This year, May 3 witnessed a scandalous spectacle on the Greek island of Lemnos. The scene was set for the visit of Australian Governor-General David Hurley to attend an "Anzac commemoration event" flanked by high-level Greek officials, some of whom defamed the very victims of the allied attack on the historical Gallipoli peninsula, or Gelibolu in Turkish, in their speeches. During the ceremony, the Australians and New Zealanders who fought and fell on Turkish soil were portrayed as "combating evil" manifested in an inhuman foe.

What are we to make of this? Anzac ceremonies symbolize post-conflict reconciliation and an unparalleled vision of peace. Though they fought fiercely on opposing fronts, Turks, Australians and New Zealanders now pay tribute to their fallen together, emphasizing that their shared grief binds them far more strongly than any perceived enmity. These commemorations are thus meant to underline our shared humanity. They are a beacon of hope in a world largely consumed by strife and bloodshed. They show that goodwill and friendship can actually prevail despite all obstacles.

And this – all this symbolism and hope – was unfortunately undermined in Lemnos. Australia rose to the Greek bait by being part of a deception in which the fallen Greek soldiers and the Anzacs were placed in the same category. In fact, there is no resemblance between their actions in World War I.

At the behest of their colonial overlords, Australians crossed half the globe for a fight that was not their own, against people who had done them no harm and with whom they had no quarrel. There they witnessed the heroism and self-sacrifice of an adversary who believed that a life free of foreign domination was the only life worth living. They realized that the Turks, honorably defending their homeland against invaders, were neither bogeymen nor a true enemy. And this very experience has sown the seeds of Australia’s independence as a nation today.

Wounded lion surrounded by scavengers

What a contrast with the Greeks of that era! Like scavengers circling a wounded lion, the Greeks gazed hungrily across the Aegean at the crumbling Ottoman Empire and thought they could carve a piece out for themselves. They believed they could conquer the Anatolian heartland and let themselves be deceived by hopes of an easy victory. As it turned out, they were very much in the wrong, for they faced a people renowned for their courage and led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Türkiye and one of the greatest military commanders of all time. They paid the price for their unprovoked aggression through the decimation and disgrace of their army. Victims of their own hubris, the survivors crawled out of the sea in dishonor and shame.

This was the unlikely couple present at Lemnos: on the one side, opportunistic aggressors seeking to take what never belonged to them, and on the other, the Australians, bound in mutual respect with an honorable adversary whose visionary leader embraced the memory of their fallen sons. Atatürk promised them eternal rest in Türkiye’s bosom, side by side with the men they had fought. His words are engraved in stone in Canberra. That Greece’s head of state sought to imitate those noble remarks in her speech during the Lemnos ceremonies was utterly absurd.

Our Australian mates’ being present at this ceremony sent rather confusing signals to Türkiye and the Turkish community in Australia. We should not lose our bearings. The bonds that unite our two people are unique since they are forged in the fires of a war from which both we and they emerged with honor, dignity and independence. The Anzac spirit has become an indispensable element of the Turkish-Australian friendship over the years, and for this very reason, it should not be diluted and sullied by Greek propaganda.

Lemnos was a staging post for anti-Turkish imperialist aggression. It has now become a staging post for spreading anti-Turkish lies. Australia’s presence there does both itself and our nation a disservice. Joint ceremonies with the Greeks do not honor the Anzac and Turkish fallen – on the contrary, they dishonor their memory. So, one should not let the Anzac spirit be poisoned. Lemnos is the wrong place to be for promoting reconciliation and friendship.