In 1915, on the battlefields of Gallipoli, a special relationship between Australians, Turkish and New Zealanders was born. Building on the unique relationship, a sports committee has been established by Gallipoli Trade Gateway firm, under the auspices of the Turkish Embassies in Australia, New Zealand and Turkish Consul ate General in Sydney to plan biennial sporting tournaments between the three nations. The Gallipoli Tri Nations Tournaments are planned to commence in 2008, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Turkish migration to Australia and is endorsed by the RSL NSW.

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Left to right: Hon Derek Robson, Bora Isik, Ahmet Evcimen,
Chris Perrin, Ridvan Manav, James Maclay, Tarkan Batgun,
Ercument Aslan, Aytek Genc, Zafer Yilmaz

Click here to view Recent Developments
of the Gallipoli Tri Nations Tournament’s

What is the Gallipoli Tri Nations Tournament?
A series of proposed competitions in different sporting codes between the nations of Turkiye, Australia and New Zealand in order to commemorate the young lives lost during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. This tournament will be the beginning of a new tradition similar to the Bledisloe Cup (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) in Rugby Union and the Tri Nations Series in Cricket and will be held biennially between these three nations.

The inaugural tournament is intended to be held in Australia in 2008, and then continue as a biennial event rotating between the three nations, culminating in a final in 2015, marking the 100th anniversary of WWI, in Turkiye. The tournaments will elevate the relationships born on the battle fields of Gallipoli to another level.

Tournament format – match windows
All three nation’s sports federations have existing commitments. However, spreading the competition dates for each sporting code over a two year period will make the “date matching procedure” much simpler and easier. The format of the tournament will be similar to existing Tri Nations tournaments in sporting codes like Rugby and Cricket.

Please see the links on the left for more information about each of the sports.

When do we want to start?
A window of opportunity – the 40th anniversary of Turkish Migration to Australia for the tradition to begin
The 40th anniversary of Turkish migration to Australia represents a window of opportunity to commence and take our sporting, cultural and commercial ties to a new level, hence, the decision to commence the tournaments in 2008.

Gallipoli Tri Nations Tournament Committee
The Gallipoli Trade Gateway firm took the initiative to bring professionals together and has established a committee to plan the Gallipoli Tri Nations Tournaments under the auspices of the Turkish Embassies in Australia, New Zealand and Turkish Consul ate General in Sydney. The committee is drawing on resources from all three nations and the Gallipoli Trade Gateway firm is managing all the initial planning activities, web site development, co-ordination with the government organisations & federations and the endorsement procedures.

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Under the auspices of His Excellency Murat Ersavci-Turkish Ambassador in Canberra, His Excellency Ugur Ergun-Turkish Ambassador in Wellington, following please find a list of all members of the committee which range from World and Olympic champions to high level government officials (at at 1st August 07):

  • K. Tarkan Batgun - Chairman of the Committee & CEO of Gallipoli Trade Gateway, (Former) RSL NSW Turkish Sub Branch Secretary;
  • Kemal Yarci - Educational Attache Turkish Consulate General Sydney;
  • Chris Perrin - Secretary RSL NSW, Football Coach;
  • Ahmet Evcimen – World Taekwondo Champion and Former Turkish Taekwondo Captain for 11 years;
  • Aytek Genc – NSW Football Coach of the Year 2006, Former-Socceroo;
  • Bora Isik - Sports Law Professional, Former City Councillor of Amsterdam;
  • Ercument Aslan - World Amateur Youth Boxing Champion, Currently Professional Boxer;
  • Mehmet Yagci – Commonwealth Olympic Gold Medallist for Australia;
  • Ufuk Talay – Former Galatasaray Player, Current Sydney FC Player;
  • Ridvan Manav - Australian Taekwondo Champion, Former Australian National Taekwondo Coach;
  • Tim Harcourt - Chief Economist of AUSTRADE; and
  • Zafer Yilmaz - Former Australian Wrestling Champion
  • Ibrahim Ercin - Turkish Karate National Team Instructor

Standing L-R
Ufuk Talay, Aytek Genc, Bora Isik
Zafer Yilmaz, Mustafa Saracoglu, K. Tarkan Batgun

Seated L-R
Kemal Yarci, Ahmet Evcimen, Mehmet Yagci

The Spirit of Gallipoli – A sense of belonging
The Gallipoli Peninsula has had a long and remarkable history extending from before the Peloponnesian Wars. Its rugged landscape and historic towns provide the backdrop to the battlefields of 1915, places of heroism and sacrifice which are of immense national significance to Turks, Australians and New Zealanders alike. The Gallipoli campaign was a defining moment for Australia and New Zealand as new nations and it played an important part in fostering a sense of national identity for the three nations. In Turkiye, the battle is perceived a defining moment in the history of the Turkish people – a final surge in defense of the motherland, and end to the centuries of Ottoman Empire rule. The struggle of these soldiers laid the grounds for the Turkish War of Independence and the foundation and creation of the Turkish Republic just eight years later under Ataturk – Father of the Turks, himself a commander at Gallipoli. Therefore, the name Gallipoli has been used to signify the sense of belonging from the three nations.

Why we want to do this?
Thousands of young lives were lost in this battle from all sides. The beautiful Turquoise waters of Gallipoli were painted to red. Australians, New Zealanders and Turks all talk about their Gallipoli stories as being about courage, sacrifice, and nationhood. For Turks the Gallipoli “Martyrs” are as important as the ANZAC’s are to Australians and New Zealanders and therefore would like to build on this spiritual connection and the best way to develop the relationship even more is to unite under one banner the “Gallipoli Tri Nations Tournaments”. Friendship, prosperity and unification can be brought together with closer sporting relationships with all three nations.

Endorsement procedure
The RSL NSW has endorsed the Gallipoli Tri Nations concept. The Gallipoli Trade Gateway has prepared a logo for the endorsement procedure and holds all rights of this logo along with being the sole entity to approve usage of it to the federations. The firm and the Gallipoli Tri Nations Committee have the rights to control the authenticity of the tournaments structure and to take part in the on-going tournaments.

The role of the Gallipoli Trade Gateway firm
The Gallipoli Trade Gateway firm took the initiative to bring professionals together and has established a committee to plan the Gallipoli Tri Nations Tournaments in different sports codes and have approached the federations of the three nations for this purpose. The Gallipoli Trade Gateway firm has managed all planning activities and associated costs. An ongoing budget has been allocated to contribute to the expenditure of the proposed tournaments. Our aim as the firm is to play a bridging role between the countries and bring Gallipoli’s spiritual connection to the next level.

5% of all International Gateway Directory membership revenue from Australian, Turkish and New Zealand companies is contributed to the budget. This budget includes the expenses for the planning so far and the future contributions which will only make it bigger and better.

The International Gateway Directory will bring the Tri Nation's Companies together on an internet platform for the first time in history. This will foster increased cooperation and harmony between the Tri Nation's companies and start new relationships.

Please click here for more information on the International Gateway Directory.