'Islamist' Turkish President Erdogan seeks to recast the Gallipoli conflict as a victory in a holy war .

'Islamist' Turkish President Erdogan seeks to recast the Gallipoli conflict as a victory in a holy war . (theaustralian).

Turkey has become embroiled in its own history wars ahead of the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli as its hardline President seeks to recast the conflict as a holy war.

The Turkish government has been paying Gallipoli tour guides to give tourists a more faith-based interpretation of the conflict which celebrates a victory for Allah over the Western infidels.

The move has divided tour guides and historians, who fear it undermines the legacy of Turkey Gallipoli hero Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who later helped to found a secular Turkish republic.

The tensions reflect a broader push by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to make Turkey a more religious Islamist nation, a move that has seen him take a ­softer line than the West against ­Islamic State.

“There has been an emergence of a new view of Turkish history and of the Gallipoli campaign that was much more infused by a fundamentalist view of the world,” says one Australian official who asked not to be named.

“This interpretation saw the ­ultimate victory as being a reflection in faith of the one true god rather than a campaign driven by a gifted strategist and leader of men in Ataturk.”

The names of non-Muslim Turkish soldiers at Gallipoli have also reportedly been removed from the List of Martyrs of the Gallipoli campaign issued by Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence.

Secularism is now in retreat in Turkey as Mr Erdogan infuses fundamentalist Islamic mores across Turkish society.

This has led him to clash with the West, which has accused his government of being reluctant to fully support the fight against ­Islamic State. Ataturk abolished the Ottoman caliphate in 1924 but the notion of an Islamic caliphate has been revived in neighbouring Syria by Islamic State. Read the full story here.