[2] Veteran screen actor Cezmi Baskın, who has a minor role in the film, stated Mahsun has a rising momentum in Turkish cinema.

[4] A second special gala screening was held at Panora Cinema in Ankara on 10 March 2009 (2009-03-10) attended by a number of high-profile guests, including Turkish State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek, who said the film aptly portrays the pain and anguish Turkey has suffered in the last 25 years and includes some very accurate messages, and Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay, who said the very bold and realistic film showed Turkey's wounds in all its reality and proposed big steps to be taken to heal those wounds.

[5] The film opened on nationwide general release in 355 screens across Turkey on 13 March 2009 (2009-03-13) at number one in the Turkish box-office with a first weekend gross of US$2,539,362.

[6] [The film] is illustrated as an ambitious melodramatic epic through its many subplots and ensemble cast, according to Today's Zaman reviewer Ermine Yıldırım, which actually works in achieving its goal of spreading a thing or two about humanity and unconditional fraternity, even though there's ample force-feeding through its languorous monologues of micro-politics.

Nevertheless, Kırmızıgül's message cannot go unnoticed as he continually underlines the importance of different segments of society living in harmony and the ideal that the state is not a divider but a caregiver.