Consoling words from modern Turkey’s founding father will grace RSL buildings across the state thanks to the dedication of a Footscray community leader.
Mehmet Balikel has been working tirelessly to arrange for framed messages immortalising the words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish army officer who went on to become the first president of Turkey, to be hung across Victoria to mark the centenary of Anzac Day in 2015.
Mr Balikel said it was important for Australians to be aware of the tribute Atatürk wrote in 1934 to the Anzacs killed at Gallipoli, which begins: “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.”
“We are starting in Footscray and will go all over Victoria,” Mr Balikel said.
The first framed reproduction was mounted at Footscray RSL in a ceremony last Wednesday attended by Turkish consul-general Seyit Mehmet Apak and local politicians.
“We are very proud and happy to be sharing the legacy of Turkey with the very valuable allies we have in Australia,” Mr Apak said.
“With Australia we started as adversaries in World War I, but out of that adversity was born a great friendship, a true friendship.”
Altona RSL club president Alan Scott said the branch was the first in the country to have a Turkish RSL sub-branch.
“In 2015, the Anzac Day service will be a joint effort at Gallipoli between the Australian, New Zealand and the Turkish governments,” he said.
