CAIRO, Egypt – A relative newcomer to Arab TV, the Turkish soap opera "Noor" has helped narrow the gender gap between men and women across the Middle East.
Women see the lead female character – the independent, aspiring fashion designer Noor -- as a role model. Meantime, her husband on the show -- the blue-eyed former model and athlete Mohannad -- has become the region’s first pin-up boy.
The nightly soap opera has mainly female viewers glued to their TV sets not only because Mohannad is a cuter version of Justin Timberlake, but because he offers something many lack in their lives: romance, tenderness and a supportive partner to his independent wife. Mohannad has become the standard against which many Arab men are being judged, much to their chagrin.

Too much to live up to
According to Arab newspapers, marriages in Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia have dissolved because wives insisted on putting Mohannad´s picture on their mobile phone display, or on their bedroom wall. In Bahrain, a woman allegedly begged her husband to have plastic surgery to look like the actor. Another recent divorcee allegedly told her husband "I want to sleep with Mohannad one night and then die."
In Saudi Arabia, where about one in seven people tunes in each night, men circulated the rumor that Kivanc Tatlitug, the actor who plays Mohannad, is gay, which left female viewers distraught until the rumor was dispelled.
Saudi society abounds with Mohannad jokes such as this one: A Saudi woman was touring Turkey with her husband and son when her husband went missing. As she described him to the police, her son shouted, "But that´s not what Daddy looks like." "Be quiet," she whispers, "They might just give me Mohannad."

A positive role model for women
To some young women, the aspiring fashion designer Noor, provides a positive female role model and encourages them to raise the bar not only on future spouses but on themselves.
In Cairo, Na´ama Hegazy, a single 25-year-old, watches "Noor" three times a day and says it has influenced the way she sees her future.
"I want a romantic [man] who treats me like how Mohannad treats his wife. Every day he brings her flowers and tells her romantic words," said Hegazy. "The life will be very good when a husband treats his wife [like that]."
But Hegazy also wants to emulate Noor who is a both a good wife and mother, and a self-reliant professional. "When she has troubles with Mohannad, she wants him to leave her alone. She wants to work and doesn´t want anything from him. This means any woman who falls out with her husband can work and depend on herself."

Rest of the article:
Soap Opera "Noor" (Gümüş ) changes traditional Arab Gender Roles


A family watches the Turkish soap opera "Noor" in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

Ohhh GOD!its as silly and BORİNG as The Bold and the Beautiful ´American soap series´,if you know what i mean !

İts not also real,i mean things not happening that way in Türkiye ´or is it ? lol´
The woman ´wife´ keep yelling to the man ´husband´ and he ALWAYS try to make up things with her no matter how long and how many times she rejected him !

Although the only thing i find it REAL with ALL men not just Turkish men,that when they make mistake,they try to claim that woman was part of the reason that he did that mistake,and it wasnt his fault alone
Check this out
´he started to be interested with his EX wife ,and feel jealouse for her because HİS wife,suspected this,and she was accusing him of that when he was innocent so as a result she draw his attention AGAİN back to his ex wife and he started to feel somethings,but when he examined it later ´after spending the night at his ex wife house DRUNK´he knew that he loves his wife,never the less it was his wife mistake that he was in that stiuation´
Pahhhhhhhh !
MEN!

Anyway,maybe because its Eastern series not Western,so it give the women and girls in the Middle East feeling that,things can happen that way,and it can be real with our own traditions.´Turkish and Arab Traditions almost same´
So,maybe that thing alone is a good thing !
And if its doing this in Saudi Arabia ´and women believing it ´ then sure its good hee hee

I watch "Gümüş-Noor),and it´s very nice series and interesting show,I enjoy it every time I watch it,Turkish series are very interesting, Kivanc Tatlitug is not gay its only a gossip,he is very handsome,i adore his eyes!but it doesnt mean that I want to put his picture next to my bed and dream of him all the time !it´s crazy to do that !!!!!!!
Anyway I love Gümüş series,it´s not a silly or boring series.
Turkish men are sexy

I hope this show encourges Saudi women to stand up for their rights.

I love Gümüş series as well,however I couldn´t watch it when it was on turkish TV, so I try to watch it on youtube, but I cannot find episode 29 and so on, so I cannot watch the rest

The story and their life style may not reflect the majority of the turkish families, but they have done it this way to make it a more like a soap-opera and attractive to watch. However, you can still find a lot of turkish motifs in it too. That´s what it makes it different than the other western series to the arab people.

And ofcourse the reason for the season is Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ. He has made a lot of female fans. He is both romantic and a bit macho in the series, so the women dream about him.

It´s alreadt a good thing that they show these series on arab channels.

Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ IS VERY HANDSOME and I like his eyes so much,I like that series Ihlamular altinda and it´s very very nice series I like it more than Gumus
Yilmaz ve Filiz en guzel asklar

whoa this is soooo weird im watching it right now it s nice but not like that way and Saudis im sorry no offense but theyre crazy i mean really!!and yeah the actor IS good looking but not to a point where u become obsessed thats just silly one thing that might be drawing arabic viewers to it is that its different to what were used to watching its a different story and the truth is were kind of happy to see smbdy else´s problems coz were tired of seeing our own!! and i never wanted to watch it in the beginning co it reminded me of soap operas and its dubbed in arabic but the story is really nice and the truth is its doing Turkish tourism a huge favor!!! u have no idea how many arabs are going to turkey now i mean i know im begging my dad!!!but im not obsessed so i think that article really exaggerated things a bit!! but its still a matter of opinions.

Interesting!

I never watched "gümüş" but I think I came across when switching between channels. After taking a look for 10 or 15 seconds, I would switch to the next channel. What makes so many Arabs want to come to Turkey? Actors or views of Turkey or other things?

Are there any other Turkish serials broadcast in the Arab world?