-CANAKKALE, TÜRKİYE — AUG. 5, 2025: Divers marked Türkiye’s upcoming Victory Day on August 30 with an underwater expedition to World War I shipwrecks, paying tribute to the nation’s wartime history beneath the waters. This year, the nation marks the 103rd Victory Day, honoring the decisive 1922 Battle of Dumlupinar, where Turkish forces defeated the occupying Greek army. Footage shows shipwrecks at the Historic Gallipoli Underwater Park in Türkiye’s Canakkale province. Among the wrecks documented were the British minesweeper HMS Burka-Minesweeper, the battleships HMS Majestic, HMS Louis and the naval trawler HMT Lundy, and the Helles Barge — all sunk during the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I. Türkiye was occupied by allied forces after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War (1914-1918). The foreign occupation prompted Türkiye’s War of Independence in 1919, in which Turkish forces – led by Ataturk – eventually drove the invaders from Anatolia. From Aug. 26 to Aug. 30 of 1922, Turkish forces fought the Battle of Dumlupinar (considered part of the Greco-Turkish War) in Türkiye’s western Kutahya province, where Greek forces were decisively defeated. By the end of 1922, all foreign forces had left the territories which would collectively become the new Republic of Türkiye one year later.