‘Fetih 1453’ wins big at box office

Milliyet

AA photo

“Fetih 1453,” which premiered Feb. 16, garnered an estimated record-breaking 12 million Turkish Liras at the box office in just four days, according to daily Milliyet. The film was shown in 850 cinemas around Turkey, reportedly drawing over 1 million people.

The movie, directed by Faruk Aksoy, tells the story of Istanbul’s capture by the Ottomans during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II. It has angered Christians in the German city of Cologne, with the Christian association Via Dolorosa boycotting the film. The association said Turks should be ashamed of what they did to Christians in the past instead of celebrating Istanbul’s conquest.

The movie has also angered Greek viewers after it was released there in January. Greek weekly To Proto Thema described the film as “conquest propaganda by the Turks,” in a story published on its website. “The Turkish invaders present themselves as rulers of the world” and “[fail] to show the mass killings of Greeks and the plunder of the land by the Turks,” the piece said.