PodcastShipwrecks of World War I are a seabed museum in Turkey
Turkey's newest park is an underwater museum of fourteen shipwrecks that lie beneath the waves of the Dardanelles Strait, a glimpse into the fierce battles between Ottoman and Allied forces in World War I.
Reuters - Turkey's newest park is an underwater museum of fourteen shipwrecks that lie beneath the waves of the Dardanelles Strait, a glimpse into the fierce battles between Ottoman and Allied forces in World War I.
Turkish photographer Savaş Karakaş was one of the first to board a motorboat and then dive to the seabed grave when the park opened on Saturday. There, he says, he was able to reconnect with his grandfather who fought in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915.
"My grandfather's hands were disfigured and burned in action, and I was always scared of them," said Karakas, who lives in Istanbul and whose given name means "war", after the battle.
"But when I come to Gallipoli and dive, the rusted metal and steel of the wrecks reminds me of my grandfather's hands and I hold his hand under the water."
The Gallipoli Historic Underwater Park opened 106 years after Ottoman and allied German forces halted an invasion by British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops.