Gallipoli, media and commemorations during 2015 select perspectives

Given the iconic status assigned to Gallipoli, virtually from the outset, it was inevitable that in its centenary year, commemoration would receive enormous political and media attention. My intention is not to produce a comprehensive summary of all international media output on Gallipoli, even if that were possible within the confines of a journal article. Language barriers and problems of access have further impacted on the selection process, as well as in the coverage of even countries that have been examined (I do not speak French, German or Turkish; I also did not have access to non-English publications in India.). Nor is the article meant to be a synthesis of historiographical debate on Gallipoli, a subject which military and other experts have successfully addressed in the past as well as during the centenary (Please see reference section below for a selection of relevant books.). Rather, my more modest aim is to highlight seminal themes and offer an assessment of response, both in and by the media, especially the print media, in some of the main belligerent countries situated today in differing geo-political contexts, viz. Great Britain, Australia, India (then part of the British empire) and Turkey (then part of the Ottoman empire). Arguably, at one level, there was little in the transnational response during 2015 which attempted to shift the foundational basis for a reading of Gallipoli that has been established in the media during the intervening decades. Yet, there were some notable shifts in transnational perspectives. Perhaps after the lapse of a century, it may be possible to achieve/restore some kind of balance to our appraisal of Gallipoli in the public mind.