Anti-Israel film on Gaza ship opens in Turkey

[January 28, 2011]  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- A Turkish action movie based on the deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship opened in cinemas across Turkey on Friday.

The anti-Israeli movie "Valley of the Wolves -- Palestine" is about a Turkish undercover agent who hunts down Israeli commanders responsible for the killing of nine activists who died in the real-life May 31 attack on a ship that tried to bust through the blockade of Gaza as part of an international flotilla.

The TV series "Valley of the Wolves," on which the film is based, caused a diplomatic row between Turkey and Israel last year and the film could cause even more tension.

Ties between the two countries have strained over the Islamic-oriented government's increasingly critical statements on Israel's treatment of Palestinians and came to the brink of collapse after the raid.

Israel's ambassador Gabby Levy told Turkey's Anatolia news agency this week that the movie was slanderous. It quoted him as saying that some "generalizations about the Jewish people, certain anti-Semitic approaches" were "disturbing."

Levy also expressed dismay that the film's special gala viewing on Wednesday and its Friday opening came around the same time as the Jan. 27 International Holocaust Remembrance day, which Turkey marked with an official ceremony at an Istanbul synagogue.

Levy was not available for comment on Friday, the embassy said.

The film's trailer shows the Turkish hero and his hitmen extracting revenge on armed Israeli soldiers and acerbic dialogues between the Turks and the Israelis.

Producer Zubeyir Sasmaz told AP Television News that the film aims to expose injustices against Palestinians.

"This is not about taking revenge for Mavi Marmara," Sasmaz said in reference to the Turkish ship on which the eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American were killed in the Israeli commando raid. "The goal of the film is to show what the Palestinians are going through."

An Israeli inquiry cleared its military and government of wrongdoing in the raid. A Turkish investigation described alleged Israeli violations of international law during the attack.

[Associated Press]

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