The late-1940s and early-1950s became the years of anti-communism and anti-Sovietism in Turkey. Both trends were not limited to the political environment or to economic affairs. A gender-related transformation also took place. Gender relations and the way women were represented in media radically changed as a result of setbacks in the Turkish-Soviet relations and Turkey’s improved relations with the United States. Evidence for such alterations abounded and was exemplified by the enhanced prestige of Nene Hatun all around Turkey. Nene Hatun’s increasing popularity in this period was no accident: she was a symbol of sacrifice during the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877–78. Nonetheless, she was not a popular figure until 1952. In August of 1952, during the national celebrations, the Turkish army decided to call her “the grandmother” of the Turkish forces in Erzurum, a Turkish city which was very close to the Turkish-Soviet border. Following the visit of Matthew Bunker Ridgway, an American General of NATO, she started to enjoy unprecedented popularity. After learning her story from his Turkish counterparts and meeting Nene Hatun in person, General Ridgway urged the Turkish authorities to revive Nene Hatun’s heroic and self-sacrificing image among the Turkish public. Accordingly, Nene Hatun regained her popularity and became a symbol of the campaign against ‘communist Russia.’ Although Nene Hatun passed away shortly afterward, in 1955, throughout the Cold War, she enjoyed massive reputation and prestige in Turkey: public and private schools bore her name, textbooks were full of her story, and her heroic sculptures were erected all around the country. For decades, her memories kept “the treats from the North” fresh in the minds of ordinary people. In short, as a result of collective attempts of the governments and the press, she symbolized the heroic Turkish women who had defended their own country against “the enemy of the Turkish nation,” i.e. communism and the Soviet Union.