The culture clash between a steamy Turkish soap opera and the country's conservative governing party shows little sign of abating.
“Magnificent Century,†a sort of Ottoman-era “Sex and the City†set during the 16th-century reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and featuring intrigues of the royal court and harem, is hugely popular with ardent fans across Turkey and the Middle East.
But after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month lambasted the series and threatened legal action over its debauched depiction of the heroic sultan, a member of parliament from his Justice and Development party, Oktay Saral, said last week that he was seeking a new law banning the soap opera. The law, he said, aimed to forbid historical figures from being h umiliated and to prevent the “perversion†of the facts, The Hurriyet Daily News reported. It would also cover fiction.
The newspaper said Mr. Saral had justified the proposed ban on the grounds that the show â€" which depicts the Sultan cavorting with women and drinking alcohol - flouted the values of the Turkish family and morality. He said that his push for the law predated the prime minister's objections and was in response to longstanding complaints from the Turkish public.
The latest move against the series, which features sumptuous costumes and sets and attracts a third of the prime-time audience in Turkey, comes amid a growing culture war between the governing party, which has Islamic roots, and the country's more secular purveyors of culture in film and television.
Earlier this month Turkey's media watchdog fined a television channel about $30,000 for broadcasting episodes of “The Simpsons†that mocked God by, among other things, depicting God serving Satan a cup of coffee. The Turkish media reported that “The Simpsons†had also come under scrutiny for showing scenes in which copies of the bible are burned and for encouraging youth to drink alcohol.
Mehmet Y. Yilmaz, a columnist for Hurriyet, which is widely read by the country's secular elite, mocked the fine in one of his columns, questioning the sense of humor deficit among the finers. “I wonder what the makers of ‘The Simpsons' would say when they hear their jokes are taken literally in a country called ‘Turkey',†he wrote, questioning whether Homer would get a Muslim neighbor.
In the case of “Magnificent Century,†Prime Minister Erdogan had expressed annoyance that the series was “toying†with Turkish values and presenting an image of the valiant Sulta n that did not correspondent to reality. He said that the authorities had been alerted and that a judicial decision was expected.
Some cultural critics have taken Mr. Erdogan to task, arguing that he is encouraging censorship and seeking to recast Turkey in a more conservative and religious mold. They see the latest signs of cultural conservatism as part of a larger trend of the government seeking to have its sway everywhere from the bedroom to the television set. Mr. Erdogan has previously come under criticism from women's advocates for pledging to crack down on abortions and caesarean-section births, and for advising Turkish women to have at least three, preferably five, children.
Mr. Saral told The Hurriyet Daily News that his move to censor “Magnificent Century†had received support from both Turkish nationalists and the opposition Republican party, suggesting that annoyance about the depiction of Suleiman was not limited to religious conservatives.
Defenders of the show, including at least one descendent of the Sultan who doesn't like its raunchy depiction of his ancestors, have retorted that criticism is unwarranted since the show is plainly a soap opera aimed at entertainment. Others say that the Turkish prime minister is adeptly stirring controversy over the soap opera to distract from Turkey's geopolitical challenges, including the growing conflict in neighboring Syria.
