LONG-KEPT SECRET OF A COUPLE IN FILM

Hurriyet
June 10 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – A new documentary reveals the 30-year secret of Omer and
Ankine, one of the most recent representatives of Turkish canto, who
is known as Aysun IÅ~_ık. Their story, told in 46 minutes, has been
adapted for the silver screen and will be shown in Istanbul on Thursday

Since she was a young girl, Ankine’s biggest passion has been canto,
and she was determined to become a canto dancer. Despite her family’s
protests, Ankine followed her dream as dancer and married a man from
a different religion. She is now starring in a documentary about her
enduring love of both dance and a forbidden man.

>From the start, Ankine’s conservative family forbade her from
pursuing her dream as a stage dancer. Their biggest fear was that
their daughter would be given a bad name. They asked her to stay at
home and get married one day just like the other girls her age.

But Ankine’s passion was so strong that she fought her way to the
stage despite her family’s protests. She made it to the stage for the
first time in 1978 when an ad about a dance contest in a newspaper
drew her attention. One of the jury members was revolutionary Turkish
pop musician Erol Buyukburc. Ankine won the competition.

Ankine and Omer’s 30-year secret Ankine was a member of a family of
Armenian origin. Marrying outside of her religion and dancing were
forbidden for her. Ankine once again defied her family’s rules and
married Omer, a Turkish Muslim and the love of her life. Ankine’s
family disowned their daughter. Omer’s family never knew that Ankine
was an Armenian and a dancer. The couple kept this secret for 30
years. Omer has never prevented her from dancing; instead, the couple
chose a stage name to conceal her identity, Aysun IÅ~_ık.

Ankine and Omer’s secret was revealed for the first time in a
documentary film titled "Hayatın Ritmi: Aksak" (When the Rhythm of
Life Misses a Beat). Documentary maker Yasin Ali Turkeri, who saw
Ankine dancing canto in 2004, asked for Ankine and Omer’s permission
to make a documentary about their story. Turkeri told Ankine’s 48-year
life from all perspectives in a 46-minute documentary.

"This is the finest example of Turkish-Armenian relations," Turkeri
told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review about the couple’s
love story.

Turkeri said Turkish and Armenian societies share the same conservative
mind. He said canto was a branch of art that was almost forgotten and
that Ankine and Nurhan Damcıoglu, Turkey’s best-known name in canto,
were the most recent representatives of this type of dancing.

Turkeri said he sometimes faced interesting questions during the
filming of the documentary. "People were asking me why I filmed Ankine
but not Damcıoglu. I always gave the same answer that I did not make
a documentary on the history of canto but the story of a big love."

"Hayatın Ritmi: Aksak" will be screened Thursday at the Ottoman
Bank Museum on Karaköy Bankalar Street at 6:30 p.m. Right after the
screening, there will be a discussion at 7:15 p.m. on "The Missing
Beat in the Rhythm: Being a Minority in Turkey." Metin Meric will
moderate the talk.

Turkeri said the documentary had been shot with a budget of 25,000
Turkish Liras provided by the Culture Ministry. "I named the
documentary ‘When the Rhythm of Life Misses a Beat’ because there
were missing beats in the lives of Omer and Ankine," he said. "Their
marriage was a secret one."