AKI, Italy
Feb 9 2007

TURKEY: NEW SEASON OF TV SERIES SPARKS PROTEST

Istanbul, 9 Feb. (AKI) – The new season of a controversial TV series
"The Valley of the Wolves" has begun in Turkey amid debates and
protests. The series has been criticised for praising violence,
encouraging illegal acts for the sake of land and the nation. The
previous season of the television show, about an illegal group
working to end threats to the Turkish nation and establishment,
secured record audience ratings in 2004 and 2005. After this huge
success a movie was also screened in 2005, about the same group,
which went to Iraq to fight the US military, in revenge for Turkish
soldiers who had been insulted by American troops.

The movie was also criticised in the United States for having
anti-American sentiments.

But many public groups and sociology experts argue that these kinds
of movies adversely affect people especially unemployed youths who
are eager to commit crimes and harm others who they consider the
‘enemy’.

Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink’s murder on 19 January also
spurred heated debate about these type of television programmes and
movies.

After the promotion of the new series ‘Valley of the Wolves – Terror’
in Show TV, hundreds of viewers had complained to the Radio
Television High Council (RTUK) seeking to prevent the series from
being screened. Also scores of people on Thursday night demonstrated
against the TV series in front of the Show TV building in the Turkish
capital, Istanbul. The group said that they didn’t support censorship
but condemned the TV channel.

The first episode of the series again pulled record audiences,
securing a 48 percent share on Wednesday night.