Turkish TV series draw great interest in Israel

TEL AVIV

Turkish TV series have drawn a great interest in Israel in recent times, among them Istanbullu Gelin (The Bride of Istanbul) is the most popular, Israeli media reported.

Anne (Mother) and Kadin (Woman) are also among the most watched Turkish TV series in Israel.

Israeli daily Haaretz used the headline "The Turks Are Back, and They've Got All of Israel Addicted” in an article about the popularity of the Turkish TV series in the country.

“The Bride of Istanbul is much more than a TV soap opera,” Ariana Melamed wrote in her article in Haaretz.

“Many Israelis have already traveled to the show’s set in the desperate hope of obtaining a selfie with the actors of the series,” she said.

Tourism agencies organizes tours to which Israelis show great interest to have a chance to see the set.

There are tens of thousands of followers of fan pages that are set up on social media for Turkish TV series. The Israeli Facebook group “The Bride of Istanbul, for Addicts Only” shares latest developments in the Turkish TV series, information and photos of the artists.

Khen Elmaleh, a journalist in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, believes that Turkish TV series have a universal language.

“Although Hebrew and Turkish are very different languages, I think that the universal cultural language is the same between the two societies,” Elmaleh said.

“In the 1990s it was a very popular trend to go on holiday to Turkey from Israel. It has become popular again in the recent times,” Elmaleh said.

Elmaleh added that Turkish cuisine along with Turkish TV series has an important role in this new trend.