You know you’re watching a Turkish series when…

Photo courtesy of Sözcü Gazetesi.
I did it again. I started watching another Turkish series. This time it’s Kardeş Ҫocukları (Children of Siblings). I’d refrained myself from starting another one for over a year simply because once I start, I can hardly stop. I neglect my friends and duties and stay up late to watch an episode after the next. Yet, I somehow enjoy emerging into these stories and witnessing all sorts of drama. This would be my guilty pleasure, I guess. Watching such series has helped me considerably improve my Turkish language skills, though. I learn new expressions and start thinking in Turkish once again. So that’s a huge reward for all the hours I spend in front of the screen.
As it’s the fifth Turkish series I watch, I’m starting to recognize some patterns by now:
- At least one of the characters suffers from a heart attack.
- The characters spend their days running errands at either the hospital, the police station, in prison or in court.
- At least a handful of characters die.
- Alcohol is blurred out and swear words are censored.
- There’s a conflict between men and women.
- There’s a conflict between the rich and the poor.
- There’s a conflict between city and village people.
- Even though it’s common in the Turkish culture to take off your shoes and put on your cozy clothes when entering a home, this apparently doesn’t hold true for the high society people pictured in the series.
- There’s at least one woman that has married for the money and looks pretty for a living.
- There’s at least one man who beats his wife and / or children.
- In each episode, someone either faints or cries.
- You start craving Turkish food after seeing the characters’ fabulous dishes and watching them eat.
- People meet to discuss an issue over coffee or tea but end up leaving their beverage untouched.
- Love stories take ages to unfold.
- Lots of drama and intrigues are involved.
- The plot may rarely be summarized in just one sentence.
- Each episode has the length of a movie.
- You’ll repeatedly hear sentences like “Umurunda bile değil” (You don’t even care).
- It will be hard to stop watching once you’ve started.
- You’ll probably keep thinking about the series and its characters once you’re through.
How about YOU? What other characteristics of Turkish series have you noticed? And what’s your guilty pleasure?
😊 Never see a turkish serie. But this post make me laugh. And probably try to see one…
Nice post Ana 😊
Olá Irina, thank you for your kind words. I’m happy this post made you laugh. That means a lot to me. 🙂
Please let me know if you ever watch a Turkish series. I’m curious to know what you think. 🙂