Anzac Cove About

On Anzac Day in 1985, the name "Anzac Cove" was officially recognised by the Turkish government. The Anzac Day dawn service was held at Ari Burnu Cemetery within the cove until 1999 when the number of people attending outgrew the site. A purpose built "Anzac Commemorative Site" was constructed nearby on North Beach in time for the 2000 service.

Over the years, Anzac Cove beach has been degraded by erosion, and the construction of the coast road from Gaba Tepe to Suvla, originally started by Australian engineers just prior to the evacuation of Anzac in December 1915, resulted in the beach being further reduced and bounded by a steep earth embankment. The only way onto the beach was via the CWGC cemeteries at each headland, Ari Burnu Cemetery, and Beach Cemetery.


In 2003 the Australian government announced that it was negotiating with Turkey to place Anzac Cove on the National Heritage List, which included Australian sites such as the Eureka Stockade gardens. However this request was dismissed by the Turkish government as the Gallipoli peninsula itself is Turkish territory and already a national park in the Turkish National Park System. In 2004 the Australian Minister for Veteran's Affairs, Danna Vale, made a request to the Turkish authorities that roadworks be carried out in the area. In 2005, the resultant efforts to widen the road to provide a bus parking area for the Commemorative Site covered some of the remaining beach, making it impossible to traverse, and cut into Plugge's Plateau, making the path to the summit and Plugge's Plateau Cemetery impassable. Concerns were expressed that human remains from unmarked graves may have been uncovered and discarded.

On 18 October 2005 the former federal minister for veterans affairs, Danna Vale, called for the battlefield to be recreated in Australia, saying that the physical similarity between the end of the Mornington Peninsula, in Victoria, and Anzac Cove, in Turkey, is "uncanny".