An exhibition marking the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign can be seen at the Isbank Museum in Istanbul until late summer 2015.
‘Gallipoli: from the Depths to the Trenches’ (told in both English and Turkish) aims to give visitors a real feel of the campaign, and what it was like to be there for those who fought.
It’s curated by the Turkish documentary maker Sava Karaka, grandson of a Gallipoli veteran and explorer of the wrecked warships on the Dardanelles seabed.
Replicas, recreations and big screen documentaries are used to tell the stories of the naval and land battles for control of the Dardanelles Strait between Ottoman and Allied forces in 1915.
Replicas of German carbonit mines used in the Dardanelles by Turkey against the British and French fleet (Photo: Isbank Museum)
Sava Karaka has dived to the wrecks of the First World War British and French battleships and other vessels lying beneath the waters of the Dardanelles for the book and documentary ‘Echoes From The Deep.’ His grandfather’s hand was maimed in the fighting at Gallipoli.
Allied forces landed on the peninsula on April 25th 1915, after Turkey defeated naval attempts to force a passage through the narrow seaway to the Ottoman capital, Istanbul (present-day Istanbul).
The Istanbul exhibition draws extensively on the archives of the Turkish General Staff, King’s College London and the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
It also features contributions from Professor Haluk Oral, author of the book ‘Gallipoli 1915 – Through Turkish Eyes.‘ And there’s a display of Gallipoli-related military equipment and relics from the collection of Onur Akmanlar.
Items used by soldiers in daily life, collected from the Gallipoli battlefield (Photo: Isbank Museum)
‘Gallipoli: from the Depths to the Trenches’ runs at the Isbank Museum, in the Eminonu district of Istanbul, until August 15th 2015. Entry is free.
A promotional video for ‘Echoes From The Deep: Wrecks of the Dardanelles Campaign’ can be found in our video section here.
Information & images supplied by Sava Karaka/Isbank Museum
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News