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TURKISH CINEMA DIGS DEEP INTO RECENT HISTORY
Hurriyet, Turkey
April 29 2013
ANKARA - Hurriyet Daily News
The 'postmodern' coup of Feb. 28, 1997 continues to have repercussions
in Turkey's political and everyday life. Two new movies this week focus
on the events leading to the coup and its late aftermath respectively
Photo: Two new Turkish films 'Qufur' and 'Hile Yolu' (Deception) both
released this week, are deeply influenced by the whole history of Feb.
28, 1997 and its aftermath up to one-and-a-half-decades later.
The repercussions of the Feb. 28 process, or the "postmodern" coup
as referred to by many, continue to define the political, social,
educational, and even the artistic atmosphere in today's Turkey. The
process took its name from a meeting of the National Security Council
on Feb. 28, 1997, a time when the military had more power than the
elected government.
Following the infamous meeting, the military issued a memorandum
imposing decisions to cement the secularist ideology in the face of a
perceived threat by the rising Islamist ideology. The prime minister,
Necmettin Erbakan of the Welfare Party, and the coalition government,
was forced to sign a set of decisions, some of which banned the
headscarf in the universities, shut down Quranic schools, abolished
the Sufi orders, and raised the total amount of compulsory education
to eight years.
The Feb. 28 process eventually led to the resignation of Erbakan and
his coalition government after just one year in office. The government
was forced out without dissolving the Parliament or suspending the
Constitution, hence the name "postmodern" coup. The process since
then has fuelled a polarization between conservative Islamists and
secularists that is visible not only in political power games but
in everyday life, which has come to define the dynamics of 21st
century Turkey.
Two new Turkish films, both released this week, are deeply influenced
by the whole history of Feb. 28, 1997 and its aftermath up to
one-and-a-half-decades later.
Muslum Gunduz and Fadime Å~^ahin were the actors of a national scandal
in late 1996, whose names became symbols in the lead up to the Feb. 28
process. Gunduz was the devoted anti-secularist leader of the Aczmendi
community, a self-proclaimed Islamic order. He was arrested by the
police in December 1996 in a house where he was found with Å~^ahin,
a 22-year-old female student, which led to an investigation in which
it was alleged that she was being shared sexually among the leaders
of the community.
Confronting recent history in Turkish cinema
The scandal is the obvious inspiration for one of this week's new
releases, "Qufur." At the center of the movie, co-directed by Mustafa
Delazy and Arafat Å~^avata, is an Islamic sect whose leaders and
male members find Islam to be the best medium of exploitation for
their personal aggrandizement, taking in some unsuspecting - and
others not so unsuspecting - young women to be their blissful and
blessed companions.
The movie begins with the leader of the sect, the faux-sheikh Limon
Hodja, finding himself a much younger woman, promising her family
a place in heaven in exchange for her hand (and more). However, the
Hodja's unexpected death triggers a chain of events within the sect
to replace him - mostly the lowest form of power games. In the midst
of all the brouhaha, young love blossoms. The young couple trying to
run away from the sect operate as an antithesis to the false leaders
abusing Islam for money, power and sex.
Murders of Armenians
Another new release, director and writer Ersin Kana's "Hile Yolu" (By
Way Of By Way Of Deception), takes us to another secret organization,
a sleeper cell targeting non-Muslim minorities. The recent series of
murders of Armenian women in Istanbul is one of the many darker corners
of Turkey's recent history that serves as an inspiration to the movie.
Albeit half-heartedly, the film looks at the intricate dynamics
among the organization, the police and the deep state, working more
as a crime drama than a political one. "Hile Yolu" focuses on the
story by looking into the relationships among its leading characters,
the trigger-happy young men, who have been fed with hate and a sense
of manufactured accomplishment in order to fill the void created by
polarization, lack of education, and unemployment.
A missing hard drive at the heart of the story turns out to contain
crucial information on the murder of Turkish-Armenian editor and
journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, and on the Ergenekon investigation, an
operation into an alleged organization consisting mostly of military
forces planning to overthrow the government, and to many, a revenge
operation for the Feb. 28's postmodern coup. While touching on many
grave matters in Turkey's recent history, the film uses them merely
as a backdrop for its crime story. "Qufur" and "Hile Yolu" may only
be average, for different reasons, for both box-office audiences
and art-house lovers. Still, the two films hint at a new direction
Turkish cinema is taking, confronting the very recent history and
its repercussions.
April/29/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-cinema-digs-deep-into-recent-history.aspx?pageID=238&nID=45800&NewsCatID=381
Hurriyet, Turkey
April 29 2013
ANKARA - Hurriyet Daily News
The 'postmodern' coup of Feb. 28, 1997 continues to have repercussions
in Turkey's political and everyday life. Two new movies this week focus
on the events leading to the coup and its late aftermath respectively
Photo: Two new Turkish films 'Qufur' and 'Hile Yolu' (Deception) both
released this week, are deeply influenced by the whole history of Feb.
28, 1997 and its aftermath up to one-and-a-half-decades later.
The repercussions of the Feb. 28 process, or the "postmodern" coup
as referred to by many, continue to define the political, social,
educational, and even the artistic atmosphere in today's Turkey. The
process took its name from a meeting of the National Security Council
on Feb. 28, 1997, a time when the military had more power than the
elected government.
Following the infamous meeting, the military issued a memorandum
imposing decisions to cement the secularist ideology in the face of a
perceived threat by the rising Islamist ideology. The prime minister,
Necmettin Erbakan of the Welfare Party, and the coalition government,
was forced to sign a set of decisions, some of which banned the
headscarf in the universities, shut down Quranic schools, abolished
the Sufi orders, and raised the total amount of compulsory education
to eight years.
The Feb. 28 process eventually led to the resignation of Erbakan and
his coalition government after just one year in office. The government
was forced out without dissolving the Parliament or suspending the
Constitution, hence the name "postmodern" coup. The process since
then has fuelled a polarization between conservative Islamists and
secularists that is visible not only in political power games but
in everyday life, which has come to define the dynamics of 21st
century Turkey.
Two new Turkish films, both released this week, are deeply influenced
by the whole history of Feb. 28, 1997 and its aftermath up to
one-and-a-half-decades later.
Muslum Gunduz and Fadime Å~^ahin were the actors of a national scandal
in late 1996, whose names became symbols in the lead up to the Feb. 28
process. Gunduz was the devoted anti-secularist leader of the Aczmendi
community, a self-proclaimed Islamic order. He was arrested by the
police in December 1996 in a house where he was found with Å~^ahin,
a 22-year-old female student, which led to an investigation in which
it was alleged that she was being shared sexually among the leaders
of the community.
Confronting recent history in Turkish cinema
The scandal is the obvious inspiration for one of this week's new
releases, "Qufur." At the center of the movie, co-directed by Mustafa
Delazy and Arafat Å~^avata, is an Islamic sect whose leaders and
male members find Islam to be the best medium of exploitation for
their personal aggrandizement, taking in some unsuspecting - and
others not so unsuspecting - young women to be their blissful and
blessed companions.
The movie begins with the leader of the sect, the faux-sheikh Limon
Hodja, finding himself a much younger woman, promising her family
a place in heaven in exchange for her hand (and more). However, the
Hodja's unexpected death triggers a chain of events within the sect
to replace him - mostly the lowest form of power games. In the midst
of all the brouhaha, young love blossoms. The young couple trying to
run away from the sect operate as an antithesis to the false leaders
abusing Islam for money, power and sex.
Murders of Armenians
Another new release, director and writer Ersin Kana's "Hile Yolu" (By
Way Of By Way Of Deception), takes us to another secret organization,
a sleeper cell targeting non-Muslim minorities. The recent series of
murders of Armenian women in Istanbul is one of the many darker corners
of Turkey's recent history that serves as an inspiration to the movie.
Albeit half-heartedly, the film looks at the intricate dynamics
among the organization, the police and the deep state, working more
as a crime drama than a political one. "Hile Yolu" focuses on the
story by looking into the relationships among its leading characters,
the trigger-happy young men, who have been fed with hate and a sense
of manufactured accomplishment in order to fill the void created by
polarization, lack of education, and unemployment.
A missing hard drive at the heart of the story turns out to contain
crucial information on the murder of Turkish-Armenian editor and
journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, and on the Ergenekon investigation, an
operation into an alleged organization consisting mostly of military
forces planning to overthrow the government, and to many, a revenge
operation for the Feb. 28's postmodern coup. While touching on many
grave matters in Turkey's recent history, the film uses them merely
as a backdrop for its crime story. "Qufur" and "Hile Yolu" may only
be average, for different reasons, for both box-office audiences
and art-house lovers. Still, the two films hint at a new direction
Turkish cinema is taking, confronting the very recent history and
its repercussions.
April/29/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-cinema-digs-deep-into-recent-history.aspx?pageID=238&nID=45800&NewsCatID=381