The tragedy of the Gallipoli campaign in World War I is etched deep into the identities of Australia and New Zealand, as well as Turkey.
More than a century on from the carnage that saw around 44,000 Allied soldiers killed and an estimated 250,000 Turkish casualties, memories of the Gallipoli campaign have resurfaced in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings that saw 50 people killed.
On the campaign trail for local elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has caused a major diplomatic furor by criticizing New Zealand and Australia for sending troops to Turkey in April, 1915, as part of a British-led attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war.
FILE - In this Monday, April 24, 2006 file photo, Australian soldiers march at the Turkish Memorial in Gallipoli, northwestern Turkey, during the Anzac Day ceremonies. The annual Anzac Day celebration remembers the forces of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps under British command who fought a bloody nine-month battle against Turkish forces on the Gallipoli peninsula in northwestern Turkey in 1915. (AP PhotoMurad Sezer, File)
"What business did you have here? We had no issues with you, why did you come all the way over here?" Erdogan said. "The only reason: We're Muslim, and they're Christian."
Erdogan also suggested that anyone who comes to Turkey with anti-Muslim sentiments would be sent back in coffins, "like their grandfathers were" during the Gallipoli campaign.
Australia has demanded Erdogan retract his incendiary comments. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said "all options are on the table" if the Turkish leader does not.
FILE - In this Monday, April 24, 2006 file photo, Turkish soldiers, members of the traditional Ottoman Army band of Mehter, stand at the Turkish Memorial in Gallipoli, northwestern Turkey, during Anzac Day ceremonies. The annual Anzac Day celebration remembers the forces of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps under British command who fought a bloody nine-month battle against Turkish forces on the Gallipoli peninsula in northwestern Turkey in 1915. (AP PhotoMurad Sezer, File)
The Gallipoli campaign, which lasted some eight months, was a shattering defeat for the allies with costly losses of British, Irish, Australian and New Zealander troops. Toiling in terrible conditions, with disease rampant, allied soldiers were often gunned down close to the coast where they were under siege.
Winston Churchill, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, had devised the plan in an effort to force the Ottoman Empire, allied with Germany, out of the war. It was a major victory for Turkey and a then young military man called Kemal Ataturk who later ascended to the leadership of the modern Turkish republic that he founded in 1923. Ataturk is still revered in Turkey today.
ANZAC day is solemnly commemorated as a national day of remembrance every April 25 in Australia and New Zealand.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, the U.S. military said, as the Trump administration targets sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela as part of a broader effort to take control of the South American country's oil.
The predawn raid was carried out by Marines and Navy sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, part of the extensive force the U.S. has built up in the Caribbean in recent months, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the tanker called the Olina. The Coast Guard then took control of the vessel, officials said.
Southern Command and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem both posted unclassified footage on social media Friday morning of a U.S. helicopter landing on the vessel and U.S. personnel conducting a search of the deck and tossing what appeared to be an explosive device in front of a door leading to inside the ship.
In her post, Noem said the ship was “another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil” and it had departed Venezuela “attempting to evade U.S. forces."
The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products, and the third since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.
In a post on his social media network later in the day, Trump said the seizure was conducted “in coordination with the Interim Authorities of Venezuela” but offered no elaboration.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for more details.
Venezuela’s government acknowledged in a statement that it was working with U.S. authorities to return the tanker, “which set sail without payment or authorization from the Venezuelan authorities,” to the South American nation.
“Thanks to this first successful joint operation, the ship is sailing back to Venezuelan waters for its protection and relevant actions,” according to the statement.
Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships from conducting trade. The Olina was among that flotilla.
U.S. government records show that the Olina was sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M, and flagged in Panama.
While records show the Olina is now flying the flag of Timor-Leste, it is listed in the international shipping registry as having a false flag, meaning the registration it is claiming is not valid. In July, the owner and manager of the ship on its registration was changed to a company in Hong Kong.
According to ship tracking databases, the Olina last transmitted its location in November in the Caribbean, north of the Venezuelan coast. Since then, however, the ship has been running dark with its location beacon turned off.
While Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law, other officials in the Trump administration have made clear they see it as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela's battered oil industry and restore its economy.
In an early morning social media post, Trump said the U.S. and Venezuela “are working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding, in a much bigger, better, and more modern form, their oil and gas infrastructure.”
The administration said it expects to sell 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil, with the proceeds to go to both the U.S. and Venezuelan people. But the president expects the arrangement to continue indefinitely. He met Friday with executives from oil companies to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution.
Vice President JD Vance told Fox News this week that the U.S. can “control” Venezuela’s “purse strings” by dictating where its oil can be sold.
Madani estimated that the Olina is loaded with 707,000 barrels of oil, which at the current market price of about $60 a barrel would be worth more than $42 million.
Associated Press writers Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Josh Boak in Washington, and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.
This story has been corrected to reflect that the United States has seized three tankers, not five, since Nicolás Maduro was ousted as Venezuela’s president.
FILE - Evana, an oil tanker, is docked at El Palito Port in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, Dec. 21, 2025. The U.S. military says U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The Olina is the fifth tanker seized by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
