Episode 40: Pakistan’s Obsession with Turkish Drama Diriliş: Ertuğrul

The Turkish drama series, Diriliş: Ertuğrul, has recently taken Pakistan by storm after Prime Minister Imran Khan urged his people to watch it as it promotes Islamic heroes and values. The series is loosely based on the life and times of the 13th-century Muslim Oghuz Turk leader, Ertugrul, whose son Osman Ghazi is considered to be the founder of the Ottoman Empire. Aired first on TRT, Turkey's national broadcaster, the show has now been dubbed in Urdu and aired on PTV and its YouTube channel. To find out about the popularity of this show, the socio-political debates it has sparked and its relevance to bettering Pakistan-Turkey relations, we speak to Dr Zebunnisa Hamid, an Assistant Professor of Film Studies in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (CLCS) at LUMS.