00:03Murder. Intrigue. Love affairs.
00:06I'm not dreaming.
00:08When it comes to soap operas, the more absurd and exaggerated, the better.
00:16Though here in Turkey, soap operas are going beyond the juicy drama for storylines with a social mission.
00:23In Turkey, women face physical violence. They face with lack of independence and there is more tragedy for women in
00:32Turkey.
00:33Here in Turkey, we will meet some of the most powerful women in media who are using this over-the
00:39-top storytelling to boldly confront the biggest issues facing women in the Middle East today.
00:44It seems like all women are facing similar issues around the world.
00:54That looks amazing.
00:56Shall we eat here?
00:57Yeah.
00:59We're here in the beautiful city of Istanbul, discovering what feminism means for Turkish women.
01:06Turkey is known as the media capital of the Middle East, and in particular the soap operas have created a
01:10phenomenon across the globe.
01:13In 2005, Gamış, a Turkish soap opera with an everyday heroine, burst on the scene and it became a global
01:20hit.
01:20Do you know everyone?
01:22I know.
01:23I don't want anything.
01:25I don't want anything.
01:25You want everything.
01:26I don't want anything.
01:29I don't want anything.
01:31I don't want anything.
01:31I don't want anything.
01:32I don't want anything.
01:32If you don't want anything.
01:32In the last decade, Gamış and a string of other Turkish soap operas have been translated into 15 languages and
01:39broadcast to countries around the world.
01:42The finale of Gamış reached more than 80 million viewers across the Middle East and North Africa.
01:49The demand is overwhelming.
01:52We sat in on a scene being filmed for one of the latest series.
02:00This scene is so intense.
02:12We're here to meet Pailin Distes, recently named one of the 20 most powerful women in global TV.
02:18She's the editor-in-chief of Canel Day, Turkey's number one network.
02:23Why do you think it's important to choose stories with strong female leads?
02:28There's more tragedy for women in Turkey.
02:33I think that's why we find those characters more.
02:38They are really heroes if you look from that side.
02:42Can you share more about that as far as there's more tragic stories or more stories of triumph for women
02:49in Turkey?
02:50What are some of the issues women face here in Turkey that you often make stories about?
02:56In Turkey, women face physical violence.
02:59They face with lack of independence and they couldn't live how they want to live because there's so much pressure
03:06from the society on the women.
03:20We sat down with Pailin and her colleagues to talk about the impact of Turkish shows
03:25and how the title characters from the drama Gumus have inspired women across the Middle East to transform their lives.
03:32What do you think is resonating with women around the world when they watch this show?
03:35I think they just empathize with the character, all females, because it's just very ordinary female.
03:44Just the power and the strongness inside the character made successful.
03:51So Gumus in the story of this woman, it's more an ordinary woman that possesses extraordinary internal strength
03:59and that was what resonated with women and really helped them to kind of change their personal situations
04:04and pursue their rights and change their relationship.
04:30It's powerful, strong women. It has a huge effect on this.
04:47In Istanbul, we found another point where the power of the soap opera and the real world intersect.
04:55One of the hot policy issues here is the inequity in the law regarding femicide.
05:00If a woman is killed by her husband or boyfriend, the killer often goes free.
05:07We met with Fikria Yilmez, an activist with the protest group We Will Stop Femicide.
05:15They hold protests outside the courts when these cases go to trial
05:19to shine a light on the inequalities of the laws when it comes to the murder of women.
05:28Last year, they teamed up with soap opera producers to help them spread their message.
05:33The main actress of this soap opera, she was very touched with what we do
05:37and there was actually a process of this character who was raped by a man.
05:41So she asked to make like a protestation in the soap opera itself.
05:44And this has a big effect because when we say it's something else
05:48but when a woman who is watched by like millions of people, it has a big effect.
06:03knowing your power to reach the masses, do you feel pressure as women to write characters
06:10that truly help women try to become more liberated?
06:16I had the question that was...
06:17I was thinking of everything that you were having to go into the situation and you're going to follow the
06:22facts about this.
06:22I'm a critic of what I'm trying to do, someone's thinking of having a good sense of thinking and letting
06:28them into the world.
06:28You mentioned it on Twitter and said that you said that you didn't see my limitations.
06:33Left to the side of my life, I remember that you did not understand, I remembered that you really admired
06:37that you have a counteract and that you can speak for it.
06:39You know, he documents were very important to me.
06:43because you write things are very powerful.
06:46When we send that message, we don't want to find a negative effect here.
06:52We always want to give people hope, always want to succeed,
06:56always want to trust us, always want to trust us,
06:57always want to trust us, always want to trust us.
07:01It seems like all women are facing similar issues around the world.
07:05Yeah, of course, the feelings are the same.
07:09The way of acting is different only,
07:11but the feelings are the same all over the world.
07:19How do I quantity?
07:21Two jugons, boom, got it.
07:26The impact isn't just in the mindset of how women perceive their roles.
07:31For some, it's translating into action.
07:34We are headed to the offices of Kedim Partisi,
07:37which is the women's political party here in Turkey.
07:40We're going to sit down with the founding members to discuss what a woman's place is in politics
07:46and to learn more about the issues that women are facing here in Turkey.
07:50Kedim Partisi is a new political party and one of the few feminist parties in the world.
07:55We sat in on one of their meetings before we spoke to their chairperson, Benal Yazgen,
08:01former activist turned politician.
08:04One of the things that we had read about about the women's party here is that domestic violence
08:10against women is one of the issues that you're really looking to address.
08:14I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit more about what domestic violence is like
08:19in Turkey for women?
08:21There are ungross%s which are faced with a family of a criminal.
08:26A second step of this is the woman's victim of a civil law.
08:34And in our society, we toyed with women's criminal law.
08:37Women, women, women who have loved their children.
08:40The women who need their parents.
08:43and the ability to move forward.
08:51We think that women will be able to move forward in the society.
08:56We think that women can be able to move forward and move forward.
09:11From the safety of a soundstage and a television set,
09:15soap opera storylines will continue to explore topics and ideas
09:19that would otherwise be taboo.
09:22And yet, with every person that turns on their television,
09:26the message is clear.
09:27Women are finding their voice with protest and politics.
09:32Maybe instead of making a documentary,
09:34we should be making a soap opera right now.
09:36I think you're onto something.
09:38I think, yeah.
