KurdistanObserver.com

Turkish Film On Iraq Plays On Anti-U.S. Sentiment

By Daren Butler - ISTANBUL

Reuters - Feb 3, 2006- When he hears about the treatment of Turkish commandos detained by the U.S. military in Iraq, Polat Alemdar decides to take revenge to restore his country's honor.

But on his quest, the intelligence agent encounters U.S. forces conducting a string of atrocities -- a massacre of wedding guests, the torture of prisoners and ethnic cleansing.

Almost single-handedly he takes on America's military might.

Alemdar is the hero of "Valley of the Wolves - Iraq," a new Turkish action film that capitalizes on a rise in anti-American sentiment in Turkey since the Iraq war and turns a spotlight on relations between the NATO allies.

The two countries enjoy warm ties but many Turks are ambivalent about the United States, enjoying its culture and products while distrusting its foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East.

The movie, which has a Turkish record budget of $10 million, opens with a depiction of the real-life arrest of Turkish special forces officers in north Iraq in July 2003.

The image of U.S. troops putting hoods over the commandos' heads stirred public anger and at the time Turkey's military chief condemned it as an attack on the nation's honor. One newspaper dubbed it the "Rambo Crisis."

"This attack is not against us, it is against the Turkish nation," says one of the soldiers in the film's depiction of the incident, which occurred three months after Ankara refused the U.S. army permission to use Turkish soil for its Iraq invasion.

More recently, Ankara criticized Washington's failure to act against Kurdish rebels who attack Turkey from northern Iraq.

"ENTERTAINMENT"

But the film comes at a time of improving bilateral relations and a U.S. diplomat brushed aside the film's significance, arguing relations between the two nations were returning to normal.

"It is entertainment. It does not purport to be a factual version of events," he told Reuters.

"Every relationship has its ups and downs. But our view is that we now need to look forward. There are lots of problems on which we need to work together and our relations actually overlap to a large degree in this region, including on Iraq."

A host of Turkish celebrities and politicians joined the film's stars at its Hollywood-style premiere on Tuesday night in Istanbul and Turkish guards in fake U.S. military uniforms maintained security.

Many in the audience said the film rang true.

"This film shows the reality of the oppression in Iraq," said university student Emrah Adiyaman as he posed for a photo in front of Hummer vehicles and weapons used in the movie.

"This is an important film. It should make Americans see why the world doesn't like them," said businessman Sabahattin Can.

American actor Billy Zane stars in the film as Alemdar's nemesis, a powerful U.S. intelligence agent who is determined to sow discord among Iraq's Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens.

He said he was not worried by the film's anti-U.S. slant.

"It was definitely slanted," he told reporters from his seat at the front of the cinema after the screening. But he added: "I'm a patriot. That's why I made this film."

Gary Busey appears in the film as a Jewish-American doctor who carries out organ transplants on unwitting Iraqi casualties, sending the organs off to Israel and the United States.

The film is directed by Serdar Akar and based on a popular TV series in which Alemdar, played by Necati Sasmaz, infiltrates Turkey's mafia in order to destroy it.

The film opens on Friday in Turkey and 14 other countries including the United States, Britain, Egypt and Syria.