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Article: Ataturk film draws Turkish crowds, and controversy
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- November 13, 2008
- Author:
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A documentary that portrays the revered founder of modern Turkey as a lonely womanizer with a weakness for alcohol and cigarettes is drawing massive crowds but outraging hardline followers of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's secular tradition.
More than a half-million people have watched "Mustafa" since it premiered Oct. 29 on the 85th anniversary of the Turkish republic, making it one of the most-seen films in Turkey in recent years.
But hardline secularists are livid over its portrait of Ataturk as an authoritarian leader who was detached from the people and spent his final days smoking and drinking alone.
Turkey's top mobile telephone operator, Turkcell, withdrew ...