The relationship of war movies and the political agenda in Turkish cinema Serdar Akar's "Valley of Wolves Iraq" movie example

The thesis focuses on the film "Kurtlar Vadisi Irak," directed by Serdar Akar in 2006, and investigates the reflections of Iraq's invasion and Turkey's Middle East policy within our cinema. Firstly, a literature review is conducted, explaining fundamental concepts such as war, belonging, nationalism, patriotism, and militarism. Then, historical and theoretical information about the presentation styles of these themes in cinema films is compiled, and the characteristics of war films as a genre are examined. Turkish war films are categorized and listed based on the wars they depict, attempting to establish parallels with the political conditions of the time they were made. The main subject of the thesis, 'Kurtlar Vadisi Irak' film, is analyzed through discourse analysis, considering its plot, characters, dialogues, settings, and narrative structure. The scope of the study includes war films produced in Turkish cinema, and the sample film is 'Kurtlar Vadisi Irak.' When selecting this film, a typical case sampling method is applied, taking into account the TV series 'Kurtlar Vadisi,' which aired on a national television channel between 2003 and 2015 and exhibited relevance to contemporary politics. Within the 'Kurtlar Vadisi' project, three more films were produced and widely released. The study aims to explain how war films produced in Turkish cinema reflect the political conditions of the time they were made, using the example of the selected film..