Wheeler Centre presenting Turkish Australian perspectives on Gallipoli

WHILE for many Australians the defeat at Gallipoli helped form the nation’s identity, Anzac Day can be a perplexing time for Turkish Australians caught between both cultures.

Australian Turk Serpil (sair-pill) Senelmis is an ABC producer who will be going to Gallipoli on Anzac Day and will be speaking about it from a Turkish perspective at the Wheeler Centre. Picture: Paul Loughnan

WHILE for many Australians the defeat at Gallipoli helped form the nation’s identity, Anzac Day can be a perplexing time for Turkish Australians caught between both cultures.

Growing up, Serpil Senelmis often felt like she was leading a double life.

Her ­father, a cabinet-maker, came to Australia with her mother and eight-month-old sister in the 1960s.

“You feel really blessed to live here but at the same time always felt different — you ate the smelly food, when your parents came to pick you up from school, they spoke a different language, on weekends you had to go to Turkish school,” Ms Senelmis said.

While the Elsternwick resident often felt different, this never stopped her from feeling Australian.

And learning about both sides of the battle gave her a deeper connection to both cultures.

March 18, 1915, is remembered as a national victory for Turks when their gunners at the Dardanelles forts fought off Allied warships.

“It was not modern Turkey at the time, it was the ­decaying Ottoman Empire, which eventually did collapse. So for both Australians and Turks, the national identity was formed around that time,” Ms Senelmis said.

She had visited Gallipoli a couple of times, once to cover the 2014 Dawn Service for the ABC.

Seeing mass graves marked by a stone listing Turkish names and an Australian grave for a 16-year-old boy were confronting experiences.

The radio producer is ­returning to Gallipoli to cover Dawn Service this year, but first will be talking about Australian Turkish perspectives on the battle at the Wheeler Centre.

She said there should be more of a Turkish voice and involvement in Anzac Day.

Gelibolu: A Turkish Australian Perspective on Gallipoli will be at the Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne, on March 31, 6.15-7.15pm. Entry is free but bookings required.

Details: wheelercentre.com