Israel airs popular Turkish television series for first time

Turkey may have cut diplomatic and military ties with Israel, kicked out its ambassador and threatened to break the naval blockade on Gaza with Turkish warships, but cultural exchanges are seemingly continuing.

While Turkish television periodically produces and broadcasts virulently anti-Israeli programs, Israeli television is now reportedly broadcasting a popular Turkish soap opera for the first time.

According to a report in the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News, private channels Viva and Viva Platina decided to begin airing “Menekse ile Halil” (“Menekse and Halil”), a popular Turkish show starring Kivanc Tatlitug and Sedef Avci.

The show is aired in prime time five days a week with Hebrew subtitles, and has gained many fans since it began broadcasting two weeks ago, Hurriyet reported on Friday.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, Leora Nir, an official with Viva’s parent company, the Dori Media Group, said the company had decided to purchase the show from Turkey after watching the series.

Nir said there had been some negative reactions in Internet forums when the company announced its decision to run the show. “But as soon as the series was aired, everyone changed their minds,” Nir was quoted by Hurriyet as saying. “Now there is a big group of fans of the TV series. Everyone loves Tatlitug so much. It is the most watched TV series in the country at the moment.”

When asked if the company was worried that the series would fail to post high ratings, Nir said: “We always have this worry when we start airing a new TV series. We usually understand it after two or three weeks, but ‘Menekse and Halil’ became very popular when the first episode was aired.”