TV serial industry is booming in Turkey. Now these are exported to Middle Eastern countries and some other countries (about exports coverage). Level of sexuality or political debates (“Hatirla sevgili”, Çemberimde gül oya) within the plots are making authorities uncomfortable. Not that I condone every TV serial but I observe this an exciting media emergence.
Turkish popular culture
every male soul tastes the military service (in Turkey) (!)
Recently, Hürriyet posted service photos of popular actors, footballers etc…
No Memati for a kid’s name…
Memati
A father wanted to rename his two sons after the famous characters in the TV serials Valley of the Wolves: Polat and Memati. A local court rejected one of the names: Memati. Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals confirmed the local court decision: Memati is an Arabic word that means “death” or “fatal” and thus not suitable for a kid’s name… Well, nobody knows what Memati means really. I did not know myself. So I am not sure if this is really a good decision. I would feel better for a name like “Ayetullah”. That was a friend’s name back in college. His father was an Islamist and he named him like that. That was a loaded name to carry along… …
In the mean time, Turkish police forbidden a MultiPlayerOnline Game to be played in Internet Cafes (I wonder if they really have the authority to do that): Metin 2. A popular game with too much violent stuff. The police thinks it is not good for the kids.
In Turkish Press, most mentioned columnist of the week:
No | Köşe Yazarı | Haber/Yazı Adedi |
1 | Ertuğrul Özkök | 135 |
2 | Cengiz Çandar | 85 |
3 | Nuray Mert | 52 |
4 | Rıdvan Dilmen | 44 |
5 | Ahmet Hakan Coşkun | 41 |
*MTM Medya Takip Merkezi’nin, 4-10 Ocak 2010 tarihlerinde, basında yaptığı haber takibi sonuçlarından derlenmiştir. | ||
Recep İvedik 3 on February 2010
Turkish blockbuster returns with a new sequel: Recep İvedik 3. It will also become a blockbuster. That’s for sure. However, the preview is not promising as it did in the second one. I kind of liked and promoted the second one here. But in the new sequel, at least in the previews, more banality based … Read more
Rakı industry strikes back, Rakı viral ads in the net
Since advertising of alcoholic beverages are very limited, more video ads are circulating thru social media. Here is the latest one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf-IyC-zKNw
And Muslim Turks make peace with Christmas
My older sister loves all kinds of decorations on special days. This was always an annoyment for the rest of kids in the family. Now she is married and I hear that she takes her hobby to a new level. They have a Christmas tree and had worked on decorating it. Of course, they do this to welcome the new year. Christmas and new year practices are blended in many Turkish minds into new year celebrations. Surprisingly enough, my sister always criticises me for consuming alcohol. She is not veiled at all but she is quite a practicing religion woman and I am frequently subject to her anger that I am not a good Muslim. Funny.
Santa movie spotlights Turkey’s east-west divide
CNN
ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) — It may be the first modern Christmas movie ever made for audiences in Turkey, a mostly Muslim country that does not celebrate
EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight – Turkey: Istanbul Gets in the Christmas Spirit