Australians mark Anzac Day despite thwarted terror plot

(Xinhua) Updated: 2016-04-25 14:47

A war veteran walks in front of the Cenotaph during the annual dawn service commemoration on ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) Day in central Sydney, Australia, April 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

CANBERRA - Thousands of Australians got up early on Monday morning as they did every Anzac Day to mark the bloody battle fought at the Turkish beach of Gallipoli by Australian and New Zealand troops during the World War I.

About 55,000 people attended the Anzac Parade held in front of the War Memorial in Canberra, the national capital. Before the parade, a large crowd showed up despite the autumn chill of Canberra for the Dawn service held at 5:30 a.m., the time when the Anzac troops first began their landing at Gallipoli 101 years ago.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull delivered the commemorative address at the national service at the War Memorial.

"At their training camps outside Cairo, diggers stood in reverent silence as they recalled the disastrous Gallipoli campaign of the year before," he said.

"Many of them had been evacuated from Gallipoli only months before. They knew that more terrible challenges awaited them."

"Within weeks they would sail for France, having experienced the horror of trench warfare on the ridges above Anzac Cove, they were now to confront even more."

Turnbull said Australia, New Zealand and Turkey count Gallipoli as a momentous chapter in their foundation story.

"Today we offer our solidarity to the Turkish people as we and our allies battle together a new war against terrorism, a new war fought both abroad and at home and in every dimension in the battle space and the cyber space," Turnbull said in his first Anzac Day address as the nation's leader.

He also said that Anzac Day was not about glorifying war.

"This day does not commemorate a triumph of arms," he told the crowd at the Australian War Memorial. It commemorates the triumph of the human spirit, the courage and resolve of those who 100 years ago and ever since, and today put their lives on the line."