Series boost Turkish ‘soft power’ in region

Turkish soap operas are being watched in over 20 countries, creating revenues as well as supporting the ‘soft power’ of Turkish diplomacy.

A Palestinian man holds a photograph depicting the lead characters of a Turkish soap opera in Ramallah in this file photo. AP photo

Turkish TV series, such as the hugely popular ‘Magnificent Century’ and ‘Forbidden Love,’ are breaking viewer records in the Middle Eastern and North African countries, bringing in much-needed foreign currency while raising Turkey’s clout in the region through the promotion of the Turkish lifestyle.

Turkey earned more than $60 million only this year from exporting TV series. More than 100 Turkish TV series have been watched in over 20 countries this year.

“We have begun to be broadcast in the Balkan countries this year,” said Fırat Gülgen, chairman of Calinos Holding, which makes 80 percent of TV series exported from Turkey, as he spoke to the Anatolia news agency Dec. 10. Gülgen said TV series are exported to many Central and Eastern European countries including Serbia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Hungary. In the Far East, buyers include Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Vietnam.

Gülgen said prices for an episode of a given series ranged between $500 and $ 15,000. A TV channel in Japan has also prepared a documentary about Turkish soap operas, he said, adding that the documentary focused mainly on the effects on tourism and export.

In a recent issue, Time magazine described the export of soap operas as the “secret of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.” Series such as “Aşk-ı Memnu” (Forbidden Love) and “Yaprak Dökümü” (Falling Leaves) are among the most popular series.

Commenting on the links between Turkish soap operas and the rising Turkish influence abroad, Nilüfer Narlı, a sociologist at Bahçeşehir University, said Turkey has increased its “soft power” in the Middle East and Balkan countries.

“As the circulation of soap operas in the international arena has increased, learning Turkish language and culture have become very important in the Arab and Balkan countries. This is what we call ‘soft power’ within the context of the culture industry,” Narlı said, speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News on .

Last year, the final episode of Turkey’s rags-to-riches soap opera “Noor” clocked 85 million viewers from Syria to Morocco, according to the dailybeast.com website. “These serials have a huge impact,” said İzzet Pinto, the chief of Turkey’s Global Agency, which distributes “Magnificent Century” and “1001 Nights,” another Turkish blockbuster set in modern-day Istanbul.

“In the Balkans, newborns are being named after 1001 Nights characters,” Pinto said, adding that the secret to success is familiarity.

“Neither the characters nor the subject matter, nor the featured locations are foreign [to viewers],” said Kemal Uzun, the director of Noor. “They do not feel like outsiders to what is taking place. We are close cultures, close geographies; we have close ties.”

A full 78 percent of respondents in the Arab world and Iran report that they have watched Turkish soap
operas. Indeed, these TV programs have taken the region by storm, with Turkish TV stars becoming pop idols,” a report by Paul Salem, titled “Turkey’s image in the Arab World,” said. These soap operas have the effect of “creating attachment, understanding and affection for Turkish identity, culture, and values” in the region, the report said. “Like Egyptian TV and cinema creating a prominent cultural place for Egypt in previous decades, Turkish television has made similar inroads in Arab [and Iranian] popular culture,” the report said, adding that this has been complemented by a wave of tourism to Turkey in which Arabs and Iranians from various classes and walks of life have visited Turkey, which has become the most popular tourist destination.

Plastic surgery gets share from Turkish TV series

Actor Buğra Gülsoy is one of the popular ones among Arap people recently.

Turkish TV series, which have become very popular in Arab countries as well as many other parts of the world in recent years, are also noted for make a contribution to Turkey’s health tourism. Arab tourists are reportedly now coming to Turkish plastic surgeons asking for procedures to look like TV series actors.

Aesthetics and Plastic Surgeon İbrahim Oskui said that the Turkish TV series and films broadcast abroad have had very important effects in Turkey’s promotion. “Their contribution can be seen in the increase in number of Arab tourists visiting Turkey in recent years.”

He said that after Turkish TV series began airing in Middle Eastern countries people became interested in getting aesthetic surgeries to look like Turkish actors. “Since people are fans of Turkish actors in the Middle East, fights occurred between partners. This is why wives or husbands find a solution in aesthetic operations and want to look like those actors,” Oskui said.

He said that they received lots of patients from Iran, Azerbaijan, northern Iraq, Bulgaria, Turkic republics and Arab countries for aesthetic surgeries. “I have so far made liposuction and nose operations on Arab men. But in recent years, young Arab men especially are applying coming to us to look like Turkish male actors,” Oskui said.

May/11/2012

Hurriyet Daily news

Idiots.

Who and why?

It is not very polite to just call people idiots with no explanation.

I think that spreading influence to other countries through TV series is pretty wise politics.

At least in my country, I am a witness of changing opinions and prejudices and rising interest in Turkish language, culture, lifestyle, after watching "Binbir Gece" and other Turkish series broadcasted and recently broadcasting...

In my opinion spreading Turkish language and rising interest in Turkia by using every way is ok, whether it is through silly ways or clever ways . When it comes to having plastic surgery to look like famous actors/actresses. It is a personal choice.

Not all personal choices are as valuable. Some choices are more idiotic than others. Like operating your face in order to look like a Turkish third class actor.

Is it less idiotic operating your face in order to look like an American first class actress? Seems there are much more idiots on this world...

I did NOT say all personal choices are valuable, did I ? Personally I would not go through such operation. What I am saying is that there are people on earth  who choses to do so. Therefore , It is their personal choice. May be for them our personal choices are idiotic. Each of us has different values in life.

No, you didn´t, tunci. I was not criticizing what you wrote but kind of continuing from where you stopped. And explaining whom I called idiots because it seemed to be unclear.

I know you are so friendly and you want to understand everyone. I don´t even try to. In my opinion some things are right and some things are wrong per se. Discriminating people is wrong. Not helping the poor is wrong. Admiring people´s appearance and youth instead of wisdom and personality is wrong. Idolizing people is wrong. Always.

If rich idle people make plastic surgeries I see a moral dilemma in it because the majority of mankind has to deal with quite different problems every day. But even without the moral aspect I think there must be something wrong with their logics.