Captive Life of Turkish-British and Anzac Soldiers Captured in The Battle of Gallipoli in Letters and Memoirs

Authors : Murat Köylü

Pages : 91-104

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Publication Date : 2024-06-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The nobility and civilized stance of a nation should be measured by its behavior towards the soldiers captured in the war. The care showed by the Turks, especially to the captured and wounded British and Anzac soldiers, was reflected in the letters they wrote to the families of the soldiers and in the diaries they kept. Likewise, the lives of the Turkish soldiers who were captured by the British in the Egyptian POW Camps and the treatment against them took their place in the memories and letters of the Turkish soldiers. The First World War holds an important place not only in what happened on the battlefields but also in the memories of soldiers who were out of the war and in captivity. The captive life reflected in the letters and memories of prisoners of war is important in terms of showing a different side of the war. Therefore, warring countries should be evaluated not only by what they did on the battlefields, but also by their good or bad behavior towards the prisoners, wounded and sick who remained outside the war. The aim of the study is to compare the experiences of Turkish and Allied soldiers captured during the Battle of Gallipoli with their own narratives, to reveal the difference between the Turks, who were defined as barbarians at that time, and the British who saw themselves as the representatives of the civilized world.
Keywords : Gelibolu, Türk, İngiliz, Anzak, Esirler