Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s "To the Martyrs of Dardanelles": Turkish View of the First World War in Comparison to the English War Poets

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the Turkish view of the First World War as reflected through Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s ‘Çanakkale Şehitleri’ (To the Martyrs of Dardanelles) in comparison to the English war poets and argues that the Turkish attitude to the First World War is very different from that of the English war poets in terms of patriotism and sacrifice for one’s country. The most important feature of the English war poets who wrote during the First World War is that all of them, except Rupert Brooke, who died of malaria, participated in the war personally and reflected their personal war experiences and perspectives in their poems. The Ottoman Empire, which participated in the First World War as an ally of Germany, fought with the British in Çanakkale. There are many poems written by professional poets about the Dardanelles wars, in which the Turks won a decisive victory, but there is no known soldier-poet in Turkish poetry who participated in this war. Considering the poems written on the battles of Çanakkale, the first ones that come to mind are ""To the Martyrs of Dardanelles”, and Mehmet Akif Ersoy. The epic poem "To the Martyrs of Dardanelles", written by Mehmet Akif for the heroic martyrs who sacrificed themselves for the salvation of their country, is the poem that best reflects the Turks' perspective on this war. This article focuses on the difference between the Turkish side's view of the war, which is reflected in Mehmet Akif Ersoy's poem "To the Martyrs of Dardanelles”, from the British war poets in terms of patriotism and self-sacrifice ideas for the homeland. The perspective reflected by the English war poets was initially treated as a romantic ideal adorned with the propaganda of democracy, freedom and protection of Western civilization. However, after it was understood that the war had nothing to do with national security for England, it was just an environment of hell where millions of young politicians died in vain for the power struggle, it gave way to protest and disappointment. For the Turks, since this war meant the occupation of their lands in case of defeat, they defended their lands at the cost of their lives and did not allow Gallipoli passed by.