Reuters Alert, UK
Feb 16 2007

Kurdish action series dropped from Turkish TV

16 Feb 2007 14:32:57 GMT
Source: Reuters

ISTANBUL, Feb 16 (Reuters) – A Turkish television channel has
dropped a popular action series depicting Kurdish separatist violence
over concerns that it could fan nationalism.

Violent nationalism, especially among impressionable young people,
has become especially sensitive in Turkey since the murder last month
of Turkish Armenian editor Hrant Dink by a teenage gunman apparently
motivated by ultra-nationalist ideas.

The action-packed "Valley of the Wolves" has been hugely popular both
as a television series and a movie, but the latest series, "Valley of
the Wolves — Terror", was controversial for its graphic scenes of
violence by the Kurdish separatists.

Turkish nationalists are strongly opposed to Kurdish separatist
rebels who have been fighting for an ethnic homeland in southeastern
Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 30,000
lives.

The production company, Pana Film, said the broadcaster, Show TV, had
been told to pull the series or lose its licence.

But an official at the regulator, RTUK, said that although more than
13,000 complaints had been received, the decision to stop
broadcasting had come from Show TV.

Earlier this week Turkey’s leading newspaper, Hurriyet, said
regulators had met the head of Show TV to express concerns that the
series could provoke more potential killers like Dink’s 17-year-old
assassin, Ogun Samast.

An official at Show TV declined to comment.