(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The federal government says only 8,000 Australians will be allowed to attend the 100th anniversary Anzac Day dawn service in Gallipoli.
The decision to restrict those able to attend the service at North Beach has been made despite huge numbers of people booking tours to travel to Turkey for the commemorations.
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Each year up to 8,000 Australians travel to Gallipoli, attending the dawn service on April 25 to show their respects to those who fought in World War One.
In 2015, record numbers are expected to travel to the peninsula in Turkey's northwest to pay tribute to the almost 9,000 Australians killed during the eight-month campaign against Ottoman forces.
The federal government says North Beach, where the dawn service is held, can safely hold 10,500 people.
8,000 Australians will be permitted to attend the 2015 service, as well as 2,000 from New Zealand, with the remaining 500 places filled by official guests.
Tim Evans is the Assistant Secretary for Commemorations and Anzac Centenary for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He says it is impossible for more people to attend the service.
"If 20 or 30 thousand people tried to turn up, the site simply wouldn't be able to accommodate that number of people. It would be extremely dangerous."
The Government says there are almost one million people who may be able to trace a direct family link to the soldiers who fought in Gallipoli in 1915.
The soldiers fought in a British-led campaign that began with disastrous beach landings, and quickly turned into a stalemate that caused heavy casualties on both sides.
Despite the campaign's failure, the Anzac spirit forged during the fighting became pivotal to creating Australia's national identity.
Mr Evans says for many, April 25 is a day to think about Australian nationhood.
"Anzac Day is one of those days that reverberates in the national consciousness. It's a time for reflection on many aspects of Australia's society and for contemplation of the nation's future."
The Turkish Embassy in Canberra agrees that 8,000 is the practical limit for the number of Australians visiting the Dawn Service.
The Embassy is encouraging people to visit Gallipoli at any time in 2015.
The State President from the New South Wales branch of the RSL, Don Rowe, went to the dawn service in Gallipoli four years ago and says he supports the decision to restrict numbers there.
He says the area was almost at capacity with about 8,000 attendees.
"So there is certainly a big problem with the capacity to hold a large crowd so number-wise, it's a good decision. It just doesn't have the room in the area to be able to take any more people."
The Government will decide on the allocation of tickets to the dawn service through a ballot, but the details of the selection process have not yet been revealed.
Don Rowe says it will be difficult for the Government to allocate preferences to the families of the Anzacs.
"Just to decide who goes is a pretty difficult question.The problem of course is even with having descendants is because after nearly 100 years, there is a very large pool of descendants and there may even be disputes within families of who should go."
Historian Mat McLachlan, who runs Battlefield Tours, says he usually takes about 100 to 200 Australians to Gallipoli for the dawn service each year.
He says people have not been deterred by possible restrictions to the dawn service and he expects to take between one and two thousand people in his 2015 tour.
"The people who do get tickets in the ballot will go to the official site and the people who don't get tickets in the ballot, we will still do commemoration services on Anzac Day and we're talking to the Turkish government and the Australian government about opportunities to hold a separate service, not at the North Beach site."
