The Turkish government has defaced an Anzac monument at Gallipoli, possibly as part of an Islamist push.
The 1985 memorial used to bear the words attributed to the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which welcomed the Anzac dead.
"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours," it read.
"You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."
Turkey says the words were removed as part of a "restoration" process on the Gallipoli peninsula.
But some historians believe the real reason is to minimise the secular nature of the monument, and emphasise the Islamic angle of the WW1 conflict, The Guardian reports.
They believe Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to cast Gallipoli as a crusader invasion, resisted by jihadi defenders.
http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/turks-destroy-iconic-anzac-monument-at-gallipoli/ar-BBCMKve?li=A...
How sad.
"your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."
That's such a comforting sentiment for those who lost their loved ones in that horrible conflict.
