Post by Bozur on Apr 11, 2005 13:58:53 GMT -5
Turkey’s TV soaps probe politics, national identity
Greek-Turkish ties, rise of Islam and Kurdish question are hot topics
By Nicolas Cheviron - Agence France-Presse
ISTANBUL - Turkish television fans this season have been enraptured by a slew of serials dealing with matters of politics and national identity in their usual fare of soapy love tales and shoot-’em-ups.
From Greek-Turkish relations to sectarian tensions, from the rise of Islam to the Kurdish question by way of the right-left wars of the 1970s, the shows deal with serious national issues once deemed too delicate for prime-time viewing.
Thus, the eastern city of Gaziantep, the location for several scenes of “The Foreign Groom,” has a crush on blond and beefy Niko, the child of Greeks who fled Turkey in 1964 and who must now face prejudices on both sides of the Aegean to win his true love.
With a Turkish father-in-law who refuses a transfusion of Greek blood to Greek parents who insist on a church wedding with his Muslim Turkish bride-to-be, Niko’s adventures top the ratings every Friday night.
But the aim is not to preach reconciliation between the two nations, according to Tunca Kunter, an executive with the production company that made the series.
“A screenwriter proposes his script and if the producer thinks it’ll sell, he buys it,” Kunter told AFP. “What sells is things that can happen in everyday life; after all, my sister could fall in love with a Greek.”
“The aim of television is to allow society to take a look at itself,” commented Unsal Ozkay, a popular culture specialist at Beykent University here. “To sell ads, the networks must now address the problems of the metropolitan suburbs, where all kinds of minorities abound.”
“Turkey’s bid to join the European Union from the year 2000 required a number of legal reforms” that changed the national mood and led people to confront issues once considered taboo, explained Nilufer Timisi, a professor of communications at Ankara University.
“Without really making a conscious political choice, producers simply reflected this new mood... and produced dramas dealing with identity simply because they were profitable,” she said.
Thus, a series with the unwieldy name of “Lacework Roses on My Headscarf” deals with the years of near-civil war in the 1970s when clashes between right- and left-wing militants left dozens dead daily in the cities of Turkey, while “February Cold” looks at the rise of Islam that continues to shock Turkey’s dyed-in-the-wool secularists.
But is Turkey ready to deal with such vital issues in such a format? Gul Dirican, who scripted “Time of the Dawn,” a Romeo-and-Juliet saga set against a backdrop of sectarian tension between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Alevis — a long persecuted Turkish version of Shia — recalls some trepidation during the shoot.
“The Alevis were worried when we filmed an Alevi funeral,” she recalled in an interview with the daily Aksam. “They said, ‘This is the first time Sunni society sees us like this; is this a good thing?’” But despite these times of openness, the Kurdish question remains a hot potato.
“The Exiled Woman” tells the tale of a family from the southeastern province of Urfa, with mysterious “bandits” (read: Kurdish tribesmen) lurking in the mountains; the lovers in “June Night” bear the Kurdish names of Barran and Havin, but never mention that they are Kurds.
“No series so far has dealt openly with the question of ethnic Kurdish identity because it is still too serious a problem for the state,” Timisi said. “The shows speak of (Turkish) easterners only in generalities, in terms of feudalism, land conflicts and vendettas.” Barran tells his love interest that his name means June Night, but discreetly avoids mentioning the language.
“We chose those names simply because they are pretty and they are fashionable,” commented the series’ director, Andac Haznedaroglu. “It is too early today to speak openly of Kurdish identity,” she said.
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=54861
Greek-Turkish ties, rise of Islam and Kurdish question are hot topics
By Nicolas Cheviron - Agence France-Presse
ISTANBUL - Turkish television fans this season have been enraptured by a slew of serials dealing with matters of politics and national identity in their usual fare of soapy love tales and shoot-’em-ups.
From Greek-Turkish relations to sectarian tensions, from the rise of Islam to the Kurdish question by way of the right-left wars of the 1970s, the shows deal with serious national issues once deemed too delicate for prime-time viewing.
Thus, the eastern city of Gaziantep, the location for several scenes of “The Foreign Groom,” has a crush on blond and beefy Niko, the child of Greeks who fled Turkey in 1964 and who must now face prejudices on both sides of the Aegean to win his true love.
With a Turkish father-in-law who refuses a transfusion of Greek blood to Greek parents who insist on a church wedding with his Muslim Turkish bride-to-be, Niko’s adventures top the ratings every Friday night.
But the aim is not to preach reconciliation between the two nations, according to Tunca Kunter, an executive with the production company that made the series.
“A screenwriter proposes his script and if the producer thinks it’ll sell, he buys it,” Kunter told AFP. “What sells is things that can happen in everyday life; after all, my sister could fall in love with a Greek.”
“The aim of television is to allow society to take a look at itself,” commented Unsal Ozkay, a popular culture specialist at Beykent University here. “To sell ads, the networks must now address the problems of the metropolitan suburbs, where all kinds of minorities abound.”
“Turkey’s bid to join the European Union from the year 2000 required a number of legal reforms” that changed the national mood and led people to confront issues once considered taboo, explained Nilufer Timisi, a professor of communications at Ankara University.
“Without really making a conscious political choice, producers simply reflected this new mood... and produced dramas dealing with identity simply because they were profitable,” she said.
Thus, a series with the unwieldy name of “Lacework Roses on My Headscarf” deals with the years of near-civil war in the 1970s when clashes between right- and left-wing militants left dozens dead daily in the cities of Turkey, while “February Cold” looks at the rise of Islam that continues to shock Turkey’s dyed-in-the-wool secularists.
But is Turkey ready to deal with such vital issues in such a format? Gul Dirican, who scripted “Time of the Dawn,” a Romeo-and-Juliet saga set against a backdrop of sectarian tension between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Alevis — a long persecuted Turkish version of Shia — recalls some trepidation during the shoot.
“The Alevis were worried when we filmed an Alevi funeral,” she recalled in an interview with the daily Aksam. “They said, ‘This is the first time Sunni society sees us like this; is this a good thing?’” But despite these times of openness, the Kurdish question remains a hot potato.
“The Exiled Woman” tells the tale of a family from the southeastern province of Urfa, with mysterious “bandits” (read: Kurdish tribesmen) lurking in the mountains; the lovers in “June Night” bear the Kurdish names of Barran and Havin, but never mention that they are Kurds.
“No series so far has dealt openly with the question of ethnic Kurdish identity because it is still too serious a problem for the state,” Timisi said. “The shows speak of (Turkish) easterners only in generalities, in terms of feudalism, land conflicts and vendettas.” Barran tells his love interest that his name means June Night, but discreetly avoids mentioning the language.
“We chose those names simply because they are pretty and they are fashionable,” commented the series’ director, Andac Haznedaroglu. “It is too early today to speak openly of Kurdish identity,” she said.
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=54861