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Why is Turkey's Prime Minister at war with a soap opera? - The Times
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2012/12/28/magnificent/
08:43 - 28.12.12
Crammed with trinkets, eunuchs, wine, giggly harem girls, seduction
and intrigue, Magnificent Century - a Turkish soap opera based on the
life and reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the 16th century Ottoman
sultan - might at times appear gaudy, predictable and rife with
historical inaccuracies.
To the show's estimated 150 million viewers, spread across Turkey, the
Balkans and the Middle East, however, it's nothing more than good
entertainment. To Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
though, it's blasphemy, the Time writes.
During a speech in late November, Erdogan rained fire and brimstone on
the show's makers. `That's not the Suleiman we know,' he said,
referring to the depiction of the Ottomans' great ruler as a drinker
and womanizer. `Before my nation, I condemn both the director of this
series and the owner of the television station. We have already
alerted the authorities, and we are awaiting a judicial decision.'
The Time writes Erdogan has had little reason to complain about the
wave of Ottomania that has propelled programs like Magnificent Century
to record ratings. Intent on restoring Turkey's links with the Balkans
and the Middle East, and just as keen to use his country's newly
assertive foreign policy to win votes at home, the Prime Minister has
probably done more than anyone else to rekindle Turkish nostalgia for
the age of empire. (Critics allege that he likely fancies himself a
modern-day sultan.) What Erdogan appears to resent, however, is any
interpretation of the Ottoman past that is less than adulatory - or at
odds with Islamic values. A sultan on horseback is fine. A sultan on a
bender is not.
Within days of the Prime Minister's remarks, Turkish Airlines, the
national air carrier, reportedly scratched Suleiman and his dancing
girls from all of its in-flight programming. At roughly the same time,
Oktay Saral, a lawmaker from Erdogan's mildly Islamist Justice and
Development Party (AKP), announced that he would table a law banning
programs that infringe on `national values' by `insulting,
denigrating, distorting or misrepresenting' historical personalities
and events. (An existing law already prescribes prison terms for those
guilty of `denigrating the Turkish nation.') `Magnificent Century will
be banned from the airwaves in 2013,' Saral gravely announced.
To Ihsan Dagi, a columnist at Today's Zaman, a newspaper that until
recently tended to toe the government's line, the Turkish leader's
vendetta against Magnificent Century is emblematic. `The very top of
the [ruling] party, Erdogan, acts as if he is entitled to interfere in
the lives and choices of the people, as if he is responsible for their
choices,' Dagi wrote in a recent article. `The mandate to rule seems
to have been interpreted as a blank check to transform the identities
and lifestyles of the people.'
Fittingly, the day that Dagi's article appeared, news broke that
Turkey's media watchdog had decided to fine a private channel $30,000
for airing an episode of The Simpsons in which God was depicted as
being under the sway of the devil. The program `made fun of God' and
`encouraged young people to drink alcohol on New Year's Eve,' the
Radio and Television Supreme Council said in a statement.
Erdogan is not the first to express his criticism for Magnificent
Century. Since the show first aired two years ago, thousands of Turks
- conservative Muslims and nationalists alike - have protested its
irreverent portrayal of Suleiman. Now, however, the row, while still
about values, is also about power - or, more specifically, about the
degree to which Erdogan has begun to rule Turkey by fiat.
Several years ago, it was still possible to argue, as some did, that
it's not what Erdogan said that mattered, but what his government
actually did. Today, the two are slowly becoming indistinguishable.
What the Prime Minister says, or thinks, is what goes.
The chemical reaction that began with Erdogan's contempt for
Magnificent Century and ended in his associates' bid to pull the plug
on the show is just the latest example. Two years ago, during a visit
to the eastern province of Kars, the Prime Minister called a local
statue to Turkish-Armenian reconciliation a `monstrosity.' A year
later, the statue was torn down. Earlier this year, Erdogan declared
that abortion was tantamount to `murder' and cesarean births were `a
procedure to restrict Turkey's population.' Within a week of the
speech, the Health Ministry announced that a regulation placing new
curbs on abortion was in the works. (After a public outcry, the draft
law was eventually shelved.)
Protests notwithstanding, Erdogan has also pushed ahead with a number
of pet projects, including the construction of a mosque in the middle
of Istanbul's entertainment district and another, a much larger one,
on a hilltop overlooking the city. He hasn't taken kindly to criticism
either. Journalists who knock or lampoon the Prime Minister routinely
face lawsuits, fines or dismissals - this in a country that jails more
reporters than China and Iran, according to the Committee to Protect
Journalists.
Erdogan's popularity, boosted by a decade of rapid economic growth,
shows few signs of abating, however. Having pledged not to run for
another term as Prime Minister, Erdogan is now attempting to
consolidate his legacy by transforming Turkey into a U.S.-style
presidential system. Well short of an absolute majority in parliament
and facing resistance from the sitting President himself, he may be
facing his toughest challenge to date. Undaunted, the Turkish leader
doesn't shy from suggesting that he has found a perfectly suitable
candidate for the 2014 presidential election - himself.
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2012/12/28/magnificent/
08:43 - 28.12.12
Crammed with trinkets, eunuchs, wine, giggly harem girls, seduction
and intrigue, Magnificent Century - a Turkish soap opera based on the
life and reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the 16th century Ottoman
sultan - might at times appear gaudy, predictable and rife with
historical inaccuracies.
To the show's estimated 150 million viewers, spread across Turkey, the
Balkans and the Middle East, however, it's nothing more than good
entertainment. To Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
though, it's blasphemy, the Time writes.
During a speech in late November, Erdogan rained fire and brimstone on
the show's makers. `That's not the Suleiman we know,' he said,
referring to the depiction of the Ottomans' great ruler as a drinker
and womanizer. `Before my nation, I condemn both the director of this
series and the owner of the television station. We have already
alerted the authorities, and we are awaiting a judicial decision.'
The Time writes Erdogan has had little reason to complain about the
wave of Ottomania that has propelled programs like Magnificent Century
to record ratings. Intent on restoring Turkey's links with the Balkans
and the Middle East, and just as keen to use his country's newly
assertive foreign policy to win votes at home, the Prime Minister has
probably done more than anyone else to rekindle Turkish nostalgia for
the age of empire. (Critics allege that he likely fancies himself a
modern-day sultan.) What Erdogan appears to resent, however, is any
interpretation of the Ottoman past that is less than adulatory - or at
odds with Islamic values. A sultan on horseback is fine. A sultan on a
bender is not.
Within days of the Prime Minister's remarks, Turkish Airlines, the
national air carrier, reportedly scratched Suleiman and his dancing
girls from all of its in-flight programming. At roughly the same time,
Oktay Saral, a lawmaker from Erdogan's mildly Islamist Justice and
Development Party (AKP), announced that he would table a law banning
programs that infringe on `national values' by `insulting,
denigrating, distorting or misrepresenting' historical personalities
and events. (An existing law already prescribes prison terms for those
guilty of `denigrating the Turkish nation.') `Magnificent Century will
be banned from the airwaves in 2013,' Saral gravely announced.
To Ihsan Dagi, a columnist at Today's Zaman, a newspaper that until
recently tended to toe the government's line, the Turkish leader's
vendetta against Magnificent Century is emblematic. `The very top of
the [ruling] party, Erdogan, acts as if he is entitled to interfere in
the lives and choices of the people, as if he is responsible for their
choices,' Dagi wrote in a recent article. `The mandate to rule seems
to have been interpreted as a blank check to transform the identities
and lifestyles of the people.'
Fittingly, the day that Dagi's article appeared, news broke that
Turkey's media watchdog had decided to fine a private channel $30,000
for airing an episode of The Simpsons in which God was depicted as
being under the sway of the devil. The program `made fun of God' and
`encouraged young people to drink alcohol on New Year's Eve,' the
Radio and Television Supreme Council said in a statement.
Erdogan is not the first to express his criticism for Magnificent
Century. Since the show first aired two years ago, thousands of Turks
- conservative Muslims and nationalists alike - have protested its
irreverent portrayal of Suleiman. Now, however, the row, while still
about values, is also about power - or, more specifically, about the
degree to which Erdogan has begun to rule Turkey by fiat.
Several years ago, it was still possible to argue, as some did, that
it's not what Erdogan said that mattered, but what his government
actually did. Today, the two are slowly becoming indistinguishable.
What the Prime Minister says, or thinks, is what goes.
The chemical reaction that began with Erdogan's contempt for
Magnificent Century and ended in his associates' bid to pull the plug
on the show is just the latest example. Two years ago, during a visit
to the eastern province of Kars, the Prime Minister called a local
statue to Turkish-Armenian reconciliation a `monstrosity.' A year
later, the statue was torn down. Earlier this year, Erdogan declared
that abortion was tantamount to `murder' and cesarean births were `a
procedure to restrict Turkey's population.' Within a week of the
speech, the Health Ministry announced that a regulation placing new
curbs on abortion was in the works. (After a public outcry, the draft
law was eventually shelved.)
Protests notwithstanding, Erdogan has also pushed ahead with a number
of pet projects, including the construction of a mosque in the middle
of Istanbul's entertainment district and another, a much larger one,
on a hilltop overlooking the city. He hasn't taken kindly to criticism
either. Journalists who knock or lampoon the Prime Minister routinely
face lawsuits, fines or dismissals - this in a country that jails more
reporters than China and Iran, according to the Committee to Protect
Journalists.
Erdogan's popularity, boosted by a decade of rapid economic growth,
shows few signs of abating, however. Having pledged not to run for
another term as Prime Minister, Erdogan is now attempting to
consolidate his legacy by transforming Turkey into a U.S.-style
presidential system. Well short of an absolute majority in parliament
and facing resistance from the sitting President himself, he may be
facing his toughest challenge to date. Undaunted, the Turkish leader
doesn't shy from suggesting that he has found a perfectly suitable
candidate for the 2014 presidential election - himself.