Dr John Basarin OAM-- Gallipolli and the PEACE IS POSSIBLE Project
John said that Australians need to acknowledge that Gallipolli was an invasion of Turkey. He spoke about the historical background to the campaign and argued that a crucial motive was the British Empire's desire for oil, which the Ottoman Empire had reserves of. Many of the present-day problems in the Middle East have stemmed from the way the Ottoman Empire was divided up into arbitrary countries following the war under an agreement between the British and French. John also spoke about the role of Rotary in promoting peace, what the organization had done and what more it could do.