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"Valley of the Wolves:
Iraq" (Kurtlar
Vadisi: Irak), which opened in
Turkey on February 3, 2006, has grabbed
headlines in Turkey and the USA.
I haven't seen the movie yet but the
first thing that came to mind was:
is this revenge for "Midnight
Express"?
The
story of "Valley of the Wolves,"
as I've read in news reports, starts
by
recapping
an
actual
incident
that took place on July 4, 2003 in
Sulaymaniyah, in (Kurdish) northern
Iraq. Soldiers from the US
Army's 173rd Airborne raided
the offices of a Turkish
Army special forces unit there and
arrested 11 Turkish special forces
officers, giving them the now-familiar
treatment of tying their hands and
covering their heads with bags or
hoods. The officers were held for several
days, but released when the raid
was
found to be a mistake.
The damage was done, however. Turks
saw the incident as an insult to national
honor—the Turkish military is
the most respected institution in the
country, and has been since the founding
of the Turkish
Republic in 1923.
The Turkish Grand National
Assembly (parliament) had wisely voted to stay
out of the Iraq War. There
would be little benefit for Turkey,
and great
cost in lives and treasure. Perhaps
Assembly members recalled that during
the Gulf
War of
1991, President
George H W Bush had promised Turkey
several billions of dollars in support for Turkey's whole-hearted cooperation,
but after the war only a fraction
of the money was ever paid (according
to a public admission by a high US
government officer).
As "Valley of the Wolves" continues,
the American troops raid an Iraqi wedding,
murder
innocent members of the wedding party
(including
children), and arrest the survivors
and take them to the infamous Abu
Ghraib prison, where their internal organs
are "harvested" for sale and transplant
to wealthy but
ailing rich
people in London, New York and Tel
Aviv.
This is presumably fiction, but of
course it will be seen as documented
fact by many movie-goers, just as the
Hollywood hyperbole of "Midnight
Express" was seen as unvarnished
truth by millions of unquestioning
movie-goers. The image and reputation
of Turkey and Turks was badly tarnished
for decades, and Turkey lost millions
of dollars in tourism revenues.
Such is the power of
the cinema.
Turkey in Films, and Turkish Cinema
Turkish History
Books About Turkey
Travel Details
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