Halit Refig's I Lost My Heart to a Turk: Woman, Islam and Modernity in Turkish Cinema

Abstract

Defined by some critics as the ultimate national cinema movement piece, Halit Refiğ’s I Lost My Heart to a Turk(1969), the love story of a German woman and a Turkish worker in the ancient town of Kayseri becomes an allegory for the Turkish nation’s identity crisis. This paper identifies the parameters used by Refiğ to position the Turkish identity in his film and emphasize the special role of women in Turkish modernization.