Anzac Day: Tenby Powell: Russia's aspirations about the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits has to be asked

At Gallipoli, New Zealanders discovered something important about our identity and began to think more of ourselves as part of a separate nation to that of Great Britain, writes Tenby Powell. Photo / NZME

Opinion

OPINION

In 2002, during my second tour of duty in the Middle East, I had the privilege of attending Anzac Day at Gallipoli.

It was great to catch up with mates serving throughout the region and, naturally, it was a great honour to be there in uniform.

I can recall it as if it was yesterday: forming up on Anzac Cove at 0430 in the pitch black with other Kiwis and Aussies and listening to the waves gently lapping the shore.

I thought then, as I do now, that this peaceful place was awash with blood in 1915 - and for what, exactly?

I'm thinking about it now, more than ever, because the question over Russia's aspirations about the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits has to be asked.

Does Vladimir Putin's wider strategy include securing these critical waterways and enable unimpeded Russian passage from the Black Sea to the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, via the Sea of Marmara?

Time will tell. For now, let me take you back to Anzac Cove, 2002.

As sombre an occasion as it was, and always is when you get Aussie and Kiwi soldiers, sailors and airmen and women together, invariably you get banter, jokes and cajoling.

And there was certainly no shortage of that.

But it all stopped as the first hint of dawn was followed by the first notes of the bugle. And when the bugle stopped, the only sound was the waves aided by a gentle on-shore breeze; you could have heard a pin drop.

As the sun broke the darkness, I remember looking behind me at the steep, rugged, utterly imposing hills – now etched in Anzac history - and thought of the men, on both sides, who fought and died to secure and defend the Dardanelles Strait as a flawed British strategy unfolded over eight long months.

The plan was essentially to thread the British naval fleet through the needle of the Dardanelles, the narrow 61km strait that stitched together Europe and Asia in northwest Turkey, to seize Constantinople (now Istanbul), and gain control of the strategic waterways linking the Black Sea in the east to the Mediterranean in the west.

Tenby Powell. Photo / NZME

One wonders if this is not Putin's plan in reverse.

By the time the campaign ended, more than 130,000 men had died: at least 87,000 Ottoman (Turkish) soldiers and 44,000 Allied soldiers. This included more than 8700 Australians and 2779 New Zealanders.

In 2002, we didn't have to fight our way up, we walked leisurely towards the two key services at Lone Pine, now a "Memorial to the (4,224 Australian) Missing", and Chunuk Bair at the top where, over two days, New Zealand suffered nearly 2500 casualties, including more than 800 dead.

An Aussie Major, who I was serving with at the time, put his arm around my shoulder and quietly muttered, "Poor buggers".

Indeed they were. They were also brave, resilient and proud, and, out of which, New Zealand was forged.

At Gallipoli, New Zealanders discovered something important about our identity and began to think more of ourselves as part of a separate nation to that of Great Britain.

Since 1915 New Zealanders, whatever their background, have developed unique bonds, forged through shared adversity at Gallipoli during WWI, El Alamein during WWII, Vung Tau in Vietnam, Bamian in Afghanistan, and many points in between.

The question is, will we be back in this exact region yet again in the near future?

With the world's eyes on Ukraine, as the Russian military steps up its operational tempo and broadens its offensives, one spotlight has moved to the Black Sea after Ukraine's request of Turkey to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits to Russian ships.

Some 50,000 ships transit the straits each year, making this area one of the world's busiest waterways for Russian oil and Ukrainian grains, not to mention the agricultural and steel products, all of which are transported via the Black Sea.

To put this in context, Ukraine and Russia together account for more than a quarter of global wheat exports, nearly a fifth of the corn trade, and the bulk of sunflower oil.

Under the 1936 Montreux Convention, Turkey controls the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits and, importantly, regulates the transit of naval warships.

Ukraine's request of Turkey to close the straits has the potential to broaden the geopolitical issues surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war, whether they agree to it or not.

And it is highly likely they will not.

Turkey, a NATO member, has generally good relationships with Russia, and if this war escalates it would not be beyond reason to envisage military activity in the vicinity of the Dardanelle Straits once again.

Time will tell.

Today, however, let's go back in time, remembering the Anzacs of 1915 on the 107th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Tenby Powell is the former Mayor of Tauranga and has served in the Regular and Reserve Forces of the New Zealand Army since 1983 and holds the rank of Colonel. His career includes a posting as Deputy Commander of a UN mission in Lebanon in 2001-2002. He was appointed by the Minister of Defence to serve on the 2015 /16 selection panel of the Chiefs of Navy, Army and Air Force.