Elif Savas Felsen and Brian Felsen moved to Turkey right during the time of the 75th anniversary of the Republic.  She was looking for a script, and he was writing his opera.  A religious party had come to power a few years earlier in multi-party elections with just 20% of the vote, which made the political climate very hot.  The government was subsequently taken down by the military.

As a foreigner, Brian was both surprised and fascinated at the military's role and the public's regard for the military as guardians of the republic, and he wanted to explore the secular place of military in Turkish life. The idea of a "military-patrolled democracy" intrigued him and he wanted to explore the motivations and consequences of the recurring coups d'etat that took place there, and how they differed from those happening in other countries.  With Elif's prior experience in film and desire to understand and explain her country, they decided to make a documentary about this odd relationship of the nation and its military.

The film was created and edited entirely out of the need to reveal the complex spectrum of causes and consequences of the coups; as well as the nature of the political debate raging in Turkey about the future of such a system.  Funding the film by themselves with the help of the New York Council on the Arts gave the producers the freedom not to have to glorify, promote, or attack the point of view or interests of any corporation, institution, or nation.

For that reason, the film is not out to condone or condemn anything at all - not the secular or fundamentalist movements, the separatist or nationalist causes, the military or political leaders, the Turkish or American aims, the left or right. Its purpose is to show the nature, causes, and consequences of the debate that is carried out every day in Turkey in speech, law, and action. The speakers in the film hold wildly diverging viewpoints and attitudes, and the goal was to have all sides speak on camera.