Participants in the ’57th Regiment Loyalty March’ organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports first set up camp in Kocadere village of Eceabat district. Before the march, the last meal of the martyred 57th Regiment soldiers, cracked wheat soup, was distributed to the participants by the Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak.
Morning prayer was performed
Then, the morning prayer was performed like the soldiers who were martyred 109 years ago. The participants, including Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak, Çanakkale Wars Gallipoli Historical Area President İsmail Kaşdemir and many high-ranking soldiers, took action at 06:00.
They walked to their ancestors
When Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kemal received news of the enemy landing on the morning of April 25, 1915, he sent the 57th Regiment, the heroic unit of the wars, to Conkbayırı and the historical march that went down in history with the words “I order you not to fight, but to die” came to life once again. The approximately 6-kilometer walk ended in Chunuk Bair after 1.5 hours. Thousands of scouts participated in the march.
“They showed the whole world the legend of ‘Çanakkale is impassable'”
Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak said in his statement: “Our aim is to remind the youth of this country not to forget the Çanakkale epic, the Malazgirt victory, the epics of Dumlupınar, August 30, Sakarya, July 15. How precious this land is, this homeland.” Our young people see that atmosphere and feel the difficulties of that struggle. The aim is to explain the power of these lands and what kind of struggle was fought. At the same time, as the Ministry, we constantly carry out this by bringing our young people from all over the country to Çanakkale. We travel, we organize programs. Guides and historians tell about the epic struggle here. These lands are full of blood, there is an epic struggle, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his comrades took part in the struggle, a great struggle was waged against the whole world and western civilization. The world’s most powerful navies defeated their armies here. They told and showed everyone, the whole world, the legend of ‘Çanakkale is impassable’. “We are proud of our past and history,” he said.
