You’ve probably seen the clips on TikTok or Instagram—the ones where an elderly man is sobbing in a hospital bed while an older Korean woman grips his hand, calling him "Father." It’s a tear-jerker. Honestly, it’s one of those rare moments where the "based on a true story" tag under a movie title isn’t just marketing fluff. Ayla Daughter of War is a 2017 film that hit the international scene like a freight train, but the reality behind Sergeant Süleyman Dilbirliği and the little girl he found in the snow is even more intense than the cinematic version.
Most people think war movies have to be about grand strategy or political chess. This isn't that. It’s about a 25-year-old Turkish sergeant who found a five-year-old girl clutching her dead mother’s hand in the middle of a frozen battlefield. It was 1950. The temperature was hitting $-35$°C. Basically, she was minutes away from becoming another statistic of the Korean War.
Why Ayla Daughter of War Isn't Your Typical War Movie
Usually, when a country sends troops abroad, they’re looking for a victory or a strategic foothold. Turkey was the second country to respond to the UN’s call for help in Korea, right after the U.S. But for Süleyman, the war stopped the moment he saw those eyes in the bushes. He didn't just save her; he essentially became a single dad in the middle of a combat zone.
He named her Ayla. In Turkish, it means "halo" or "nimbus" around the moon. Why? Because he found her at night, and her face was glowing under the moonlight. Kind of poetic for a guy surrounded by artillery fire.
The Turkish brigade ended up adopting her as their mascot. They didn't just feed her; they built her a little uniform. They taught her Turkish. For 15 months, she lived in the camp, eating with the soldiers and calling Süleyman "Baba."
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The Separation No One Prepared For
When the war "ended" (or at least reached the 1953 armistice), the rules were cold. Hard.
Süleyman tried everything to take her back to Turkey. He even tried to smuggle her in a wooden crate. He was caught. The authorities told him no. He was a soldier, she was a Korean citizen, and the paperwork just didn't exist for a cross-continental adoption in a post-war mess.
He had to leave her at the Ankara School, an orphanage established by Turkish forces in Korea. He promised her he’d come back. He really believed he would. But life, man... it just gets in the way. Decades passed.
The Search That Lasted Half a Century
For 60 years, Süleyman never forgot. He had his own family in Turkey, but he kept her photos. He’d tell anyone who listened about his "Korean daughter."
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The breakthrough didn't happen because of a government agency. It happened because of a 2010 documentary by MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) titled Kore Ayla. They started digging. They looked through school records and old military manifests.
It wasn't easy. Ayla’s real name was Kim Eun-ja. By the time they found her, she was a grandmother in her late 60s. She had her own life, but she admitted she had spent years wondering if the Turkish soldier who saved her was even alive.
That 2010 Reunion
They finally met in a park in Seoul.
No scriptwriter could have written it better. They just held each other and cried. Sixty years of "What if?" disappeared in about ten seconds. The movie Ayla Daughter of War captures the essence of this, but seeing the grainy 2010 footage of the actual people makes the film's $16.2$ million dollar box office success seem secondary.
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The film itself features Ismail Hacıoğlu as the young Süleyman and the legendary Çetin Tekindor as the older version. They did a solid job, though some critics say the movie leans a bit too hard into the "Turkish heroism" angle. Maybe it does. But when you talk to the veterans who were there, they’ll tell you that the Turkish troops really were known for sharing their rations with Korean orphans. It was a thing.
Fact vs. Fiction: What the Movie Tweaked
Look, it’s a movie. It has to be dramatic.
- The Marilyn Monroe Scene: Yes, Marilyn Monroe actually visited the Turkish troops in 1954. The movie uses this to show the passage of time and the scale of the war.
- The Smuggling Attempt: The crate scene? That actually happened. Süleyman really did try to sneak her out.
- The Ending: The film ends on a high note, but the real-life ending was bittersweet. Süleyman died in December 2017 at the age of 91. His wife, Nimet, died less than 24 hours later. They couldn't be without each other. Kim Eun-ja (Ayla) actually flew to Turkey to be by his bedside before he passed.
How to Experience the Story Today
If you’re looking to get the full picture, don’t just stop at the 2017 film.
- Watch the MBC Documentary: It’s called Kore Ayla. It’s raw, it’s unpolished, and it shows the real Kim Eun-ja and Süleyman Dilbirliği.
- Visit the Memorials: If you’re ever in Busan, South Korea, the UN Memorial Cemetery has a section for the Turkish soldiers. It’s a heavy place, but it puts the scale of their sacrifice into perspective.
- Check the Archives: The Turkish Ministry of Culture has released some of the original photos Süleyman took in the 1950s. Seeing the "real" Ayla in her tiny military coat is something else.
Ayla Daughter of War works because it’s not about the politics of the 38th parallel. It’s about a guy who refused to let a kid freeze to death. In a world that feels pretty cynical most of the time, that’s probably why people are still Googling this story nearly a decade after the movie came out.
To fully understand the historical context, look into the Battle of Kunu-ri, where the Turkish Brigade suffered heavy losses but earned a reputation for extreme bravery. This battle is the backdrop for the early parts of the film and explains why the bond between the soldiers and the local civilians became so tight—they were all just trying to survive a nightmare.