Variety Magazine
Feb 24 2007
Turkish net forced to bail on hit tale
13,000 complaints sent following premiere
By ALI JAAFAR Hit Turkish skein "Valley of the Wolves: Terror" has
been yanked only one episode into its new run following complaints
the show could incite sectarian violence.
Turkish satcaster Show TV, which aired the series, was reportedly
warned by regulator RTUK it would lose its license if it didn’t pull
the show, after 13,000 complaints were received following the season
preem.
Execs at both RTUK and Show TV have been quick to point the finger at
each other for the decision to nix the show, which garnered auds of
30 million and a 48% market share.
Execs from Pana Film, the shingle behind the franchise, were clear on
whom they blamed however.
"We have been given no official explanation, and the RTUK now deny
they ordered the show to be cancelled, but we know that they told
Show TV they would cancel their license if they continued to show
it," says Pana spokesman Tugba Mutaf.
"Valley of the Wolves: Terror" depicted Kurdish separatist violence
over the past two decades. Even though Pana officials claimed the
show "portrayed Turks and Kurds as brothers," sensitivity in Turkey
over the representation of rival nationalist aspirations has been
particularly high ever since the assassination of Turkish-Armenian
editor Hrant Dink in January by an ultra-nationalist Turkish
teenager.
This isn’t the first controversy to hit the "Valley of the Wolves"
producers. Last year, a bigscreen spinoff of wildly popular series
"Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" took the Turkish box office by storm,
attracting some 6 million admissions to become the country’s
highest-ever grosser.
Pic — which showed Turkish troops sent to the avenge atrocities by
Americans and their allies, including Israel — was pulled from
German theaters following accusations of anti-Semitism.
It’s unclear what will happen to the rest of "Valley of the Wolves:
Terror" series. Producers had already wrapped the second episode. A
further 13 were planned.
"We want to show this to our people. We’re looking at releasing it on
DVD, on the internet or maybe turning it onto a film," says Mutaf.
"Maybe some people are afraid of showing who’s behind this terror."