAT TOOK PART IN THE BATTLE OF GALLIPOLI LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE COURSE OF THE OFFENSIVE AGAINST ANZAC TRENCHES ON 19 MAY 1915.
CANADIANS AT THE BATTLE OF GALLIPOLI
The Newfoundlanders were the only North American troops at Gallipoli, fighting alongside British and ANZAC forces.
Newfoundland wasn't a part of Canada in 1914. When the call for troops came it was its own dominion, and hundreds of young men rushed to enlist. By September 1915, 1,076 Newfoundlanders had landed in Gallipoli.
40 soldiers from Newfoundland lost their lives in GallipoliPeninsula.
THE LETTER OF A CANADIAN SOLDIER TO HIS DAUGHTER
H Cunliffe No 163,047
75th Batt 11th Brigade Band
4th Division C.E.F. France
Army P.O. London Eng
Fri September 8th 1916
Dear Daughter Mary,
Daddy writes these few lines to you, hoping they will find you in good health, daddy would have written to you before now, only I do not get very much time for writing letters, but still I have not forgotten you, and I want you to write a little letter, back, to daddy and let him know how you are getting on,
I am sending you a nice little post-card, all the way from the front, I know you will like it, I am also going to send baby one, and write her a letter too, so then you will both have one, well I must close my letter now as I have to start work, so ta ta from your Loving Daddy
H Cunliffe
THE LETTER OF A CANADIAN SOLDIER TO HIS MOTHER
Dec. 22, 1918
Belgium
My dear mother; In three days will be Christmas. This is my fourth away from home and I’m longing to be with you all again. It is such a relief to have come thru these past years and finished with now and to look forward to the homecoming, the pleasure and real happiness of which, it is difficult to imagine.
Although it will be past Christmas when this reaches you, my thoughts will be with you all on that Day.
Your loving son John
THE LETTER OF AN AUSTRALIAN MOTHER (KATE PUGSLEY) TO HER SON, WRITTEN A WEEK AFTER THE GALLIPOLI LANDINGS
May 3, 1915
Wisteria, Galston,
My darling boy, my first born son. We see by the papers that the Australian troops have landed in the Dardanelles so I suppose you are already in the thick of it. Oh my boy, my heart yearns and frets for yourwelfare. How I hope you will be spared to come though victorious.
Did you get the paper cuttings with your photo and letters in print? I hope you did.
We are all so proud of our boy and know he will do his duty to the best of his ability.
The king sent congratulations to Australia on their pluck and fighting of her boys.
Ruby and Alf and Beck were here yesterday. Ruby said she had a letter from Egypt from you. I suppose we will get two or three more from there yet. I get one from you every week. You are a darling to keep us so well posted. I am so proud of your letters.
The Argus has asked me to send them some more, but I suppose you wouldn’t be able to give any information from the front. Ps I write to you every week. I hope you get them safely.
THE LETTER OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL PERCIVAL FENWICK, NEW ZEALAND MEDICAL CORPS, AFTER THE MAY 19,1915 ATTACK OF THE TURKISH FORCES
The most ghastly day. We were met by some Turkish officers who arrived on horseback followed by 50 very fine looking Turks, carrying Red Crescent and white flags. One of the officers was a German doctor.
We were introduced by our interpreters and moved up the hillside in two long lines. Every hundred yards or so we stationed a man with a white flag, and opposite to him the Turks posted one of their men. We clambered through dripping bushes, with beautiful poppies and flowers, reaching the top wet-through.
From here we could see, over to our right flank, rough high hills covered with dense, waist-high scrub, and occasional open patches of cultivated land.
At the top of the second hill, we halted for a slight argument as to our route. The Turks wanted to keep up toward our trench, but Col. Skeen refused so we kept straight down a steep narrow cleft between.
Coming over the crest of the hill, I found the first N. Zealander, lying on his face. Poor lad! A few yards climb brought us on to a plateau, and a most awful sight was here. The Turkish dead lay so thick that it was almost impossible to pass without treading on the bodies.
The awful destructive power of high explosives was very evident. Huge holes surrounded by circles of corpses, blown to pieces. One body was cut clean in half; the upper half I could not see, it was some distance away. One shell had apparently fallen and set fire to a bush, as a dead man lay charred to the bone.
Everywhere one looked lay dead, swollen, black, hideous, and over all, a nauseating stench that nearly made one vomit. We exchanged cigarettes with the other officers frequently and the senior Turkish medico gave me two pieces of scented wool to put in my nostrils.
Further along the plateau, the distance between the trenches narrowed. We kept very carefully in the centre. The narrowest place was not 17 feet apart. Our men and the Turks peered over the sandbags and all seemed pleased at the chance of seeing each other without the fear of immediate death as the price of curiosity….
Our journey took from 7.30 to 12.30. Col. Ryan came up here and after superintending the interment, I left, feeling badly ill.
I pray God I may never see such an awful sight again. I got back deadly sick and got phenacetin and brandy and lay down. I shall certainly have eternal nightmares.
If this is war, I trust NZ will never be fool enough to forget that to avoid war one must be too strong to invite war.
THE QUOTE OF ATATURK (THE FOUNDER OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY) REGARDING THE FALLEN FOREIGN SOLDIERS AT GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN
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 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.
WORLD WAR I (1914 – 1918)
The First World War was fought on many fronts around the world from the battlefields of Europe to the far-flung colonies in the Pacific and Africa. While it is most famous for the trench combat stalemate that existed on Europe's Western Front, in other theatres of combat the fighting was mobile and often involved set-piece battles and cavalry charges. The Eastern Front often took thousands of casualties a day during the big offensive pushes but it was the West that saw the most concentrated slaughter.
The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I were about 40 million: estimates range from 15 to 19 million deaths and about 23 million wounded military personnel, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.
THE TURKISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE (19 MAY 1919 - 29 OCTOBER 1923)
May 19, marks the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence, a turning point in Turkey's history. On this day, a young Ottoman general, Mustafa Kemal, arrived in Samsun. The man, who would later be known to the world as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, stepped ashore on this small Black Sea Coast town to embark on a journey, which would ultimately create the Republic of Turkey and a new nation.
Mustafa Kemal, whose public and military standing was solidified as the military commander who won the Ottoman victory in Gallipoli, managed to be assigned to this post. He immediately left Istanbul aboard an old steamer, arriving in Samsun, on May 19, 1919. Mustafa Kemal dispatched his first report to the Ottoman Sultan on May 22, underlining that Turks would not accept foreign subjugation and longed for national sovereignty, signalling the beginning of the national liberation struggle.
The Turkish War of Liberation lasted four years and culminated in the international recognition of Turkey’s borders through the treaty of Lausanne July 24, 1923 and the founding of the Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923. Ataturk later declared May 19 as a national holiday dedicated to Turkish youth. It is celebrated today in Turkey as Ataturk Remembrance, Youth and Sports Day.
THE PROGRAMME OF THE CONCERT IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND ALL MARTYRS OF TURKISH NATION DURING THE OTTOMAN & REPUBLICAN PERIODS
SHORT MOVIE: “In the flower of its youth” movie regarding the fallen students & teachers of the Turkish schools during the wars will be screened with English subtitles. (10 min).
SONGS (according to the order of the video clips prepared for the promotion of the event):
1. Heal the world: The song of Michael Jackson will be sung in memory of the fallen soldiers & people of all countries in World War I.
2. Hey onbeşli: The song mentions the young men enlisted to army and sent to the battlefronts.
3. Annem beni yetiştirdi (My mother raised me): This march was being sung by the high school students in the course of the offensive against Anzac trenches on May 19, 1919.
4. Eledim Eledim: It is a saddening song that tells the mourning of the mothers who lost their sons at the battlefronts.
Büyüttüm besledim, asker eyledim. I brought him up, fed him, he became a soldier
Gitti de gelmedi canan buna ne care. He left and never came back, my heart, what is the remedy for that
Yandı ciğerim de canan buna ne care I am in deep sorrow, my heart, what is the remedy for that
5. Mağusa Limanı:22-year old music teacher Şenay Aybüke Yalçın was the victim of a terrorist attack on June 9, 2017 in Kozluk district of Batman.She was travelling in a car with her colleagues in the southeastern Batman province when terrorists launched an attack on Friday. The car she was in was hit by stray bullets and she was killed by the gunfire. After her death, a video on Yalçın's Facebook page, showing her singing the Turkish folk song "Mağusa Limanı" (Famagusta Port), also went viral in social media circles. As Mağusa Limanı song is her favourite one, it has been sung in remembrance of the martyred teachers of Turkish nation since then.
6. Şu kışlanın kapısına: It is a saddening song that tells the yearning of the people who lost their beloved ones at the battlefronts.
7. Ah bir ataş ver: It is a song that reflects the heroism of the people.
8. Çanakkale Türküsü: This song is sung for paying tribute to the soldiers who participated in the Battle of Gallipoli.
COMMEMORATIVE CONCERTS IN CANADA (04.04.2019, NEW ZEALAND (24.10.2019) & AUSTRALIA (29.10.2019)
Due to the fact that Australian, Canadian, New Zealander and Turkish nations lost their beloved ones at the Gallipoli Campaign, we share a common history together.As most of the high school students of Turkey lost their lives during the offensive against ANZAC trenches on 19 May 1915, we would like to perform a commemorative concert in Canada on April 4, 2019, New Zealand on October 24, 2019 &Australia on October 29, 2019 in memory of the fallen soldiers and people of the mentioned nations (including students & teachers) in World War I.
PROGRAMME OF THE CONCERT IN CANADA AT GONZAGA HIGH SCHOOL, ST JOHN'S ON APRIL 4, 2019
- “In the flower of its youth” movie regarding the fallen students & teachers of the Turkish schools during the wars will be screened with English subtitles
- “Çanakkale içinde vurdular beni” song will be sung in remembrance of the fallen soldiers of Turkey including students & teachers at the Battle of Gallipoli, and the other battles of World War I.
- “Ah bir ataş ver” song will be sung in memory of the fallen crew of Ocean Ranger oil drilling rig and the Dumlupınar submarine.
- “Bir Başkadır Benim Memleketim” song will be sung for a better and more peaceful world.
- “Heal the world” & “You are not alone” songs of Michael Jackson will be sung in memory of the fallen soldiers & people of both countries in World War I.
- “The fields of Athenry” song will be sung in memory of the victims of the Great Famine in Ireland & the Irish people who emigrated to Canada due to Great Hunger
- “In Flanders field” & "Soldiers cry" songs will be sung in memory of the fallen soldiers of Canada in World War I.
NOTE: The commemorative concert in Canada was performed by the music band of Kabatas High School with the sponsorship of WCEP Turkey Educational Consultant Company on April 4, 2019. All of the expenses of our visit to Canada between April 2 - 10, 2019 were covered by the aforementioned company. As the students & teachers of Kabatas High School, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to WCEP Turkey Educational Consultant Company in supporting us for the visit to Canada in memory of the fallen soldiers & people of Canada & Turkey in World War I. PROGRAMME OF THE CONCERTS IN NEW ZEALAND (24.10.2019) & AUSTRALIA (29.10.2019)
- “In the flower of its youth” movie regarding the fallen students & teachers of the Turkish schools during the wars will be screened with English subtitles
- “Çanakkale içinde vurdular beni”, “ Annem beni yetiştirdi”, “Şu kışlanın kapısına” & “Ah bir ataş ver" songs will be sung in remembrance of the fallen soldiers of Turkey including students & teachers at the Battle of Gallipoli, and the other battles of World War I.
- “Bir Başkadır Benim Memleketim” song will be sung for a better and more peaceful world.
- “Heal the world” & “You are not alone” songs of Michael Jackson will be sung in memory of the fallen soldiers & people of Australia, New Zealand & Turkey in World War I.
- “I was only 19”, “The Band played Waltzing Matilda” and "NZ soldier song" will be sung in memory of the fallen soldiers of Australia & New Zealand in World War I.
NOTE: The concert in Australia & New Zealand will be performed by the 20-member music band comprising of the students & teachers from Kabatas Erkek, Istanbul Erkek & Vefa High Schools. We are in search of some sponsors that will support us regarding the distinguished events in memory of the fallen soldiers & people of Turkey, Australia & New Zealand in World War I.
INVITATIONS THAT WILL BE SENT FOR THE COMMEMORATIVE CONCERT IN ISTANBUL
We would like to invite all the Ambassadors and Consul-Generals of the foreign countries in Turkey to our commemorative concert that will take place at Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall, Harbiye, Şişli, Istanbul between 11:00 - 13: 00 on May 17, 2019. Furthermore, some invitations will be sent to the foreign statesmen regarding the concert. It would be a privilege and honor for us to host them at our distinguished event. We hope that they will accept our invitations.
The letters sent to us by the President of IrelandHonourable Michael D. Higgins, the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada Honourable Geoff Regan and the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Honourable Shelley Hancock & one of the tree donations for the fallen soldiers at the Battle of Gallipoli presented to the Speaker of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland & Labrador in Canada Honourable Perry Trimper may be seen on the photos section of the news. The rest of the tree donations may be seen on the "PHOTOS" section of the website as well.
