Ariburnu Cemetery

The Ariburnu Cemetery

The Ariburnu Cemetery is situated on the north edge of ANZAC Cove by the shore where the Anzacs first landed on 25 April 1915. Until the year 2000, Ariburnu Cemetery was the site of the Anzac Day Dawn Service. From 2001 onwards the Dawn Service has taken place at the new commemoration ground several hundred meters further on.

The Ariburnu Memorial (Ataturk's epitaph) is a stone monolith beside the Ariburnu Cemetery looking out over the Aegean Sea on the Gallipoli Peninsula in the province of Canakkale, Turkey. Inscribed in English on the monolith are the famous words Mustafa Kemal Ataturk delivered in 1934 to the first Australians, New Zealanders and British to visit the Gallipoli battlefields:

"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...
You, the mothers,
Who sent their sons from far away 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."

History:

The Ariburnu Cemetery was begun in 1915 and enlarged in 1926 and 1927 by adding some graves from the Anglo-French Cemetery and Gallipoli Consular Cemetery at Kilitbahir. 253 Allied soldiers rest in the cemetery, 42 of whom are unidentified. 5 special graves in the cemetery were built for 5 soldiers who are believed to be resting here. Indian soldiers who died in Kilitbahir and their names are commemorated separately inside the cemetery.

The cemetery, designed by Sir John Burnet, principal architect of the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) cemeteries and memorials on the Gallipoli Peninsula, is under the control of the CWGC. It was registered as a cultural heritage site by the Turkish Ministry of Culture on 14 November, 1980.