Turkish actors Songül Öden (r) and Kivanç Tatlitug are the stars of the Turkish soap opera Noor Photograph: KanalD

The famous mosques and historical palaces lining the Bosphorus elicit little more than polite interest from the boat´s passengers. But as a luxurious waterfront villa comes into view, crowds swarm to the side of the boat. Cameras appear suddenly from the enveloping folds of black chadors.

Forget Topkapi Palace, this is where the Turkish soap opera Noor was filmed.

With its glamorous cast and extreme plotlines, Noor has become a phenomenon across the Middle East, sparking a tourism boom to Turkey that drew 105,000 visitors from Arab countries in May alone this year – an increase of about 33% on last year. First airing on the Saudi MBC satellite channel in early 2008, its final episode was seen by nearly 80 million viewers from Palestine to Morocco.

Quoted from: here

Read this:

"On September 11, 2008, Saudi Arabia´s top judge Sheikh Saleh al-Luhaidan called for the owners of TV stations broadcasting what he called "immoral" TV programs to be killed. In what amounted to a fatwa, Luhaidan said, "It is lawful to kill... the apostles of depravation... if their evil cannot be easily removed through simple sanctions." The Sheikh, who heads the Kingdom´s Supreme Judicial Council, made his remarks last Thursday on a radio program in response to a caller who asked about Islam´s view on satellite TV channels that broadcast "bad programs" during Ramadan. The remarks were then rebroadcast by the Saudi-owned satellite TV station Al-Arabiya. "What does the owner of these networks think, when he provides seduction, obscenity and vulgarity?" said Luhaidan. "Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it´s permissible to kill them."

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noor_(soap_opera)

These days newspaper headlines say the US is preparing to sell $60b worth of military equipment. The US is known to have been a keen protector of the regime in Saudi Arabia and boasts intimate trade links with the countriy´s Royal family. Saudi Arabia is rich but it is run by sheria at the hands of radical Islamists offering simply no freedom to any life style other than that of Islam. Israel is not objecting to the deal either. They have no problem fostering this regime. No talk of barbarism or lack of human rights. What can we say? They are paying for the privilege.

OK, but we have many visitors from Arabic countries this year which is hard to go unnoticed. This is an effect of the Turkish serials (even if he calls them "bad programs") to a broader extent.