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:

1. At least one of the characters suffers from a heart attack.
2. The characters spend their days running errands at either the hospital, the police station, in prison or in court.
3. At least a handful of characters die.
4. Alcohol is blurred out and swear words are censored.
5. There’s a conflict between men and women.
6. There’s a conflict between the rich and the poor.
7. There’s a conflict between city and village people.
8. 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.
9. There’s at least one woman that has married for the money and looks pretty for a living.
10. There’s at least one man who beats his wife and / or children.
11. In each episode, someone either faints or cries.
12. You start craving Turkish food after seeing the characters’ fabulous dishes and watching them eat.
13. People meet to discuss an issue over coffee or tea but end up leaving their beverage untouched.
14. Love stories take ages to unfold.
15. Lots of drama and intrigues are involved.
16. The plot may rarely be summarized in just one sentence.
17. Each episode has the length of a movie.
18. You’ll repeatedly hear sentences like “Umurunda bile değil” (You don’t even care).
19. It will be hard to stop watching once you’ve started.
20. 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?