Cinema, Horror and the Wrath of God: Turkish Islam’s Claims in the Kurdish East

Year 2020, Volume: 4 Issue: 14, 11 - 28, 31.12.2020

Ali Sengul

Abstract

This article offers an allegorical reading of the Turkish horror film Büyü / Spell (Orhan Oguz, 2004). As the first Turkish horror film that takes Islam at the center of its narrative and the first horror film taking place in the Kurdish East, Büyü shifts the ideology of cinematic East away from social realism and the representation of the region as a space to be modernized in accordance with the Kemalist national modernization process. Unlike the East in social realism where feudalism, Islam and illiteracy were seen as main problems to be dealt with, Büyü’s main concern over the East is its diversion from Islam and the threat the influx of non-Muslims poses to the Turco-Islamic unity the region is shown to enjoy in a remote past. In Büyü, the Kurdish East is represented as the space of horror, death, and sorcery, and Islam is offered to fight the horror. The article studies the film as an early example of popular culture in Turkey where one can trace the national and territorial ideology of the new pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party, which during the early 2000s was in search of hegemony against not only the secularist Turkish political elite but also the Pro-Kurdish political movement in the Kurdish East.

Keywords

horror film, Turkish Cinema, social realism, allegory

Sinema, Tirs û Xezeba Xwedê: Angaştên Îslama Tirkan li Rojhilata Kurd

Abstract

Ev gotar xwendineke allegorîk ya fîlmê tirsê yê bi Tirkê yê bi navê Büyü / Efsûn 
(Orhan Oguz, 2004) pêşkeş dike. Wek fîlmê tirsê yê bi Tirkî ku cara ewil Îslamê 
dixe navenda vegotina xwe. Wekî fîlmê ewil yê tirsê yê ku li Rojhilata Kurd bûyerên wî 
têne meydanê, filmê Büyü îdeolojîa sînamatîk ya Rojhilatê ji realîzma civakî û ji wê temsîlîyeta
heremî dûr dixe ku ew wek  mekanekê di bin pêvajoya modernîzasyona
neteweyî de dihate modernîzekirin. Di realîzma civakî de, li Rojhilatê feodalîzm,
Îslam û nexwendatî wekî pirsgirêkên bingehîn dihatin dîtin ku divê pê re mucadele
bihata kirin. Lê di fîlm Büyüyê de endîşeya bingehîn ya Rojhilatê ji Îslamê dûrketin
îstîlaya unsurên ne musluman e ku ew îstîla li ser yekîtîya Turko-Îslamîk e ku ev
herêm ji berê ve ye ji vê yekîtîyê sûd werdigire. Di fîlmê Büyüyê de Rojhilata Kurd
wekî cihekî tirs, mirin û efsên tê nîşandan.  Îslam wekî  çareserîyê  tê  pêşkeşkirin.
Ev gotar li ser wî fîlmî dixebite ku ew wekî mînaka destpêkê  ya çanda populer a
Turkîyeyê dikare were nirxandin. Di vê çanda popular ya Tirkîyeyê de mirov dikare
şopên îdeolojîya neteweyî û heremî ya şêwesaiya siyaseta Îslamîparêz bibîne ku di
destpêka salên 2000î de, ne tenê  li dijî  sekulerên politîk ên Tirk, lê  li hember tevgera
polîtîkîya Kurd-Par3ez jê  li pey hegemonyayê  ketibû.

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