GALLIPOLI PENINSULA HISTORICAL NATIONAL PARK SIMULATION AND INFORMATION CENTER FOR THE LEGEND OF GALLIPOLI CO URE NSER REPUBLIC OF TURKEY AT VA N T F IO O N E A T N MINISTRY OF FORESTRY AND WATER AFFAIRS A D R O N T A C T E I O R GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF I N D A L L A P R A E R N K E S NATURE CONSERVATION AND NATIONAL PARKS G SIMULATION AND INFORMATION CENTER FOR THE LEGEND OF GALLIPOLI THE GALLIPOLI PENINSULA HISTORICAL NATIONAL PARK ANKARA-2012 1 2 Simulation and Information Center for The Legend of Gallipoli will revive the soul of Dardanelles… Without doubt, the Battle of Gallipoli, in which one of the greatest heroic legends that the world has ever witnessed was written, is not only a military victory, but also a name for a great battle of our nation won by faith and perseverance in a time of great necessity and poverty. The victory of Gallipoli has a great place in the heart of our nation not just for its being a blessed memory of our past but also for one of the strongest inspirational sources of our progress into Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN the future. These lands where great heroic legends took place The Prime Minister of are indispensible for the Turkish Nation, and they carry a great the Republic of Turkey meaning for us. It is incumbent upon us to cherish the memory of our martyrs, to whom Mehmet Akif Ersoy, the poet of our National Anthem, addresses in his poem, To the Martyrs of Dardanelles: Who must dig a grave not narrow for you? If I say ‘Let’s bury you into the history’, there, you won’t fit into If I cover your wound with the descending veil of west in the evening, Again, I cannot say, for your memory, I did something. We have re-arranged war cemeteries for our martyrs and done the necessary maintenance. We are doing our best to introduce this golden chapter of our history in order to pass the sacred memories of our martyrs down to the next generations, and will continue to do so in the future too. Simulation and Information Center for The Legend of Gallipoli is one of the most remarkable works of Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs in the Peninsula of Gallipoli in order to keep alive the soul of the Battles of Dardanelles. By the help of the Simulation and Information Center for The Legend of Gallipoli, the battle fought in Dardanelles will be explained more effectively to the next generations, how much an effort shown for these sacred country soils will be shown, and the soul of The Battles of Dardanelles will be enlivened. 3 4 With the Simulation and Information Center, The Legend of Gallipoli is meeting its stage in history. The Battle of Dardanelles is a turning point in both world and Turkish history. Gallipoli Peninsula, one of the most important points where an unforgettable heroism legend was written and where the spirit of Turkish War of Independence was flamed, carries a lot of meanings for our nation. Therefore, the Gallipoli Peninsula was declared a national park in 1973 because of its significance. We, as Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, are showing great effort in order to express our gratitude to our ancestors who gave a war of survival with their souls, blood, Prof. Dr. Veysel EROĞLU all their belongings, pay tribute to the memory of our martyrs, The Minister of Forestry and pass the story of The Battle of Dardanelles down to the next and Water Affairs generations and to inform the world in the most effective and truest way. We instigated this project when our Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ordered: “Save the war cemeteries in Gallipoli from the state of neglect” upon his visit to the war cemeteries on March 18th, 2003 on the Day of Commemoration of the Dardanelles Sea Battles. By reconstructing and re-planning the places where the Battles of Dardanelles, a momentous war for Turkish and world history, took place, we have transformed the area into a center of attention with our works and investments. The number of visitors to the national park, which was 200.000 in 2002, has reached to 900.000 in 2011. Owing to the results of works carried out, 11 of the 28 war cemeteries have been opened to visits after being restored. As planned in the Long Term Development Plan, the Simulation and Information Center for the Legend of Gallipoli is the main part of our project which were instigated in order to introduce the Gallipoli peninsula Historical National Park to the visitors better, and pass our history down to the next generations. In The Simulation and Information Center for The Legend of Gallipoli, the Battles of Dardanelles will be presented to the visitors, and with the presentations prepared by the help of high technology. The visitors will feel as if they participated in the war in the scenarios of “Nusrat Minelayer”, “trench wars” and “Dardanelles is impassable”. I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations to the people on their praiseworthy effort in this project, which is important for our country and national identity to be introduced to the world. 5 Preface ........................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER I The Simulation and Information Center for The Legend of Gallipoli ...................... 11 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................11 The importance of the Simulation Center and the Necessity of its construction .............11 The themes shown in the chambers .......................................................................................15 ONTENTS The 1st Chamber: Ottoman State is entering the war ...........................................................15 C The 2nd Chamber: Nusrat Minelayer Ship ............................................................................16 The 3rd Chamber: The Sea War Plans of the Allied Countries ...........................................17 The 4th Chamber: Mecidiye Fort ............................................................................................18 The 5th Chamber: The preparations for the land battles .....................................................19 The 6th Chamber: The Climax of the War .............................................................................20 The 7th Chamber: Trench battles ............................................................................................21 The 8th Chamber: The Battle of Dardanelles from the Dome of the Sky ..........................22 The 9th Chamber: Dardanelles is impassable ........................................................................23 The 10th Chamber: Turkey from 1915 to the Present Day ..................................................24 The 11th Chamber: Memoirs ...................................................................................................25 The 12th Chamber: Conference Hall ......................................................................................26 The 13th Chamber: Exhibition Hall ........................................................................................26 The Technical Features of the Facility ......................................................................... 27 A. General Features of the Construction ..............................................................................27 B. Electrical and Electronic Features ....................................................................................28 The chronology of the Battles of Dardanelles .............................................................30 6 CHAPTER II The Gallipoli Peninsula Historical National Park ...................................................... 35 1. Establishment of The National Park ..................................................................... 35 2. The works done so far in The Historical Gallipoli Peninsula National Park ....... 37 3. Long Term Development Plan .............................................................................. 38 a) Road works ..........................................................................................................................38 b) Facility buildings .................................................................................................................39 c) The efforts to supply drinking water ................................................................................42 d) Sewerage services ...............................................................................................................42 e) Solid waste collecting service ...........................................................................................42 f) Social Projects ....................................................................................................................42 g) Zoning works ......................................................................................................................42 h) Service areas for visitors ....................................................................................................43 i) Restored real war cemeteries .............................................................................................44 CHAPTER III 1- Tourist attractions in The Historical Gallipoli Peninsula National Park ............ 49 a) Castles .................................................................................................................... 50 b) Forts .......................................................................................................................53 c) The real war