Mandatory school visits to Gallipoli, Anıtkabir suggested
ANKARA
A council has recommended that visits to the battlegrounds of Gallipoli and Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, should be made mandatory for all Turkish schoolchildren.
“Mandatory school visits should be held to destinations that include our historic values such as Çanakkale and Anıtkabir,” said the Tourism Council, which came together in Antalya last week, in its recommendation to the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
The battle of Gallipoli, which took place in the northwestern province of Çanakkale in 1915, saw a strong Ottoman defense against Allied forces attempting to break through the Dardanelles to reach Istanbul during the First World War.
Other suggestions made by the council include diversifying summer and winter breaks for schools according to the seasonal conditions.
The council also suggested that the government should announce annual official holidays at the start of each year in order to ease early bookings in domestic tourism, while it recommended for the movie and TV sectors to shoot in locations with a high potential as tourism destinations.
