Commando News Magazine edition 8 2021

Helping a Mate Out in Turkey during Covid
By John (Jack) Thurgar SC MBE OAM RFD (Retd)
There has been an affinity between the Turkish
and Australian peoples for over a hundred
years. That affinity has bred many personal
friend ships. I would like to tell you of one such friendship
and in doing so endorse my Turkish friend's attempt to
offer an innovative method of our war dead on the
Gallipoli peninsula.
How Did the Bond between Australians and the
Turks Originate?
It may have started when such men as Dr Charles
Snodgrass-Ryan brought stories back to Australia from
Turkey when he and others from the then British Empire
served as medical volunteers (Red Crescent) in the
Ottoman Army in the late 1870s, or it may have been
after the Gallipoli campaign when the War Graves
Registration Unit and Charles Bean's research team were
afforded every hospitality and opportunity to do their
work on the Peninsula.
Or it may have been when Ataturk invited a dele -
gation of British, Australian and New Zealanders who
had fought during the campaign to revisit the battle -
ground and conduct commemorative services in 1934.
Whatever the reason, the special bond was exemplified
in 1967 when Lord Casey, who as Governor-General, and
an original ANZAC and son-in-law of Doctor Charles
Snodgrass-Ryan, commented on the relationship, which
prompted the Turkish Government to erect a memorial
now known as the ‘Deepest Respect’ memorial near the
trenches of Lone Pine in the ANZAC Sector of the front
line.
I first visited the Gallipoli peninsula many years
before it became popular and talked with Turkish
veterans and their families about the Dardanelles war. It
was folk-lore among the Turkish people I spoke to on the
Gallipoli peninsula that the Memorial, though it depicted
a Turk rescuing an Aussie, could represent an Aussie
rescuing a Turk.
The concept of rescuing the wounded from a
battlefield was foremost in a conversation I had with
The Turkish ‘Deepest Respect to Mehmetcik’ Memorial near Lone
Pine. All photos supplied.
President Suleyman Demirel, the then President of
Turkey, when he told me of the enduring mutual respect
between our nation’s soldiers. The concept of altruism
and compassion on the battlefield was related to him by
his father who had served in the Ottoman Army
defending his homeland in 1915 in the Australian sector
during the Dardanelles War.
That mutual respect between the people of our
nations has been repeatedly been brought home to me
over the past 40 years on so many occasions.
John (Jack) Thurgar and President Demirel discussing ‘compassion
and respect’ on the battlefield.
An Enterprising Turkish Battlefield Guide
Abdurrahim Boz (aka APO), is a fully qualified Englishspeaking
Battlefield Guide and his passion has been to
share the history of the events that took place at Gallipoli
during those fateful months from 25 April 1915 to 9
January 1916. APO stated recently: “I’ve been taking
visitors to Gallipoli on guided tours for the last 15 years
and have made many friends and shared their personal
experiences and stories of relatives that lost their lives
during the war at Gallipoli.”
I first met APO when he was starting out in the
tourism industry. He worked in reception at hostels and
accompanied tourists by bus on airport transfers. He
then ‘graduated’ from these duties to be an assistant to
a well-known Turkish Battlefield Guide, all the while
listening to the stories not only of his mentor but also the
participants, many who had relatives who had served on
the peninsula. Their stories prompted him to read
extensively on the campaign from not only the Australian
but also the French, British, German and Turkish forces.
He then studied for and attained his Guides license. But
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian Commando Association ~ Edition 8 I 2021 17