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Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria has dominated news headlines since it was launched two months ago, and now "Operation Olive Branch" will also be featured on the showtime board in movie theaters across Turkey.
In a case of art imitates life, a film about Turkish special forces crossing to the Syrian town of Afrin to fight YPG militia is hitting the big screen in Turkey this week. The release comes a few days after Ankara announced it had driven out the Kurdish forces from the center of their northern Syrian enclave.
Completed in a record 63 days, "Maroon Berets 2: Afrin" tells the story of a group of elite soldiers, known as Maroon Berets owing to their characteristic headgear, who are tasked with recovering a warhead from Kurdish militants in Syria provided to them by the US to fight ISIL but which they pointed towards Turkey instead.
Scene from "Maroon Berets: Afrin" (2018).
If the plot line sounds familiar, it’s because of the uncanny resemblance it bears to real-life events.
Inspired by true events
The YPG is Washington’s ally in the campaign to eliminate ISIL in Syria, with Kurdish fighters receiving arms and other military assistance from US troops – much to the consternation of Turkey.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees Syrian Kurdish forces as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged over three decades of insurgency in southeastern Turkey, and a threat that must be removed.
Poster of "Maroon Berets: Afrin" (2018).
In late January, Ankara launched a ground campaign targeting the Kurdish stronghold in Syria, with tanks and troops crossing the border under the cover of fighter jets and heavy artillery. On Sunday, Erdogan announced that Afrin had fallen in the hands of Turkish soldiers and their allied Free Syrian Army, as Kurdish officials vowed to turn to "hit and run tactics" from now on.
The Turkish and US governments have both classified the PKK as a terrorist organization, although their stances differ on Syria’s YPG.
The US has equipped Syria's Kurds with arms, which has driven a wedge between Ankara and Washington. Turkey former alleges that arms from its fellow NATO ally are contributing to Kurdish efforts to undermine its sovereignty.
On Monday, Turkish authorities seized two AT-4 unguided anti-tank weapons from PKK militants during an operation in southeastern Sirnak Province. The arms were said to belong to Syrian Kurdish fighters, who acquired them from US forces before passing them to the PKK.
‘Coincidence’
A screening of "Maroon Berets 2: Afrin" was held on Tuesday in a theater in Istanbul ahead of its general release on Friday. Director Erhan Baytimur said the proximity of the film’s premier to the capture of Afrin was a coincidence, according to Reuters.
Poster of "Maroon Berets: Syria" (2017).
Shooting began a few weeks before the campaign was launched, and took place in Turkey’s northwestern province of Bursa. Actors used real weapons supplied by two local arms companies, which helped them understand "very well our soldiers there [Afrin]," actor Balamir Emren said.
The work, approved by the Turkish Armed Forces and Defense Ministry, is meant to highlight the bravery of Turkish soldiers, Baytimur noted.
"We need to stand in unity and solidarity and this is how it was during the Afrin operation," Reuters quoted him as saying.
But not everyone shares the director's enthusiasm regarding his country's military campaign, which has received its fair share of criticism from home and abroad.
Turkish forces patrol an area in Afrin, Syria, March 22, 2018.
Over 310 journalists, politicians and activists were detained in Turkey in the first 10 days of the military offensive for expressing their opposition to it. Erdogan accused the critics of betrayal and dismissed them as unworthy of being called "Turkish", drawing condemnation of the European Parliament.
Damascus has labeled the incursion an "aggression", while French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called it "unjustified" and the German Parliament described it as "unacceptable."
Despite the backlash, Ankara insists its military move is legitimate.
"Turkey is aiming to ensure its national security by using its right to self-defense and to hand over Afrin to its rightful owners [civilians] by liberating it from terrorists with ‘Operation Olive Branch,’" the Turkish Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement published on Thursday.
Patriotic message
"Maroon Berets: Afrin" is the latest in a growing list of recent domestic productions stoking patriotic sentiment and national pride through the glorification of the country’s military might as Ankara wades deeper into the Syrian war and fight against ISIL.
Poster of "The Mountain" (2012).
The new release is a sequel to last year’s "Maroon Berets: Syria", which was also directed by Baytimur, and follows 2016’s blockbuster "Mountain 2" (Dag II).
The fictional drama, which follows seven Turkish army commandos on a mission to rescue a journalist kidnapped in Iraq by ISIL, was the most viewed movie in Turkish theaters that year, attracting more than 2.5 million people, according to Daily Sabah newspaper.
The follow-up to "The Mountain" (2012) was a box office hit domestically, raking in some 7.6 million US dollars by year's end, despite a late release (November 2016).
(CGTN)
