It is named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) who, as a Lieutenant Colonel, commanded the Ottoman 19th Infantry Division when it resisted the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Arı Burnu on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915 during World War I.

[1] In 1985, seventy years after the Gallipoli Campaign, the Turkish Government recognised the name "Anzac Cove" for the place on the peninsula where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed on 25 April 1915.

[2] The inscription, attributed to Atatürk, pays tribute to his former foes and reflects his understanding of the cost of war:[1] Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.The quote honours all former enemy soldiers who have died in Turkey.

The pavement was altered to incorporate a larger five pointed star motif as used in the flag of Turkey, to match the existing wall in the form of the crescent moon.