ISTANBUL (AP) — Under the sweltering Turkish sun, tourists wander through recreated Ottoman and Byzantine castle sets, take selfies with actors dressed in traditional Ottoman costumes and watch horse-riding stunt performances, including Lia Toivanen, 22, an avid fan of Turkish TV dramas who had traveled to Istanbul from Finland with her mother to immerse herself in her favorite show.
Some 8,000 miles (12,800 kilometers) away in Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina, Raquel Greco, a 66-year-old retired teacher, is watching an episode of a Turkish romantic comedy, surrounded by mementos from a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Istanbul, where she visited landmarks she knew from years of watching the Turkish show.
“It was like a dream. I couldn’t believe I was living what I saw every day on TV,” she said of her visit in April this year.
The global popularity of Turkish TV dramas (“dizi” in Turkish) has catapulted Turkey to its position as a leading television exporter, significantly boosting the country’s international image and drawing millions of viewers and tourists from around the world to Turkey’s historical and cultural sites, which serve as the backdrop for many of the shows.
Experts say the success of these TV shows has fuelled a fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar industry that continues to expand into new markets, and the popularity of these shows has significantly boosted Turkey’s soft power around the world.
According to research firm Parrot Analytics, global demand for Turkish drama series will grow 184% between 2020 and 2023, making Turkey one of the world’s largest TV program exporters.
“We are watched by more than 400 million viewers around the world every night,” said Izzet Pinto, CEO of Global Agency, which exports Turkish dramas to global markets. “The soft power we create with Turkish dramas cannot be compared to what we can do with politics.”
“Deli Yürek” was the first Turkish drama exported to Kazakhstan in 2001, but it was the 2005 romantic drama “Gumuz” that brought Turkish dizis to global fame. The show, which told the story of a woman from a traditional family adapting to city life, became hugely popular in the Middle East.
His 2006 film “One Thousand and One Nights,” a romantic drama set in modern-day Istanbul and based on Middle Eastern folk tales, captivated audiences across the Balkans, while “The Magnificent Century,” about the 16th-century Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, was a pioneering historical novel.
Once an importer of Latin American TV dramas, Turkey is now an exporter to the region, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited the set of the historical drama series “Resurrection: Ertugrul” in 2018, highlighting the appeal of TV dramas in his country.
Hayley Uganadi, founder of Turkish TV series fan platform Dizilah, said the shows’ popularity was due to their themes focused on family, friendship and love, usually set against the backdrop of Istanbul’s lavish lifestyle and Turkey’s rich history.
“Turkish TV has something for everyone, no matter where you’re from. When I watch Turkish TV, I see my mother, me and my siblings,” Uganadi said.
Her platform has around 1.5 million viewers every month, with fans across the US, Canada, Greece, India and Pakistan.
Pinto points out the family-friendly nature of Turkish dramas: “There is very little nudity, swearing, badmouthing or hateful language, so they are suitable for the whole family to watch,” he explains.
As the industry has grown, so have the themes of series such as “Red Roses,” which explores the dynamics between a staunchly secular, Western-oriented family and a fictional Muslim Brotherhood.
During the pause in filming, actor Ozkan Deniz, who previously appeared in series such as “The Mansion with Vines” and “Bride of Istanbul,” said such diversification is essential for the industry to thrive.
“Countries that haven’t been able to pivot to different genres are now lagging behind in series exports,” Deniz said. “Turkey is on top of it now, but if they can’t diversify and say different things, they’ll end up somewhere.”
Toivanen and her mother were touring the Bozdag Film Studios, a sprawling complex in northern Istanbul where blockbusters from the Ottoman era such as “Ertugrul” and “Foundation” were shot.
Toivanen says her love of the romantic dramas “Black Money Love” and “Endless Love” brought her to Istanbul. “I love Turkish culture so much,” she says. “It’s so relatable and warm and there’s a lot of drama.”
The premiere episode of “Ertugrul: Resurrection” was viewed more than 157 million times on Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT’s Urdu-language YouTube channel, while “Ottoman: Founding” was broadcast in more than 110 countries, according to Mehmet Bozdag, producer and screenwriter of the popular historical drama that dramatizes the lives of Ottoman leaders and heroes.
During its broadcast, “Ertugrul Resurrection” peaked as the fourth most popular program worldwide in May 2020, with demand more than 68 times higher than the global average program, according to Parrot Analytics.
Dr Deniz Gurgen Atalay, assistant professor at the Department of Film and Television at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, was quoted by Turkish media as saying the industry will generate $1 billion in overseas exports in 2023, having a major impact on tourism, especially in Istanbul.
“The TV drama sector has made a huge contribution to this. The image of Istanbul that they portray, the food that is eaten here, the drinks that are drunk, the music that is listened to, the standard of living and the culture provide a very pleasant viewing experience within the drama framework,” Atalay said.
Mert Yazicioglu, another star of Red Roses, whose highly anticipated second season is set to premiere in late September, was in costume as his character, a member of a Muslim sect, during a conversation between takes.
The series has catapulted the quiet 31-year-old into stardom, with Turkish media following his every move.
“I’m very happy that I was able to introduce Turkish culture abroad,” he said, wearing his character’s loose-fitting beige trousers and matching vest.
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Associated Press writers Hernan Munoz in Barcelona, Spain, Mario Tizon in Los Cocos, Argentina, Susan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Halil Hamra and Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul, Turkey, contributed to this report.
