In addition to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's pushing forward the madness of the Ottoman Caliphate and radical Islam, his government has been tactfully injecting the theme of religious extremism and jihadist indoctrination amongst the people, mainly in the Muslim nations, by exporting Turkish TV serials that glorify the Ottoman Empire and radical Islam.
For example, Turkey has succeeded in exporting its TV serials, such as Sultan Suleiman Kösem, to a local television channel in Bangladesh, which brought huge business success to Deepto TV. Kösem Sultan, the Ottoman sultana who exercised a strong influence on Ottoman politics for several decades at a time when the women of the palace enjoyed significant, even formalized authority within the palace. Being encouraged by the success, several local television channels and trading companies in Bangladesh are currently looking to import other serials based on the stories of the Ottoman Empire and stories based on radical Islam and religious hatred.
According to sources currently, Turkey had previously exported another serial named Suleiman The Magnificent to Bangladesh. In the introduction of the serial, the Turkish production company says: "Historical fiction based on the life and court of the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and his wife Hurrem Sultan".
There also are negotiations between Turkish and Bangladeshi companies for few more TV serials such as Rise of Empires: The Ottoman, Dirilis, Kurulus Osman, Resurrection: Ertugrul, Muhtesem Yuzyil or Magnificent Century, Filinta, Paxitaht, Kosem, etcetera.
Several Bangladeshi TV channels and some unscrupulous trading houses are becoming increasingly dependent on Turkish mega-serials, which are being aired on local television channels with Bangla dubbing. But industry insiders say such an increasing trend of importing foreign serials would ultimately pose a serious threat to Bangla dramas.
According to reliable sources, Turkey has been offering its TV serials to the Muslim nations at almost no price. The notorious agenda is pushing Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambition of establishing the Ottoman Caliphate throughout the world. Most of these Turkish serials promote radical Islam, which would leave a serious impact on the minds of the younger generation in particular. While the majority of the drama and TV content production companies in Bangladesh and other Muslim nations are becoming increasingly worried at the massive invasion of the number of dubbed Turkish TV serials on the television channels, radical Muslims are feeling delighted as they consider these serials as one of the best methods of injecting radical Islam and jihadism within the minds of the people.
For example, in 2019, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had praised the airing of Turkish serials in his country. He even passed an order asking state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) to dub Turkish serials in Urdu, include those in the broadcast list. Through this, Imran Khan almost became something close to an executive producer of the pro-Caliphate shows.
Imran Khan's move made Turkish serial Ertugrul accessible to a far bigger audience and subsequently helped make it even more of a hit TV show internationally. It was instantly popular when it aired with Urdu translation on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and it only continues to get bigger.
Turkey has been putting special emphasis on pushing forward Erdogan's agenda of establishing the Caliphate through the world by sending Turkish TV serials dubbed in the vernacular languages to the Muslim nations. Erdogan's policymakers are also spending lavishly in spreading the propaganda in favour of radical Islam and the Caliphate. A few years ago, Turkey and Iran had jointly funded a multi-million-dollar film project named 'Din The Day' by forming an association with a Bangladeshi actor and film producer, namely Ananta Jalil. In professional life, Ananta Jalil is exporting apparel worth hundreds of millions of dollars to buyers in the US, Britain and the European nations. But he has enthusiastically joined hands with the Turkish-Iranian nexus to show Islam's conquest throughout the world and defeat of "Western civilization". Should Jalil's buyers now ask him the reason or even take some punitive actions for his inclination towards radical Islam and caliphate?
Policymakers in Bangladesh should take note that Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party and Jamaat-e-Islami have deep-rooted connections. Erdogan had previously funded the Jamaat-inclined BNP leader Mahmudur Rahman for publishing a Bangla newspaper called Amar Desh from the UK. Erdogan had also taken a stance in favour of the war criminals of 1971. Now, the Erdogan regime is trying to inject Caliphate-inclined ideologies into the mindset of the Bangladeshi youth, which is against the very core of the secularist ideology of Sheikh Hasina's government. Before things get worse, Bangladesh should immediately ban showing Turkish TV serials on local channels.
Courtesy: Weekly Blitz
The writer is an internationally acclaimed multi-award-winning anti-militancy journalist, writer, research-scholar, counterterrorism specialist and editor of Weekly Blitz.
Comments