Mohamed Baraka evaluates the influence of Turkish drama on the Egyptian psyche Most Egyptians and Arabs have mixed feelings about Turkey, if only because the Ottomans once subdued the Arab world and brought down the caliphate. Today's Turkey is still a mixed bag: Muslim yet secular, Asian yet European, similar to us and yet different. A generation ago it was common in the Arab world to make jokes about how arrogant and lazy the Turks were. More recently, Turkey nearly challenged Syria to a fight before hooking up with Israel in some serious military cooperation. This gave many Arabs pause for thought. Do we love Turkey or hate it? The answer seems to be clear, judging by the taste of television viewers. A barrage of successful Turkish soap operas has taken the Arab world by storm. Since 2004, MBC has been airing one hit show after another, all dubbed in an accessible Lebanese accent. In these shows, the Turks do not come across as tough, distant and unfeeling, as Ottoman rulers used to be depicted. Instead, they appear as loving, vulnerable, and sensitive husbands, wives and friends. The first of these successful shows was Noor, starring the charming and handsome Kivanc Tatlitug whose posters now adorn walls in teenage rooms all over the Arab world. When Tatlitug came to Cairo for a recent film festival, crowds went mad about him and his co-star Songul Oden. So successful was Noor that it was soon followed by several shows in the same genre. No Place, No Country, Tears of Roses, Years of Perdition and Time to Part all have simple plots centring on love and misunderstanding, romance and crime, spiced up with outdoor scenes of beautiful mountains and green valleys, all more abundant in Turkey than anywhere in the Arab world. It is said that purchases by rich Arabs of property in Turkey have gone up by 20 per cent or more because of the shows. Even more successful than Noor was Time to Part, a variation on the same idea but with a good deal more passion and technical virtuosity. The plot is simple. Layla, a doctor, is happily married to a writer and has two children. She discovers that she has a malignant brain tumour and does not have long to live, and so decides to marry her husband off to another woman. Her aim is to protect her daughters from a miserable childhood like the one she suffered when she lost her mother while she was growing up. But she survives, thanks to a risky surgical operation, and lives to see her daughters pull away from her. Layla is played by Iss Issoulou, a famous fashion model in Turkey. Stressing the vitality of love and positive emotions is the key word of the Turkish drama that has been screened on Arab satellite channels. The romantic story lines depicting heroes facing the harsh fleeting of time and the dramatic separation between lovers are the main theme in most of these series. This very feature is what makes them more appealing to the Egyptian viewer, who is fed up with Egyptian drama where corruption, rape crimes and tragedies involving street children are the most prevalent topics. It is true that such topics reflect the economic and social transformation of Egyptian society, but presenting the same themes over and over again has forced the viewers to draw back. Meanwhile, it is equally true to assume that women make up the majority of the audiences, and they are desperate for romance. For them, the Turkish drama presents an escape from the marital conflicts and dull routine in their daily lives: for the first time they see romance, kisses and hugs among married couples, and not between romantic but temporary, illegal relationships as depicted in the Egyptian drama. So what exactly is the influence of such Turkish dramas on Egyptian television drama producers? Egyptian actor Nour El-Sherif, who has followed the show, was quoted as saying that it appealed to Arab women because it showed that a man could be deeply in love with a woman who was not particularly attractive. There might be another reason, however. None of the women in Time to Part wears the hijab (head cover). Most tend to be fashionable blondes in revealing European attire -- not exactly representative of Turkish women. Moreover, the script makes Turkey look quite secular, with marriages and divorces all conducted at a city hall, not the mosque. Egyptians love it. Young people have started exchanging pictures of the Turkish stars on websites and mobile phones. Film critic Ihab El-Turki says the huge success of Turkish drama is a wake up call to Arab producers. "Arab drama needs to rid itself of its rigid formulas, such as over- dependence on one star. We need better scripts and more shooting on-location," he concludes.
