{"id":174,"date":"2015-01-16T03:39:19","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T03:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/?p=174"},"modified":"2015-01-16T03:39:19","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T03:39:19","slug":"turkey-invites-armenian-president-to-100th-anniversary-of-gallipoli-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/?p=174","title":{"rendered":"Turkey invites Armenian president to 100th anniversary of Gallipoli War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deniz Zeyrek<\/strong>
\nANKARA
\nHurriyet Daily News<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Erdo\u011fan sends an invitation yo his Armenian counterpart Sargsyan for the centenary of the Battle of Gallipoli, to be held from April 23 to 25.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of Ankara\u2019s charm offensive ahead of the centennial anniversary of the mass killings of Anatolian Armenians, President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan has taken the unprecedented diplomatic step of extending an invitation to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to ceremonies marking the centenary of the Battle of Gallipoli in \u00c7anakkale in late April, which coincides with the Armenian remembrance day. <\/p>\n

With plans to hold massive ceremonies to mark the centenary of the Battle of Gallipoli on April 23 and 24, Erdo\u011fan has sent out invitations to the leaders of 102 countries, including Armenian President Sargsyan and U.S. President Barack Obama. <\/p>\n

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who visited Turkey last August to attend Erdo\u011fan’s inauguration, used the venue as an opportunity to submit a letter of invitation to Erdo\u011fan for this year’s centennial anniversary of the 1915 killings of Armenians. Sargsyan had extended an official invitation to his then-counterpart Abdullah G\u00fcl, to join the same occasion earlier in April.<\/p>\n

The ANZAC Troops (Australia-New Zealand Army Corps) disembarked onto the shores of \u00c7anakkkale on April 25, 1915 in a bid to destroy Turkish artillery units, but were defeated in bloody combat that continued until December 1915. Ever since, Australians and New Zealanders have commemorated the Battle of Gallipoli on April 25, on the date of the first landing, and on Aug 6 to Aug 10, the second landing of the ANZAC troops. <\/p>\n

Marking the 100th anniversary of the battle for Turkey, Australia and New Zealand, the Turkish government is set to organize ceremonies with the participation of 8,500 Australians and 2,000 New Zealanders. The U.K.\u2019s Prince Charles and his two sons, and the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, are expected to take part in commemorations. <\/p>\n

A day before the April 24 ceremonies in \u00c7anakkale, the government is planning to host a reception and a \u201cSummit of Peace\u201d in Istanbul on April 23, the day when Turkey marks the 95th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Parliament. <\/p>\n

President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan pledged support [to Azerbaijan] in its decades-long conflict with Armenia, as he also extended an invitation to visiting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev yesterday to attend the centennial of the Battle of \u00c7anakkale, also known as the Battle of Gallipoli, in late April. […] “We have extended invitations to many leaders from around the world for April 24,” he stated. For his part, Aliyev welcomed the invitation extended by Ankara. […] Aliyev hailed Turkey’s decision to mark the Battle of Gallipoli on the same day. “I thank you very much both on behalf of myself and of the Azerbaijan people for choosing this date,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu has signed invitation letters to his counterparts, while President Erdo\u011fan has sent letters to the heads of state, accompanied by the message, \u201cWe would be delighted to have you with us on the 100th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Gallipoli.\u201d <\/p>\n

Speaking to daily H\u00fcrriyet, a government official recalled that along with the many other ethnic groups who fought in the ranks of the Ottoman military, the Armenians also fought at Gallipoli. \u201cWe fought together in Gallipoli. That\u2019s why we have extended the invitation to Sargsyan as well,\u201d the official added.<\/p>\n

However, April 24, 1915 is also the date of the Ottoman government\u2019s signing the Deportation Law that led to the deaths of up to a million Armenians in their long march south from eastern Anatolia. Armenia and the Armenian diaspora mark the day as the \u201canniversary of genocide\u201d committed by the Ottoman Empire, and are planning to hold massive ceremonies on the centenary of the mass killings of their ancestors. <\/p>\n

Sargsyan has invited world leaders to Yerevan on the same day, and neither Sargsyan nor Obama are expected to accept Turkey\u2019s invitation to attend the ceremonies in Turkey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deniz Zeyrek ANKARA Hurriyet Daily News President Erdo\u011fan sends an invitation yo his Armenian counterpart Sargsyan for the centenary of the Battle of Gallipoli, to be held from April 23 to 25. As part of Ankara\u2019s charm offensive ahead of the centennial anniversary of the mass killings of Anatolian Armenians, President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallipoli100.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}