Wednesday, 21 July 2010 02:43
Culture within a community varies from place to place. In the Arab world, and the GCC in particular, culture has a distinctly private and isolated nature consisting of habits, traditions and historical legacies that control the intellect and mind. These traditions command respect and demand sanctity – even those that violate norms, laws and perhaps even some religious teachings relating to justice, equality, acceptance, coexistence, citizenship, and partnership. Evolution of societies’ structure is often a long and complicated process with unidentifiable consequences. Thus, good governance of implications of cultural changes is unachievable until after the evolution has seceded to other generations. In recent years, a different culture has emerged, sweeping down from the north. More specifically, it began in Turkey and gained acceptance and spread widely in the structure of Arab society in an unprecedented manner compared to other cultural influences across the world. Turkish soap operas, movies, and songs dubbed in Arabic are storming GCC homes uninvited. Such media content is dominating public viewership as it is gaining popularity and is watched by millions from across the Atlantic to the Gulf and across continents by Arab expatriates living in Europe and the USA. It is sweeping across online forums and blogs, recording the highest rates of viewership and commentary. So popular is Turkish pop culture amongst Arabs that Turkish productions have surpassed those from Arab and Western countries.
The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet recently published a report on Turkish dramas and soap operas over the past few years. The report indicates that 22 countries are currently importing Turkish dramatic television series. Since Turkey started to export such productions in 2006, they have achieved record sales in the Arab world, Greece and Brazil. Further, the proceeds of Turkish TV production sales exceed $3m annually. Eighteen Turkish series are now airing in North Africa, Greece and Iran, and are among the most widely circulated productions in Egypt, the UAE, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. The Turkish soap opera titled “Noor” has attracted over 85 million Arab viewers over the age of 15 years, consisting of nearly 50 million women, the equivalent of more than half of the adult Arab female viewers of any TV drama in the Arab world in recent years. As for the second most popular Turkish dramatic series in the Arab world, the show “Years Gone Past” has totalled 67 million viewers, including nearly 39 million women.
It would not be an exaggeration to state that there is a significant cultural impact wrought by these TV programmes on the cultural structure of Arab societies. The shared historical and religious circumstances between Turks and Arabs may have played a large role in endearing Turkish culture to Arabs more than to others, and made the impact of its media much stronger. There are several media reports on incidences of jealousy spurred by the stars of Turkish soap operas dubbed into Arabic. Among these incidences are divorce cases in the Arab world where women request that their husbands treat them more romantically, along the lines of what they see on the TV series “Noor”, or show them greater emotion, such as displayed by the star Yahya in the series “Years Gone Past”. One of the most amusing news stories in this regard is that of a Bahraini family that arranged a marriage between a Bahraini young woman named Noor and their son, Mohammed. To the family’s surprise, the reason for a delay in the response to their arrangement was the prospective bride’s desire for Mohammed to change his name to “Mohannad” (similar to the hero’s name on the Turkish series “Noor”).
Religious edicts have also surfaced regarding the influence of Turkish broadcasting. Some Sunni and Shia clerics have declared fatwas prohibiting watching of Turkish sitcoms due to the alleged corruption and destruction of ethics. An Imam and cleric in the Syrian city of Halab issued a fatwa stating that worship in t-shirts bearing portraits of Turkish soap opera stars is impermissible.
Another way of looking at this subject is that such TV shows have managed to accomplish what governments have not, in bridging the gap between people, disseminating culture, reviving the economy, travel and tourism. An Egyptian newspaper cited a Turkish publication as stating that “Egyptians are the largest consumers in Istanbul” and noting that “Istanbul has become a destination for some Arabs thanks to Turkish soap operas, which have gained popularity in the Arab world, where 400-500 Arabs flock to Istanbul per week for weddings on the banks of the River Bosphorus”. It added that tourism in Turkey during 2009 increased in an unprecedented manner, with 21 percent of the tourists coming from the United Arab Emirates, and 50 percent from Morocco. Some clerics have even called for a visit to Turkey this summer in order to support Arab issues.
Also, Turkey’s success has ignited the jealousy of others who wish to win the hearts and minds of those living in the Arab and Muslim world. The magazine Foreign Policy has published a report pointing out that Ankara managed to achieve what the US failed to accomplish in nearly seven decades of attempting to initiate a formal relationship with Arabs. The magazine stated that Turkish drama series have succeeded in dealing with many subjects that Arab television is afraid of dealing with, such as gender equality, dealing with treason and love affairs, and discussing the subject of illegitimate children born outside of marriage. Ultimately, the magazine said that the drama series come from a Muslim country, Turkey, which is what made it easy for them to penetrate the thick walls of conservatism in the Arab world in discussing intolerance and inequality without attempting to hide or deny ethical issues within the community. In its commentary, the report concludes that the phenomenon “has proved that a simple television production can be used as a tool for effective social change and win millions of hearts and minds in the region.”
This phenomenon should be considered from a deeper and broader perspective than a simple newspaper article, especially with a focus on the social effect, whether positive or negative, and the durability of that influence on the Arab citizen, whether living at home or abroad as an immigrant.
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