Turkish invasion on Polish TV - Poland's opinion on Turkey

wyborcza.pl/1,90535,18902934,wspaniale-stulecie-turecka-gra-o-tron.html

The first Turkish TV serie that was aired on Polish state TV was probably an element of the cultural exchange that was happening to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Poland, I think.

This TV serie is called "Wspaniałe stulecie" in Polish (in English it's "The Magnificent Century" and "Muhteşem Yüzyıl" in Turkish). It was apparently a success world-wide, but I think that it's popularity in Poland also stems from the fact that those are historical TV series and since Poland was warring with the Ottoman Empire and there were some Turkish influences in the past and stuff - Poles simply found it interesting. I myself have watched quite a few episodes for this very reason (and because I got a bit addicted to all those harem intrigues at first lol).

Btw, there are differences between "The Magnificent Century" and Western historical or fantasy TV series like "The Tudors", "The Borgias" or "Game of Thrones" - one of the most srtiking ones that I've noticed is that there's no sex shown in the Turkish one, only kisses, while in the Western series I've mentioned there has to be a sex scene or a naked woman every three episodes at least lol That's why I was surprised when I found out that "The Magnificent Century" had problems... in Turkey. Erdogan accused the producers of blasphemy and depravation lol There were also 70 000 complaints sent from viewers but they were in minority since the majority of Turks fell in love with "The Magnificent Century".

"The Magnificent Century" is aired from Monday to Friday at 15:50 on TVP1, at 18:05 at TVP Historia and at 20:15 on TVP Seriale.
I would say it gets boring in the long run because it has the length of a soap opera, so I wouldn't be able to watch every single episode but it's watchable when you tune in now and then, for example. It's interesting to see how the Ottoman Empire was run, the cultural stuff, customs and traditions, the clothes people were wearing at that time and the way the historical events are viewed.

The success of "The Magnificent Century" was such that the Polish TV introduced also other Turkish TV series to Polish viewers.
Another Turkish historical TV serie that was aired on Polish state TV (TVP 2 this time) was "Imperium miłości" (English: "Kurt Seyit and Şura", Turkish: "Kurt Seyit ve Şura ") - the last episode was shown not that long ago.

It was about a love of a soldier with Turkish roots and a Russian woman and about Tatar families in Crimea (at least that was my impression - I've seen only two or three episodes when I was sick) with the Russian revolution and the World War I in the backround.

Btw, most of the women in both TV series are pretty, some really stunning and there are some really handsome (and manly in a good way :P) men too, like Burak Özçivit playing Malkocoglu Bali Bey in "The Magnificent Century":

pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/564853446759952386/1gncQWBw.jpeg
Also, Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ from "Kurt Seyit and Şura" reminded me of Bohun played by Aleksandr Domogarov in "Ogniem i mieczem", with his fiery character and big blue eyes :):

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/71/39/e9/7139e9730fb369305dec6c5f18179d20.jpg
Just saying :D :P

There are also a few soap operas in modern setting:
"Tysiąc i jedna noc" ("One Thousand and One Nights", "Binbir Gece") - a modern fairy tale from Istanbul on TVP1.

"To moje życie" ("It's my Life", I don't know the Turkish title) - a modern story of Cinderella on TV Puls.

"Sezon na miłość" ("A season for Love"?, and, again, I don't know the Turkish title) on TV Puls.
I don't watch soap operas so I can't say anything about those.

Why is it newsworthy? Well, because these are the first TV series and soap operas from a Muslim country on Polish TV and quite a few of them too. So it's definitely something new.

Btw, it seems Polish TV producers were so impressed with the success of "The Magnificent Century" that they decided to air another historical TV serie from an "exotic" country - this time from South Korea. It's "Cesarzowa Ki" ("Empress Ki", "Gi Hwanghu") at 17:00 on TVP2. Again, it's something new because there simply aren't any TV series on Polish TV other than Polish, European and North American ones (plus some soap operas from South America), as far as I know.

(Question nr 1: Shouldn't there be a section of the forum like "Culture" or sth? I wasn't sure where to put this thread...

Question nr 2: Is it "TV serie" or "TV series" for a single title? I always have problems with this :/)

Disgusting.

Why dont they do a series about how they (the Turkish) genocided 85% of the Christians that were living in turkey during the years 1913 to 1915?

At least they would be honest about their bloody past as a criminal nation.

MAkes a nice change from the typical American sh!te on tele here, I'll check it out.


Oh Jesus, maybe you ought to tell the Germans that when they make a TV show it should start with a huge "Sorry for WWII" and maybe before every BBC show it should say "Hey Ireland, we're sorry out army killed so many of your civilians over the years"

Australian TV shows could maybe apologise to the Aboriginals to?

In that ilk, maybe Polish TV shows should say "Ukraine, we're real sorry about the people we killed after WWII, but y'know there was a land grab underway and you killed lots of us too and all is fair in love and war" and as a gesture of goodwill the Ukrainians could do the same?

I haven't actually watched any of those (bit tricky, given that I don't have the equipment to receive them). Are they any good? Do they all start with an apology from the country where they are made for the genocide carried out against the indigenous people of the country or is that a story-line they avoid?

In fact they done that. A lot. Schindlers List were produced with german money.

Unfortunately the Turkish doesn't have an attitude even close to that, and they even deny that they commited that atrocity.

What is your problem with Turks Levi. You can start telling from your childhood. We are ready to listen.

Rock I think people are worried that Turkey will become more Islamic less moderate (Not being offensive i don't know a better way of putting it).

What do you think about the future which way will Turkey go ?

I'm very happy to have a chance to see films and shows from countries which are not USA. I'm fed up with American culture - there's just too much of it.

I hope Turks never change. I'd love to have them on my side during a conflict. They are idealistic and stubborn. Sound familiar? In some ways Polish Men have more in common with the Turk than post-WW2 German.

Would kindly restrain yourself form making ignorant remarks about thing you know nothing about. Thank you.

Well, good for Turkey. Poland should make such a nice and well made stories as well.

When Poland genocided 85% of the Population of the native population of a country just because they refused to convert to Islam, like the Turks did with Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks?

Of course they do. I'm sure Jarosław Kaczyński secretly admires Władimir Putin, too. It wouldn't do to praise him openly, so he praises Wiktor Orban. And Orban praises Putin.

Poles, Russians, Turks are in the "we rewrite history" camp. Germany admits its history, and tries to learn from it. You can't learn from something you don't want to hear. Many Poles do admire Putin, Orban, Erdogan for doing "good for their country" and bash Merkel, Obama. Poles admire asian and arabic zamordyzm more than democracy.

I think it's popular mainly because it's very well done, it may have been shown for various reasons but it gained a devoted audience because it's an interesting mix of stories that looks nice and very well acted (for TV). The characters are distinct, well drawn and fun to watch (the young Hurrem is especially hilarious).

I don't know if other Turkish soaps will develop an audience in Poland but Turkey has been emerging as a regional capital of popular culture (like South Korea).

I've seen a few episodes and it is very well done. I think its draw is mostly that it feels exotic - like Isaura or even Dynasty before (that kind of luxury was downright exotic for Polish audience in the 90's). As for religion, there's very little of it! Allah this or allah that is occassionally used as a greeting and that's it. Religion hardly comes into play. Catholic Europe is shown as scheming. A formerly Christian vizier is a power hungry villain. But they don't stand out at all when you consider what fellow Muslims inflict upon each other in the show.

well, NATO brotherhood strengthen thru share of culture. Somebody want`s to see great love between Poles and Turks and here comes movie.

I'm on a break from it but I've seen the first 40 or so episodes and one thing that I've noticed is how.... ambiguously Hurrem's conversion to Islam is treated. It comes across as a necessary step in her ascension to power but there's no evidence that she actually believes in it very much (or derives any satisfaction from it as some other characters sometimes do).

The other takeaway is just how toxic forced sexual segregation is (whatever the source, portrayed in the show as cultural intertia as much as anything religious). It completely makes normal interactions between men and women impossible and makes some men (like the Sultan) big winners while reducing many more men to miserable celibacy who lose all reason around women. It also heightens female competition in the harem to insanely evil heights....

No, no, no and no. Its all game of evil spin doctors. This complete serie is to indoctrinate Poles with love on Turks so that Poles, if it suits NATO powers, one day hug Turks and together with them go willingly in sh** of battle, as very nice cannon fodders. i understand why Turks but, why Poles?

Fortunately, there are Poznan football fans and Polish defense league. i have full confidence in them.

Crow, In this article, Serbian ambassador in Ankara Mr. Sposojevic says everybody in Serbia is watching The Magnificent Century ;)

You will say no no no I guess :)

aksam.com.tr/roportaj/herkes-turk-dizisi-izliyor-ama-izledigini-gizliyor/haber-168450

I saw it a few years ago when on some French tv - very good and most pleasant to watch. It must be watched as a good program and not as a "political" or whatever else "message". A pleasant moment for Poles to finally realize that there are other tv programs than American often bs....

If anything, the show paints a bad image of Turkey. It's dripping with venom, greed, and treachery. You realize this when you stop for a second to think.

Poland could learn from this how to make a good show, and how to promote Polish history in an interesting manner. You prefer a bunch of grim martyrs ? Give me a break!

There is no equivalent book, show, movie or other work of art that makes Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth look fun. Henryk Sienkiewicz's books are simply dull by comparison. It's full of bigotry, Poles of the Commonwealth are all fine, everyone else is savages, primitive peasants, dehumanized czerń with no valid complaints. Zagłoba is a drunk and a warchoł. What's there to admire ? Even his wit is overrated. Sienkiewicz is overrated. If the new government decides his books are worth promoting abroad, that will make me cringe. Poland needs something new.

Good for us, because western democracy is a sh!te wrapped in a shiny paper, zamordyzm next to that democracy is a pussy in pink slippers.

Movie? Here is fragment of one >

This we Slavs got from them

Slavic Slave Trade by Muslim Turks (Ottoman) and Tartars

youtube.com/watch?v=G3es7N8TLlE

I Really doubt that the Turkish will do any kind of documentary that reveals their past as a genocidal state.

But this is a very good documentary indeed, thanks Crow.

At 17 minutes onwards start to get really sad to see how the Turks slaughtered so many slavic boys just to rape the girls and enslave/convert then to breed their childrem.


Isaura is a very good tv serie.

And, differently than the turks, we Brazilians are not ashamed to admit the disgusting past of our country (and, eventually, our still disgusting present). So this series portrait the slavery times and is actually a amazing, award winning, production.

Turkey most assuredly IS a Muslim country, only it's Sunni and not Shiite like Iran, Iraq etc. It is admittedly more liberal than almost any other Islamic nation, that is, their Arab and Farsi-speaking neighbors:-)

Turkey sees itself rightly as a bridge between East and West, between Christian and Muslim, therefore it comes across as more "Westernized" or Occidental to foreign visitors!

Most descriptions claim that the western part (especially tourist centers) are much more secularly oriented (I remember seeing mosques on friday that were all but empty) and western leaning (and suffering from the same low birth rates as Europe). The Kurds in the east are a lot more religious and less educated (and fertile the future belongs to the Kurds in Turkey which does not bode well for the country as a whole).

also, for what it's worth mosque attendance in Iran is very low (this info is widely available from all sorts of sources) and the iranians I've known are not overly religious at all they call themselves believers but don't make a big thing about it

Turkey was more secular (2nd country after France to separate state and religion) until Erdogan and co arrived to power. Unfortunately the secular parts of the society are rather limited and limited mostly to educated and urban middle classes. I remember when I first time visited Turkey in 1995 (or something like this) that in Istamboul, around 50% of women were dressed the Europan way and that the guide we had (a retired colonel who was at the time 52 years old) told us that during his childhood in Istamboul, it was very rare to see women not dressed like in Europe. I suppose that now, most women even in Istamboul at least cover their heads.

With Erdogan, Turkey has forgotten about Atta Turk's perception of modern Turkey. I for sure am no expert on Turkey but I used to be almost fascinated by Atta Turk's reforms (even the writing was changed into latin alphabet). I was also interested in country since I used to have very close contacts through work with some big shots from Embassy so from them, I learnt a lot ....

Quite true, you guys!

Things sure have changed since Harvard-educated Tansu Cillar was at the helm...and the first as well as ONLY female to do it, too.

Yes, until 3 months ago, that put Turkey on par with Germany, France or the UK. Now , the UK has doubled its count, but it still lags Poland which has had 3 female Prime Ministers (Suchocka, Kopasz, Szydlo).

If one looks at when women were allowed to vote, Poland is top of the list a alongside Germany (vote granted in 1918 in both countries), followed by Britain (1928), Turkey (1934) and France is last (1944). So on the whole, of the five countries named, Poland is the most feminist!

Brazil's one and only female leader, Ms. Rousseff, just was ousted due to scandal. Hopefully, the same fate won't befall either Ms. May, Ms. Merkel, or Ms. Szydło:-)

Ahahh i read all comments of liar Levi above and it is very sad story that he tries to convince people Turks killed Armenians becouse they are Christian.. well Levi, do you know İstanbul is one of the most important place in christianity and how many curches, sinagogs we have all around in Turkiye. When it comes to Armenians, it is not the subject of this title but please take your wish away from acceptance of your fake genocide story. Christians killed christians millions of people in WWII and Turks were not a part of it at all.. although our dear Armeanian citizens lost their lives after internal conflict on streets and on roads, moving another place to have some piece in both side, each nation has taken it's part in years of wars.. today no one şn Africa claims to get benefit from France or UK, even they pay taxes still..

The facts are as follows: Before Muslims invaded Constantinople, it was a Christian citadel! In around 1911 or so, Turkey slaughtered many million Armenians in fact BECAUSE they were Christians!

The Turkish gov't continues to deny these facts.

In fact, Hitler once is said to have remarked to a top aide when asked about the Holocaust, "Who remembers Armenia?"