MADNESS OF THE ‘VALLEY OF THE WOLVES’ BESIEGES TURKEY
AyÞe Karabat Ankara

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 21 2007

"We are all Turks, and we all are the Valley of the Wolves," wrote
a fan nicknamed "ozioo," of the controversial TV show "Valley of the
Wolves," on the infamous TV series webpage forum.

S/he referred to a slogan which was used during the protests following
the assassination of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, namely
"We are all Armenians, we are all Hrant Dink." The slogan has later
come to be adapted to other uses as well.

Another fan, nicknamed "hayati unsal," a character from the series,
urges all fans to participate to a demonstration to be held in Ankara
in front of the sculpture representing the struggle for human rights
on Saturday afternoon. The fan says: "For the future of Turkey,
we should join this demonstration."

"Ozioo" and "hayati unsal" are not alone. The controversy surrounding
the TV series "Valley of the Wolves" has besieged Turkey since last
week, particularly after the privately-owned station Show TV decided
not to air the second episode, allegedly due to pressures from the
Supreme Council of Radio and Television (RTUK).

This madness started couple of years ago, when the TV series entered
Turkish social life. The series depicts a young man named Polat
Alemdar, who was adopted by a family and graduated from Political
Science Department, becomes an undercover agent to fight against the
mafia. But he uses illegal and brutal methods. After the success of
the series, came the movie: "Valley of the Wolves – Iraq," in which
Alemdar takes revenge for the Turkish soldiers who were "humiliated"
by American soldiers in Iraq. The movie contains heavily anti-Semitic
and anti-American elements. The movie became the most lucrative movie
ever produced by the Turkish film industry.

The movie was followed by the second season of the series: "Valley of
the Wolves – Terror." As the name implies, it was expected to discuss
the terror problem and address the Kurdish question. However, public
opinion was divided: some argued that it would provoke ethnic hatred.

RTUK reportedly claimed to have received thousands of petitions
against the series. RTUK officials deny accusations of forcing Show TV
to take the series off the air. Yet, instead of the second episode,
fans saw a farewell announcement from the producers speaking about a
"wheel of censorship." Since then, the mania over the "Valley of the
Wolves" has only gotten deeper.

Along with the discussion of censorship, many politicians including
some ministers have given statements on the TV show. According to
some conspiracy theories, there was a secret report sent to Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, which envisages a huge drop in votes
for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), and even
street clashes in certain cities if the show was broadcasted. Though
the prime minister’s office has dismissed this claim and denied the
existence of any such report, rumors continue, alleging this report
claims that the series will increase nationalistic sentiments, thereby
leading to an increase in votes for the Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP), and a drop in AK Party’s votes. The report further claims that
the series might lead to Turkish-Kurdish clashes in some cities.

Another rumor is that AK Party Diyarbakýr Deputy Ýhsan Arslan was
influential in Show TV’s decision. Reacting to this rumor, Arslan
felt obliged to make a statement. "Some people want to put an end to
my political career," he said. "Either they think that I am rich or
they might have another problem. All these claims that I am the one
who took the series off the air are just libels."

A number of nongovernmental organizations, from the Turkish
Health Workers Union to the Ankara Cubuk Terror Victims’ Solidarity
Association, have reacted to Show TV’s decision. Hundreds of comments
have been written. Among the protesters of the decision by Show TV
are a local newspaper from Corum and its workers, who put bandages on
their mouths to protest censorship. Also the Turkish Health Workers
Union made a statement which said: "Nowadays, the smoking age is
10 in Turkey and there are lots of immoral TV series. The decision
to cancel the airing of a nationalistic series which defends the
territorial integrity of Turkey cannot be justified." Another protest
came from the Ankara Cubuk Terror Victims’ Solidarity Association,
which condemned the decision to stop airing the series which would
"show the real face of terror."

The protests are not limited to written statements. The official
Web site of the series, kurtlarvadisi.com, is getting 120,000 hits
per second according to the ANKA news agency. Hundreds of thousands
of people are participating in the online polls run by newspapers
and forums.

Among the ministers who have made statements about the "Valley
of the Wolves" are Education Minister Huseyin Celik, Deputy Prime
Minister Mehmet Ali Þahin, State Minister Beþir Atalay and Deputy
Prime Minister Abdullatif Þener. However, the politician who made
the strongest defense for Show TV’s decision was AK Party Deputy
Chairman Mir Mehmet Fýrat. He said the decision was just as right
as the decision to abolish child pornography. The fans of the series
reacted harshly to Fýrat’s comments in the forums.

Meanwhile, some students attending a high school in Canakkale taped
themselves as they were playing with guns in their school and put the
video on YouTube under the title of "Youth of Valley of the Wolves."

Apart from numerous comments from columnists, the TV series has been
discussed in several scholarly studies. For instance, Gazi University’s
Faculty of Communication has published a special education of their
journal featuring the series.

Despite the fact that the series is associated with rising
nationalistic sentiments, there are several sociological reasons
behind its popularity, and one of the most prominent one is that
Turks take popular culture very seriously.

"Do not forget that sometimes art imitates the real life," sociologist
Tanýl Bora says. According to Bora, the magic of the series relies
on the fact that "Valley of the Wolves has an aesthetic fantasy of
destroying the enemy, and the enemy figures have a huge group." Bora
maintains that another reason for this mania is that the main character
of the series, Polat Alemdar, does not recognize any limit, as a macho
character. This character fits well to psychological shortcomings of
many members of the Turkish society, Bora remarks.

Mutlu Binark, a sociologist who specializes in communication, says
that the series has become a phenomenon because it makes references to
ever-increasing violence, especially in our daily lives. The people
from the middle and lower-class have started to consider violence
as a fact of daily life. Binark argues that the solution is not to
censor "Valley of the Wolves" or its kindred, but to develop the
consciences of individuals, with the ability to differentiate real
life from entertainment.

Despite the huge number of fans of the "Valley of the Wolves," the
planned protest in Ankara did not take place, as no one showed up. In
Istanbul, there were only 20 protesters or so. A fan on the forums,
nicknamed "polat," expressed his/her disappointment: "Is this all of
your love? Nothing can be done with you."

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