Ayla: The Daughter of War
Ayla: The Daughter of War (2017), directed by Can Ulkay, dramatizes the true story of Turkish sergeant Süleyman Dilbirliği and the Korean War orphan he named Ayla. Turkey's second most-watched film of 2017 (5M+ tickets) and its Oscar submission, it was later cited as a film-diplomacy case study.
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- Country
- Turkey
- Director
- Can Ulkay
- Screenwriter
- Yiğit Güralp
- Turkish theatrical release
- 27 October 2017
- Tickets sold in Turkey
- More than 5 million
- Box-office rank in Turkey
- 2nd most popular film of 2017
- Oscar submission
- Turkey's entry, Best Foreign Language Film, 90th Academy Awards
- Oscar PR campaign main sponsor
- Turkish Airlines
Ayla: The Daughter of War
The film that became a state-backed Oscar campaign and a soft-power case study
What nobody on the first page of search results tells you about Ayla: The Daughter of War is how big it was at home — and what it became afterward. In Turkey, Ayla was the second most popular film of 2017, selling more than five million tickets, with financial support from the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry 1. Its bid for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was not a quiet submission: Turkish Airlines served as the main sponsor of the Oscar public-relations campaign, with the Culture and Tourism Ministry as a main supporter, funding a campaign that took the film to South Korea in October 2017 — timed to what Hürriyet Daily News described as the 60th anniversary of Turkish soldiers landing in Busan — and then to Los Angeles 2. And eight years later, the 2025 Film Diplomacy Conference in Istanbul presented Ayla as a successful application of film diplomacy, crediting it with tangibly improving cultural and diplomatic relations between Türkiye and South Korea 3.
The true story
The film is adapted from the true story of Turkish sergeant Süleyman Dilbirliği, who served with the Turkish brigade under United Nations command in the Korean War of 1950–1953 4. During the war, Dilbirliği found a five-year-old girl who had lost both her parents and took her under his wing, naming her Ayla — Turkish for moonlight. After about fifteen months together, his brigade was ordered home; he fought the Korean bureaucracy to take her with him and failed, and Ayla was placed in an orphanage 24.
The story only became public decades later. During the Korean President’s visit in 2010, Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT produced a documentary about Turkish soldiers in the Korean War, and Dilbirliği’s story made headlines; he and Ayla — by then Kim Eun-ja — were reunited in tears and spoke about what they had lived through 2. After that first 2010 reunion, Kim told reporters, they met two or three times and wrote letters when they could not meet 4. In November 2017, with Dilbirliği 91 and in an Istanbul hospital, Kim flew in to visit her foster father; witnesses said a man who had stopped reacting to anything responded when she took his hands 4.
Production and release
Directed by Can Ülkay and written by Yiğit Güralp, the film stars İsmail Hacıoğlu as the young Dilbirliği and Çetin Tekindor as the elderly one, with Korean actresses Kim Seol and Lee Kyung-jin as the young and adult Ayla; Cade Carradine and Eric Roberts appear in supporting roles 25. Under Academy rules it had a limited screening in Turkey on 8 September 2017 before its Turkish theatrical release on 27 October 2017 26.
Not everything behind the scenes was harmonious. Güralp, the screenwriter, publicly criticized the production team for blocking him on social media and keeping him away from the entire PR process, writing on Instagram that “for four years, I did not have a single, peaceful, healthy day” — adding, “‘Ayla’ belongs to the audience now” 2.
What this profile does not claim
- The film was Turkey’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards; it was not nominated 4.
- A dollar box-office figure is deliberately omitted: aggregator sites publish conflicting numbers, while the verified commercial fact is the ministry-reported ticket count of over five million 1.
- This profile does not repeat filming locations, runtime, or festival-premiere details, because the only pages stating them were not personally verified for this profile.
Footnotes
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Hürriyet Daily News, “Turkish films soaring with support”: more than 5 million tickets; second most popular film in Turkey in 2017; ministry financial support in 2017. ↩ ↩2
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Hürriyet Daily News, “Turkey’s Oscar nominee ‘Ayla’ brings Korean War memories”: Turkish Airlines main sponsor; ministry main supporter; limited screening 8 Sept; South Korea PR campaign for 60th anniversary of Busan landing; cast; TRT documentary during Korean President’s 2010 visit; Güralp’s criticism. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
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Yeni Şafak, “Turkish artists champion film diplomacy at Istanbul conference, cite ‘Ayla’”: Film Diplomacy Conference 2025; soft-power case study; credited with improving Türkiye–South Korea relations. ↩
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Anadolu Agency, “Korean War orphan ‘Ayla’ visits Turkish foster father” (21 Nov 2017): 2017 hospital visit; 2010 reunion, two or three meetings, letters; film dramatization; Oscar nomination; 774 Turkish soldiers martyred under UN command 1950–1953. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
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Daily Sabah, “Four new movies debut this week” (28 Oct 2017): Oscar candidate; director, writer, cast; adapted from a true story. ↩
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IMDb, “Ayla (tt6316138)”: release date 2017-10-27; plot summary; genres. ↩
Timeline
- 2017
- Limited screening in Turkey on 8 September under Academy rules; Turkish theatrical release on 27 October
- 2017
- Wide public-relations campaign in South Korea in October marking the 60th anniversary of Turkish soldiers' landing in Busan, then Los Angeles
- 2017
- Turkey nominates Ayla for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars
- 2017
- Becomes the second most popular film in Turkey for the year with more than five million tickets sold
- 2025
- Presented as a successful application of film diplomacy at the Film Diplomacy Conference in Istanbul
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- This profile does not report a dollar box-office figure, because published aggregator figures conflict with one another; the verified number is the ticket count from Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry data.
- Whether the film received any international distribution revenue beyond Turkey and South Korea is not verified in the sources read.
Sources
6 sources (3 tier 1, 3 tier 2), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
- Supports: Turkish Airlines main sponsor of Oscar PR campaign; Culture and Tourism Ministry as main supporter; limited screening 8 September; October PR campaign in South Korea marking 60th anniversary of Busan landing; cast; TRT documentary making Dilbirliği's story public; screenwriter's criticism Open original source
- Supports: Second most popular film in Turkey in 2017 with more than 5 million tickets sold; received ministry financial support in 2017 Open original source
- Supports: Real-life Kim Eun-ja visited 91-year-old Dilbirliği in an Istanbul hospital; they first reunited in 2010, met two or three times, and wrote letters; film dramatized the tale; Turkey's Oscar nomination; 774 Turkish soldiers martyred under UN command in 1950–1953 Open original source
- Supports: Turkey's 2017 Best Foreign Language Film candidate; directed by Can Ulkay; written by Yiğit Güralp and adapted from a true story; full cast list Open original source
- Supports: Film Diplomacy Conference 2025; Ayla presented as successful application of film diplomacy; credited with tangibly improving Türkiye–South Korea cultural and diplomatic relations Open original source
- Ayla (tt6316138) Tier 2Supports: Plot summary; release date 2017-10-27; genres Biography, Drama, History, War Open original source
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