Can Ülkay

Turkish director of Ayla: The Daughter of War, Turkey's 2017 Oscar entry. A longtime commercial-film director — the Arda Turan Simit Sarayı campaign, spots for Lipton, Ülker and Türk Telekom — he later directed Netflix's Kağıttan Hayatlar (Paper Lives) and the 2025 spy thriller Uykucu.

Researched by Muhammad Abdullah Al Yasin · 10 October 2026

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Country: Turkey
Known for: Director of Ayla: The Daughter of War (2017), Turkey's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; later the Müslüm Gürses biopic Müslüm, Netflix's Kağıttan Hayatlar (Paper Lives), and the 2025 spy thriller Uykucu
Name spelling: Turkish industry and trade sources render the name "Can Ülkay"; English-language credits and international databases use the ASCII form "Can Ulkay"
Advertising career: Directed brand campaigns including the 2013 Arda Turan spots for Simit Sarayı and films for TTnet, Biscolata, Tivibu, Didi, Lipton, Eti, Ülker and Türk Telekom; joined the Terra Film production house's director roster in 2019
Oscar bid: Said in November 2017 that he and his team had believed Ayla would contend for an Oscar from the moment its screenplay was being written, and argued an Oscar-calibre film needs an adequate budget — high by Turkish standards, low by international ones
Recent theatrical result: Uykucu (2025) finished the year as Turkey's fifth most-watched theatrical release, with 833,867 admissions

Can Ülkay — rendered “Can Ulkay” in English-language credits — is the Turkish director of Ayla: The Daughter of War (2017), Turkey’s entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Hürriyet Daily News). Before features he directed television commercials, joined Terra Film’s director roster in 2019, then made Müslüm (2018), Netflix’s Kağıttan Hayatlar (2021) and the 2025 hit Uykucu (Marketing Türkiye; Box Office Türkiye).

Turkish industry sources spell his name with the diacritic — “Can Ülkay” — while international databases use the ASCII “Can Ulkay” (Marketing Türkiye; Anadolu Agency via Haberler). His commercial work included the 2013 Arda Turan campaign for Simit Sarayı and brand films for Lipton, Ülker and Türk Telekom (Marketing Türkiye).

The commercial director behind the camera

Ülkay’s feature career rests on a long foundation in advertising — a fact the English-language film databases skip entirely. In 2013, Turkey’s advertising trade press reported that Simit Sarayı’s surprise campaign starring national-team footballer Arda Turan was directed by Ülkay under the Alametifarika agency of founder Serdar Erener, with creative direction by Kenan Ünsal and Emrah Karpuzcu (Marketing Türkiye). The shoot paired Turan with his mother Yüksel Turan, ran with a 100-person crew at Simit Sarayı stores in Istanbul’s Levent district and in Amsterdam, and the films reached audiences across TV, radio, internet, social media and outdoor advertising from 22 May 2013 (Marketing Türkiye). Six years later, the same trade publication reported that the director of Ayla, Müslüm and Türk İşi Dondurma — and of ad campaigns for TTnet, Biscolata, Tivibu, Didi, Lipton, Eti, Ülker and Türk Telekom — had joined the director roster of Terra Film, founded in 2011 (Marketing Türkiye).

Ayla and the Oscar campaign

Ayla dramatizes the real story of Süleyman Dilbirliği, the sergeant who found an abandoned five-year-old girl during the Korean War in 1950, cared for her for a year and a half, and was reunited with her only sixty years later (Box Office Türkiye). Hürriyet Daily News reported that Ülkay’s film was shown to press in Istanbul on 17 October 2017 as Turkey’s entry for the following year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, ahead of a 27 October release (Hürriyet Daily News). It starred İsmail Hacıoğlu, Çetin Tekindor and Lee Kyung-jin, with a script by Yiğit Güralp and a score by Fahir Atakoğlu (Hürriyet Daily News). A month after release, Ülkay told students at Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli University that the team had believed it would contend for an Oscar from the screenplay stage, arguing an Oscar-calibre film needs an adequate budget — high by Turkish standards, low internationally (DHA via Mynet).

Biopics, streaming, and a 2025 theatrical hit

Ülkay followed Ayla with Müslüm (2018), the biographical drama about arabesque singer Müslüm Gürses, which the trade press credits him with directing (Marketing Türkiye). His Türk İşi Dondurma (Turkish Ice-Cream, 2019) later reached Canadian audiences at Toronto’s historic Royal Cinema in the second Turkish Films Week, organized by the Yunus Emre Institute’s Washington branch with the Turkish Consulate General and supported by the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s Cinema Directorate (Anadolu Agency via Haberler). In 2021 his Netflix drama Kağıttan Hayatlar (Paper Lives) — Mehmet, an ailing Istanbul waste-warehouse operator played by Çağatay Ulusoy, takes in an eight-year-old runaway — became the most-watched film on Netflix Turkey in March (Dizi Doktoru; Cinema Express). His 2025 spy thriller Uykucu, starring Ulusoy with Elçin Sangu, ended the year as Turkey’s fifth most-watched theatrical release (Box Office Türkiye; Box Office Türkiye).

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Notes
2017	Ayla: The Daughter of War	Director; Turkey’s Oscar entry (Best Foreign Language Film), theatrical release 27 Oct 2017 (Hürriyet Daily News)
2018	Müslüm	Director (trade press credit); biopic of arabesque singer Müslüm Gürses (Marketing Türkiye)
2019	Türk İşi Dondurma (Turkish Ice-Cream)	Director; screened at the second Turkish Films Week, Toronto (Anadolu Agency via Haberler)
2021	Kağıttan Hayatlar (Paper Lives)	Director; Netflix drama; most-watched film on Netflix Turkey, March 2021 (Cinema Express; Dizi Doktoru)
2025	Uykucu (The Sleeper)	Director; spy thriller; 5th most-watched Turkish theatrical release of 2025, 833,867 admissions (Box Office Türkiye)

Those 833,867 admissions are the more telling number: Uykucu ranked fifth in a year when Turkish theatrical attendance fell 13% year-on-year to roughly 28 million, which implies Ülkay’s commercial-film craft translated into a durable big-screen draw even as the wider market shrank (Box Office Türkiye).

Frequently asked questions

Why do some sources spell his name “Can Ulkay”? Turkish-language industry sources — the advertising trade press and Anadolu Agency’s cultural desk — consistently use “Can Ülkay” with the Turkish Ü, while English-language credits, databases and photo captions drop the diacritic to “Can Ulkay.” Both forms refer to the same director; this profile uses the Turkish rendering.

What is Can Ülkay best known for? Directing Ayla: The Daughter of War (2017), the Korean War drama about Sergeant Süleyman Dilbirliği that Turkey selected as its entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He later directed the Müslüm Gürses biopic Müslüm and Netflix’s Kağıttan Hayatlar.

Did he really start out in advertising? Yes. Before features, Ülkay directed television commercials, including the high-profile 2013 Simit Sarayı campaign starring footballer Arda Turan and campaigns for Lipton, Ülker and Türk Telekom. In 2019 he joined the director roster of the Terra Film production house, formalizing his long commercial career.

What did Ülkay say about Ayla’s Oscar chances? At a November 2017 university talk, he said the team had believed the film would contend for an Oscar from the moment its screenplay was being written. He argued an Oscar-calibre film needs an adequate budget — high by Turkish standards, low internationally — and that the team spent its money efficiently.

What is his most recent film? The spy thriller Uykucu (The Sleeper, 2025), starring Çağatay Ulusoy and Elçin Sangu with a script by Kubilay Tat, released 29 October 2025 and produced by Poll Films. It drew 833,867 admissions and finished the year as Turkey’s fifth most-watched theatrical release, a strong showing in a declining market.

What this profile does not claim

It does not state a birth date or birthplace; database listings vary (27 November 1964 vs 23 November 1964 vs 1 January 1964, all Istanbul) and none were verified from a source read in full.
It does not repeat the frequently cited “~1,000 commercials” career figure or the Marmara University/TRT early-career details, which appear only in a tertiary lead index.
It does not name Sarıkamış Çocukları as his feature debut; no citable full-read source verified that credit in this research pass.
It does not assert Ketche (Hakan Kırvavaç) as Müslüm’s co-director; industry listings suggest a shared credit, but the full-read sources credit Ülkay alone, so the discrepancy is flagged in openItems rather than resolved.
It does not publish a box-office figure for Ayla or Müslüm; no full-read source in this pass verified a number, so none is given.
It covers no personal or family details; the sources document a public professional career only.

Timeline

2013: Directs the Arda Turan campaign for Simit Sarayı under the Alametifarika agency; the films launch across TV, radio, internet, social media and outdoor advertising on 22 May 2013.
2017: Ayla is shown to the press in Istanbul on 17 October as Turkey's Oscar entry and opens theatrically on 27 October.
2017: Tells students at Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli University that the Ayla team believed it would contend for the Oscar from the script stage, and lays out his budget philosophy for an Oscar-calibre film.
2019: Türk İşi Dondurma screens at the second Turkish Films Week in Toronto (Yunus Emre Institute, Turkish Consulate General, Culture and Tourism Ministry support); Marketing Türkiye reports he has joined Terra Film.
2021: Kağıttan Hayatlar becomes the most-watched film on Netflix Turkey in March 2021.
2025: The spy thriller Uykucu is released on 29 October and ends the year as Turkey's fifth most-watched theatrical release with 833,867 admissions.

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.

English-language credits, databases and photo captions (IMDb, FilmAffinity, Netflix international listings, Deadline/Getty) render the name 'Can Ulkay' without the diacritic; this profile uses the Turkish rendering 'Can Ülkay' found in Turkish industry sources.
His birth date and place (27 November 1964, Istanbul in database listings, with variants) were not verified from any source read in full and are not asserted here.
Industry databases credit Ketche (Hakan Kırvavaç) as co-director of Müslüm; the full-read sources for this profile credit Ülkay without naming a co-director, so the shared credit is flagged rather than asserted.
Career totals such as the '~1,000 commercials' figure, and the Marmara University/TRT early-career details, appear only in a tertiary lead index and are not published here.

Sources

10 sources (3 tier 1, 6 tier 2, 1 tier 3), 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.

Built from ten sources read in full: three tier1 (Hürriyet Daily News, DHA/Anadolu Agency dispatches) and six tier2 (advertising trade press Marketing Türkiye, industry outlet Box Office Türkiye, Cinema Express) plus one tier3 (Dizi Doktoru, used only for the Netflix Turkey viewership ranking, with the director credit resting on tier2 sources). Wikipedia was used only as a lead index; the database-style biography sites (IMDb derivatives, scraped bio pages) were not cited.

'Ayla,' A story of love: Turkey's Oscar entry Tier 1
Hürriyet Daily News, October 2017 Supports: Ayla as Turkey's Oscar entry (Best Foreign Language Film); director credit; Istanbul press screening 17 Oct 2017; cast; theatrical release 27 Oct; the real story of Süleyman Dilbirliği; script by Yiğit Güralp; score by Fahir Atakoğlu; critic Atilla Dorsay's screening reaction Open original source
(Görüntülü Haber) Ayla filminin yönetmeni Can Ulkay: Oscarlık film için yeterli bütçe de olmalı Tier 1
DHA (via Mynet), 14 November 2017 Supports: Ülkay's Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli University talk; belief in the Oscar bid from the script stage; the budget argument (high by Turkish standards, low internationally, money spent efficiently); audience embrace of human stories Open original source
Türk Filmleri Kanadalı Sinemaseverlerle Buluştu Tier 1
Anadolu Agency (via Haberler) Supports: Yunus Emre Institute and Turkish Consulate General in Toronto's second Turkish Films Week (Culture and Tourism Ministry Cinema Directorate support); Türk İşi Dondurma, directed by 'Can Ülkay', screened — its Canadian premiere; further diacritic evidence Open original source
Terra Film Kadrosuna Can Ulkay'ı Ekledi Tier 2
Marketing Türkiye Supports: Ülkay joining Terra Film's roster; director of Ayla, Müslüm and Türk İşi Dondurma; ad-campaign credits for TTnet, Biscolata, Tivibu, Didi, Lipton, Eti, Ülker and Türk Telekom Open original source
Arda Turan Simit Sarayı Reklamlarında Tier 2
Marketing Türkiye, 2013 Supports: Ülkay directing the 2013 Arda Turan Simit Sarayı campaign under Alametifarika (Serdar Erener; creative directors Kenan Ünsal, Emrah Karpuzcu); 100-person crew; Levent and Amsterdam shoots; launch 22 May 2013; the 'Can Ülkay' diacritic in trade-press usage Open original source
Merakla beklenen Ayla filminin vizyon tarihi belli oldu Tier 2
Box Office Türkiye, 2017 Supports: Ayla's 27 October 2017 Turkish release; director credit; the real story of Süleyman Dilbirliği (1.5 years caring for the orphaned girl, reunion after 60 years); full cast list; Dijital Yapım Evi production Open original source
Çağatay Ulusoy ve Elçin Sangu'nun başrollerini paylaştığı Uykucu filminin vizyon tarihi belli oldu Tier 2
Box Office Türkiye, 2025 Supports: Ülkay directing the spy thriller Uykucu; 29 October 2025 release; Çağatay Ulusoy and Elçin Sangu leads; Poll Films production; script by Kubilay Tat; supporting cast Barış Falay, Ferit Kaya, Cengiz Bozkurt, Musa Uzunlar, Tamer Levent Open original source
Box Office Türkiye: 2025'te sinemalarda en çok izlenen 20 film Tier 2
Box Office Türkiye, early 2026 Supports: Uykucu as Turkey's 5th most-watched theatrical release of 2025 with 833,867 admissions; 2025 Turkish cinema attendance down 13% year-on-year to roughly 28 million — the basis for the stat+implication sentence Open original source
Kagittan Hayatlar (Paper Lives) Movie Review: An unrestrained drama that leaves you teary-eyed Tier 2
Cinema Express (The New Indian Express), 21 March 2021 Supports: Paper Lives directed by Can Ulkay, streaming on Netflix; plot (ailing waste-warehouse operator Mehmet takes in 8-year-old runaway Ali); cast Çağatay Ulusoy, Emir Ali Doğrul, Ersin Arıcı; themes of mental health and child drug use Open original source
Netflix'te en çok 'Kağıttan Hayatlar' izlendi Tier 3
Dizi Doktoru, 2021 Supports: Kağıttan Hayatlar as the most-watched film on Netflix Turkey in March 2021; cast Çağatay Ulusoy, Emir Ali Doğrul, Ersin Arıcı (supporting only — the director credit rests on the tier2 sources) Open original source

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