Amid genocide row, Turkish diplomat pays respect at ANZAC memorial -analysis
ANZAC Day commemorates the massacre of Australian and New Zealand soldiers by Turkish troops in Gallipoli in 1915. While Turkey has not conceded to the genocide, it has paid its respects.
By GREER FAY CASHMANHorsemen and women from Australia and New Zealand participate in the Reenactment of the Cavalry Charge in the Beer Sheba River National Park, as part of events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC liberation of Beer Sheba in World War I, on October 31, 2017. Members of the reeactment pro(photo credit: HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90)
ANZAC Day, which commemorates the fateful landing in Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 of troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who were massacred in the thousands by Turkish soldiers, falls exactly a day after Armenians around the world commemorate the Armenian Genocide – also at the hands of Turkish soldiers.This year, the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, developed special significance, in that US President Joe Biden, chose to officially recognize it as such. Israel has yet to do so.While Turkey has not had a problem in acknowledging the bloody battle in Gallipoli from which it emerged the victor; or the Battle of Beersheba two years later, in which its troops were vanquished by Australian and New Zealand forces in what was arguably the last wartime cavalry charge of the 20th century, Turkey balks at being accused of genocide.It’s not just the difference in numbers that counts. War casualties resulting from battle between uniformed soldiers on different sides, is for want of a better description, legitimate killing.Genocide is generally practiced against civilians, and is therefore not legitimate. Most of the Armenian victims were civilians, which puts their deaths in the category of genocide.Israel essentially has two reasons for consistently failing to recognize the Armenian genocide. One is that it wants to maintain the Jewish monopoly of victimhood, persecution and execution throughout the centuries. The other, at least until the last decade, is that it would rock Israel’s relations with Turkey, an important ally.To recognize the Armenian genocide, or that of any other nation, it was felt, would be tantamount to diminishing the significance of the Holocaust, especially as Hitler wanted to eliminate the Jewish people as a whole, and not just the Jews of Germany or the Jews of Europe.But the Armenians claim that the Turks wanted to eliminate them. The parliaments of more than thirty countries, along with major international and religious organizations, have accepted the fact that the systematic deaths of a million Armenians including women and children, constitutes genocide. In some countries where the federal government has been reticent over the matter of Armenian genocide, certain states within those countries have recognized the massacre as genocide.Be that as it may, Turkish diplomats have long been present at ANZAC Day ceremonies in Israel and elsewhere in the world, and have also attended commemorations of the Battle of Beersheba. In the latter case, much credit is due to former Beersheba Mayor Yaakov Terner, who erected a monument to Turkish Field Marshall Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, who was the founding father of the Turkish Republic. The monument is located less than three minutes’ walk from the ANZAC memorial and the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Beersheba.ANZAC DAY ceremonies in Israel are traditionally held at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.The coronavirus lockdown prevented the holding of a ceremony last year, and this year’s ceremony was deliberately kept small in comparison to previous years, but even so not all the invitees showed up.Australian Ambassador Paul Griffiths, for whom this was his first ANZAC Day ceremony in Israel, was the only ambassador present, whereas in past years ambassadors and/or deputy chiefs of mission, charges d’affaires, defense attaches and second and third secretaries of Commonwealth countries, the US, France, and Germany were also in attendance.Australian Defense Attache Col. Brandon Wood, was Master of Ceremonies, and made the point that ANZAC Day commemorates the valor not only of soldiers of the First World War, but also of those of all sides who fought and laid down their lives in subsequent wars.Unlike his predecessors in office, Griffiths did not dwell on the history of the war, but on the personal histories of two of the men who fell in battle – Trooper Michael Dwyer, an Irish born immigrant to Australia, who enlisted in the 1st Australian Imperial Force on February 10, 1915, fought in the Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestinian campaigns and was killed in action in July, 1918.Even though Dwyer’s wife Sarah had already received official notification of her husband’s death, his commanding officer, wrote her a letter of condolence and confirmation, describing her husband’s service and quiet heroism. Dwyer is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Jerusalem.Griffiths could only imagine Sarah Dwyer’s emotions as she sat alone in far-away Kalgoorlie in Western Australia with her three-year-old son, waiting every day for news of her loved one, and then to receive a letter confirming his death on the other side of the world. “No FaceTime, no WhatsApp – just waiting for the letter that may or may not arrive – and then to receive such crushing news,” Griffiths empathized. “The courage and commitment of the soldiers, and importantly their partners and families, can give us great perspective as we navigate these uncertain times,” he said.Griffiths also told the story of Patrick Gordon Mayoh, a Second World War soldier who enlisted as a gunner in the 2nd/1st Anti -Aircraft Regiment, leaving behind his wife Leila, who was pregnant. A few weeks after disembarking from the ship, he received a letter from Leila, telling him that she had given birth to a stillborn baby. It was painful news, especially as he had not been by her side to help her face the tragedy.He remained with his unit serving in Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza and Egypt. Five years passed before he was back in Australia. More than seventy years after Mayoh returned home, his grandson Patrick Mayoh,(known as Paddy) is serving as the Second Secretary of the Australian Embassy in Israel. “For Paddy being in Israel as a diplomat is not only a professional honor, it is also a way to learn more about himself and the great man that he was named after,” said Griffiths. “It is also testament to the strong ongoing links, forged in times of great upheaval and uncertainty between Australia and Israel.”Australians and New Zealanders, despite the heavy losses and injuries in April 1915, harbor no resentment against the Turks. In fact, the New Zealand ambassador to Israel resides in Ankara, and on most formal occasions New Zealand is represented at events in Israel by Gad Propper, its long-time honorary consul.Propper laid a wreath together with Griffiths and Turkish Charge d’Affaires Tolga Budak together with his defense attache alongside the cenotaph.The ANZAC Day ceremony in itself is ecumenical, with a Christian cleric and Rabbi Raymond Apple, Emeritus Chief Rabbi of the Sydney Great Synagogue and former Senior Rabbi to the Australian Defense Forces participating.At the conclusion of the official proceedings, it is customary for Apple, an Orthodox Rabbi, to conduct a Jewish service in the section where Jewish soldiers are buried– each with a Star of David engraved on his tombstone. This year, Apple was in a quandary. There were insufficient Jewish males present to make up a ten-member minyan or prayer quorum, but Griffiths, UNTSO commanders, Australian embassy staff, and several Jewish women were present. Apple was not about to disdain the respect that he had been shown, and went ahead with the service.Looking at the tombstones, Apple recalled that part of the text of the official ANZAC Day service is “they shall not grow old as we that are left grow old …” Looking at the tombstones, he said that he had grandsons the age of those Australian soldiers who did not grow old. He hoped that his grandsons and great-grandsons as well as those of everyone present, would not be drawn into war, and would live the middle age and the old age that the young soldiers buried on Mount Scopus had left as a legacy for future generations.As for the Armenians, on Tuesday of this week, they will conduct an Armenian Memorial Evening and Symposium at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus where inter alia Israel’s policy concerning the Armenians will be discussed by Prof. Israel Charny.
