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“RTÜK to decide on length of lovemaking scenes in Turkish TV series” – Hürriyet Daily News

“The Turkish Cabinet has authorized the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) to limit the length of lovemaking scenes in Turkish TV series, daily Hürriyet reported today.

The Cabinet made the decision after approving RTÜK’s decision to fine a Turkish channel for airing a lovemaking scene between the leading characters of the soap opera Aşk-ı Memnu (Forbidden Love) that lasted five minutes and 30 seconds.

RTÜK fined the channel for the “hot” lovemaking scenes, describing them as “too long and immoral” and accusing them of failing to comply with the structure of the Turkish family.

“Aşk-ı Memnu” was adapted from the book of the same name by Turkish novelist Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil and featured actors Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ (Behlül) and Beren Saat (Bihter) in the lead roles.

The show features the chain of events revolving around Adnan Bey (Selçuk Yöntem) and his family. Adnan Bey lives with his daughter and his deceased friend’s son Behlül (Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ), but their lives change when Firdevs Hanım and her daughters Peyker and Bither cross their path. Adnan Bey falls in love with Bihter and they get married, but their happiness is destroyed with the appearance of Behlül, who begins a forbidden affair with Bihter. The story ends with Bihter’s tragic suicide after her affair with Behlül is revealed.”

Source : Hürriyet Daily News

“Incest: The last taboo in Turkish cinema and TV” – Hürriyet Daily News

The movie, ‘When Derin Falls,’ is about a 8 -year-old girl, who tries connecting with her father in every possbile way, including encounters with sexual undertones. Source : Hürriyet

“The recent controversy around a Turkish film dealing with incest reminded many of a similar brouhaha over another film on incest two years ago, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç’s warning to TV producers to keep incest away from screens

Red flags were raised amid media delirium last week when the head of the jury for a national film festival openly condemned a movie on moral grounds, allegedly threatening to ban the movie from entering the national competition.

The festival was the Golden Orange Film Festival, the biggest one in Turkey. The head of the jury was the ever-controversial Hülya Avşar, who had made headlines in the summer when a member of the jury resigned in protest over her selection, questioning her judgment and knowledge of film.

The film, which became the most talked-about film of the festival, was director Çağatay Tosun’s sophomore feature “Derin Düşün-ce” (a word play that could mean “Deep Thought” or “When Derin Falls,” referring to the little protagonist’s name). And the controversial subject matter was incest, a no-go area in Turkish cinema, television, literature and pop culture. […]

Incest is indeed a taboo that is ignored and remains invisible in the media, in cinema and on TV. And if there is a hint of incest, censorship comes in all forms and from all places. Sometimes it’s the audience, sometimes the head of the jury, and at other times, it’s the deputy prime minister.

Last spring, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç made a statement out of the blue in an attempt to put into action his conservative views on relationships (and probably the views of his fellow members of the pro-Islamic ruling Justice and Development Party – AKP) as depicted in dozens of TV series.

“Some of the marginal themes seen in recent TV series, such as relationships between people of the opposite sex and incest, have become cause for serious criticism, upsetting society. We have to take seriously the criticisms regarding these series. These themes have to be reassessed,” said Arınç, stealing headlines for a few days if not actually making much of an impact on the plots in the series.

It was not that difficult to trace the inappropriate relationships between the sexes he was referring to, as infidelity, marital rape and abusive relationships are not new to recent TV series in Turkey. But incest? The closest reference Arınç could have in mind was the series “Eve Düşen Yıldırım” (Lightning Strikes Home), which features two cousins falling in love; it’s not an unusual situation, and one that is definitely not found immoral in most parts of Turkey. The story, on the other hand, was not an original one written for TV. “Eve Düşen Yıldırım” was an adaptation of Turkish writer Nahid Sırrı Örik’s 1934 novel of the same name. In fact, it was not that uncommon to see cousins falling in love and marrying in the Turkish novels of the early 20th century, seen in such classics like Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s 1922 novel “Çalıkuşu” (The Wren) or “Aşk-ı Memnu” (Forbidden Love) by Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil, serialized in 1900. Of course, when the latter was adapted to TV to huge success in 2008.”

Source : Hürriyet Daily News

“Famous TV star Beren Saat, dream woman for Arab men” – Hürriyet Daily News

Beren aat is currently the most popular Turkish actress in the Arab world.

“The popularity of Turkish TV series is rising every day in Arabic-speaking countries, and Turkish actresses are often the main attraction in a series. Beren Saat, who plays the role of Bihter in “Aşk-ı Memnu” (Forbidden Love) and that of Fatmagül in “Fatmagül’ün suçu ne?” (What is Fatmagül’s fault?), is currently the most popular Turkish actress in the Arab world.

Saat has come to represent a sort of dream woman for Arab men, said a recent article in Al Bawaba daily, based in Jordan. There are about 300 fan pages on Facebook dedicated to Saat, and approximately 800,000 people have “liked” those pages. Messages to Beren Saat on Facebook mainly consist of compliments and messages of admiration. According to the Al Bawaba article, Arab men say of Saat “she is like an angel,” and that their only dream is to find someone as “pure” as she is. They also hate the character Mustafa, Saat’s character’s fiancé on “Fatmagül’ün suçu ne?”, and post angry messages about the character on Facebook. Some say they want a daughter like Saat. Arab women, on the other hand, tend to prefer Buğra Gülsoy, another actor appearing in “Fatmagül’ün suçu ne?”, comparing him to Brad Pitt.

Beren Saat is the Turkish person about whom the most articles are being written, according to the latest data released by the Media Tracking Center (MTM), with 4,472 articles in the media. Her popularity in the media stems mainly from her relationship with Kenan Doğulu, her latest boyfriend.

Doğulu is one of the most popular singers in Turkey and represented Turkey in Eurovision 2007 with his song “Shake it up Şekerim.” Doğulu and Saat have been together for a while, and their relationship is said to be very serious. Turkish dailies have written that Saat has met Doğulu’s family.

Actor Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ’s girlfriend Azra Akın was in second place on the MTM list. Akın’s popularity has risen since the couple made up last month and became the focus of marriage rumors. The rumors are still just rumors, though, and Tatlıtuğ has said: “If I were getting married tomorrow, I wouldn’t tell anyone.””

Source : Hürriyet Daily News

“$30,000 paid for hour-long series” – Hürriyet Daily News

"Turkish TV series ‘Nour’ immediately became a hit when it was shown on Saudi sattellite channel in 2008." Source : Hürriyet

“The high production values of dubbed Turkish television dramas, which are extremely popular in Arab households, pose a huge challenge, experts say, according to a report in the United Arab Emirates-based newspaper Gulf News on April 1.

The remarkably popular Turkish series are increasingly becoming a source of delight for sponsors and advertisers on Arab television channels, the newspaper said. The demand for Turkish drama has increased, especially with the decreasing output of the two important TV production cities of the Arabic-speaking world, Cairo and Damascus, due to the political turmoil in both countries in the past year.

But expansion into this market has its price. As the economic rule goes, an increase in demand leads to an increase in prices. Some experts in the industry believe that the increasing prices of Turkish dramas will eventually lead to a shift in demand. The high prices that Turkish series command have begun to suggest to TV networks the necessity of searching for a new profit window.

Adeeb Khair, general manager and owner of Sama Art Productions, a Syrian TV-production company which dubs Turkish dramas into colloquial Syrian Arabic, was quoted as saying, “Several years back, I bought a one-hour (one hour of copyright) Turkish drama for $600 or $700. Today, there are [those] who are willing to pay $40,000 for one-hour dramas.”

“This has opened the door for Turkish [production] companies to reconsider their prices and say they won’t sell for less than $30,000 [for a one-hour show]. This will create a problem. Who will buy them and take such a risk?” Khair said, speaking to Gulf News. His Damascus-based company has already dubbed nearly 60 Turkish dramas in the last four years.

Success of ‘Nour’

The series “Gümüş,” sold in Arabic-speaking markets under the name of “Nour,” the name of the main character in the dubbed Turkish drama, which was shown on the Saudi-owned MBC satellite channel in 2008, immediately became a hit, according to Gulf News. The high ratings it got were partly due to its unconventional use of colloquial Arabic. Non-Arabic dramas used to be more commonly dubbed into classical Arabic.

Another Turkish series popular in Arab households is “Aşk-ı Memnu” (Forbidden Love). It was among the top 10 series in Egypt last year.

The duration of Turkish dramas, some of which can exceed 100 episodes, also helps bring in advertising, because viewers get hooked on a series and become loyal to the channel that airs it.

“Once you get someone hooked, it is not just 20 or 30 episodes, it is 60 or 70 or maybe 90 episodes, so you actually guarantee an audience for a long time,” Veda Rizk, a Dubai-based TV and marketing consultant, told Gulf News.”

Source : Hürriyet Daily News

“Fatmagül’s popularity rises in Arab world” – Hürriyet Daily News

Beren Saat stars in ‘Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne?’. Source : Hürriyet

“Turkey’s popular “Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne?” (What is Fatmagül’s Fault?) is the latest Turkish TV series to gain popularity in Middle Eastern and Arab countries.

In the series, Beren Saat, who previously gained fame in the same region with her previous role “Bihter” in TV series “Aşk-ı Memnu” (Forbidden Love), stars with actor Egin Akyürek. She is known as Fatima.

The series is aired in primetime on satellite channel MBC4 five days a week in the United Arab Emirates. A great deal of news about the series has appeared in the Arab world; developments with the characters are shared with the public.

The series has gained lots of fans in the country and each episode is uploaded to video-sharing websites after being aired on television.

“Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne?” is aired on Turkish Kanal D channel every Thursday and features the story of a rape victim, Fatmagül.”

Source : Hürriyet Daily News