Turks brighten when they see a commercial..

The Cola Turka commercial, featuring Chase, hit TV screens only one day after U.S. soldiers detained 11 Turkish special forces for more than two days in northern Iraq in early July over accusations they were plotting to kill local Iraqi-Kurdish leaders.

"We will not sell Coca Cola or Pepsi here until sacks are put on the heads of Americans," read a banner outside a restaurant in the resort town Antalya.

It referred to the U.S. practice of confusing prisoners by putting a bag over their head.

Cola Turka, suddenly a new symbol of Turkish nationalism, is flying off the shelves.

"I had to look for it as most markets were out of stock," said 24-year-old Esra Turkmen in Istanbul.

"I liked it very much. It is the uprising of a Turkish drink against American giants."

One big factor in the new cola’s successful takeoff apparently is the popularity of the commercials, which Turks find amusing.

In the commercial, a cowboy who introduces Cola Turka to Chevy Chase holds Islamic praying beads and passionately talks about the Turkish soccer league champion Besiktas.

At the end of the commercial, Chase grows a mustache – a trademark of Turkish men – and his family begin singing a popular nationalist march in Turkish after drinking Cola Turka. His children kiss the hands of grandparents in respect for a Turkish tradition when they leave the house and his wife pours a bucket of water into the street behind their car to make sure their trip is safe and easy like the flow of water – another Turkish tradition.

"The TV commercial shows how warmhearted people Turks are, I wish cold-blooded Americans got a chance to know us better with these commercials," said Murat Ciftci, a 26-year-old taxi driver.

"I loved Cola Turka, that’s a great drink. The price is good, the taste is nice."

"I rarely drank colas before, now I drink Cola Turka."

The new cola comes in cans or bottles in the red-and-white colours of the Turkish flag – which also happen to be the colours of international rival Coca Cola.

Only two weeks after Cola Turka went on the market, U.S. brands lowered their prices by 12.5 per cent and gave a higher margin of profit to distributors.

"We welcome competition. Consumers will make the decision in the marketplace," said Coca Cola’s Turkish spokesman, Timucin Tuzecan.

Ulker spokesman Umit Gorker at first said officials would only respond to written questions, then later said all officials were abroad and not able to be reached.

Recently speaking on television, a senior Ulker official, Tamer Karamollaoglu, said of the new product: "It is Turkey’s cola, you also drink it and you’ll get more Turkish."

But many pro-secular Turks refuse to drink it because of allegations its manufacturer Ulker supports Islamic groups in predominantly Muslim but officially secular Turkey.

"The fact that this brand is an Ulker product is, of course, disturbing me," said Husniye Altuna, an advertiser in Ankara.

"On the one hand, I don’t support the United States but on the other hand I don’t want to contribute to anti-secularists’ profit-making."