'Valley of the Wolves' star becomes honorary culture, tourism attaché
NICOSIA – Anatolia News Agency
Hürriyet photo
Turkish actor Necati Şaşmaz, better known as the character Polat Alemdar from the TV series “Kurtlar Vadisi” (Valley of the Wolves), has been named an honorary culture and tourism attaché for Turkish Cyprus.Şaşmaz received the Turkish and English honorary attaché documents from Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister İrsen Küçük and Tourism Environment and Culture Minister Ünsal Üstel on March 14 at a ceremony.
Noting that he would start working for the promotion of Turkish Cyprus abroad, Şaşmaz said, “I will do my best to carry out this mission.”
He said the late northern Cypriot President Rauf Denktaş had performed in their TV series, the actor said: “We were thinking of making [Turkish Cyprus] a tourism country. We have mentioned it in our series a few times, and we realized it thanks to Denktaş.”
Küçük said northern Cyprus was in great need of promotional work. While noting that he did not have too much time to watch TV, the prime minister said Şaşmaz’s series was popular in the country.
Küçük also denied rumors made some by some media circles that he had also had a part in “Valley of the Wolves.”
The prime minister said Denktaş’s appearance on the show had contributed to the country’s tourism and added that Şaşmaz would highlight the tourism sector in the country.
After speeches, Şaşmaz received the Turkish attaché documents from Küçük and the English document from Üstel.
The TV series “Valley of the Wolves” was created by Osman Sınav. The show became an instant hit with its references to Turkish politics, its unabashed abuse of social sensitivities on patriotism and its unprecedented scenes of violence that included “assassination and torture on television,” according to Hürriyet Daily News reviewer Emrah Güler.
