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HomeOpinionLetter From PakistanImran Khan is binge-watching Ertuğrul during Covid, recommending Turkish shows to Pakistanis

Imran Khan is binge-watching Ertuğrul during Covid, recommending Turkish shows to Pakistanis

To say that Pakistan’s roots lie in India is borderline blasphemy. We are first Arabs or Turks. So it’s not a surprise that Pakistanis have localised Ertuğrul.

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One has to feel for the leaders trying to contain the spread of coronavirus or worrying about their country’s position in the new world order that the current pandemic will create in its aftermath. Because in a parallel universe, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is binge-watching Turkish drama serials and giving us recommendations.

Oh, the luxury of someone else running the country for you.

Imran Khan is smitten by the period drama Diriliş: Ertuğrul, upon which he has showered lavish praise, much to the dismay of Pakistani filmmakers who crave for their PM to promote their projects. But Imran Khan’s love for the historical-adventure series, which has been billed as a ‘Turkish Game of Thrones’, is cultural.

He says “our children and youth” should watch Ertuğrul, so that they can learn to differentiate between the real Islamic culture and the “third-hand” one that reaches Pakistan via Hollywood and Bollywood. “It (the Turkish show) also has romance, history… (and) has Islamic values.” That was a five-star review from the PM, and Turkey duly noted it.

But wait, don’t be so quick to tune into your Bollywood or Hollywood favourite after dutifully watching Diriliş: Ertuğrul. The PM has another Turkish serial recommendation for you — Yunus Emre: Aşkin Yolculuğu. If you are too American to mind the subtitles, then the PM has decided to get the show dubbed in Urdu. In time, he will have more suggestions.


Also read: Why Pakistan is the most chilled out in a world hit by coronavirus


Sharing Islamic history with Turk Ertuğrul

So, what’s the fuss about Diriliş: Ertuğrul? Titled Ghazi Ertuğrul, the dubbed version of the show running on Pakistan Television is based on the life of 12th century Oghuz Turk, Ertuğrul (whose son Osman Gazi founded the Ottoman Empire). The series documents the valour of Muslim Oghuz Turks fighting and invading the Mongols, Christians and the Knights Templars in Anatolia. The show is a hit among period-adventure buffs in many countries. In Pakistan, it knocked PM Khan’s socks off because of what he often describes as ‘a shared Islamic history’ (if at all there is such a thing). Ever since his promotional speech, Ertuğrul has been creating waves in Pakistan.

But is the latest craze good for a country whose people are perpetually embroiled in discussions, debates and confusion over who their national heroes are? All that the show does is add another entry to the list: Ghazi Ertuğrul. Only last week Pakistanis were trying to choose between Muhammad bin Qasim and Raja Dahir.

Even though we revere the Afghan emperors — we named our nuclear missiles Ghauri, Abdali and Ghaznavi after them — we still smear Pashtuns who take pride in their Afghan heritage. To say that Pakistan’s roots lie in India is borderline blasphemy, for we are first Arabs or Turks and only then Pakistanis. In the national discourse, heritage is a blurred line and the idea of shared religious history has many takers.

So it doesn’t come as a surprise that Pakistanis have owned Ertuğrul. Guess what, now Ertuğrul will free Kashmir for them. Basically, we just need someone else to do our work and then bask in its glory once it’s done.


Also read: A Pakistani official, politician, army man, reporter walk into a TV show. Only one is a hero


In the company of Ertuğrul

Like they say, no publicity is bad, so the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is hell-bent on promoting Imran Khan as Pakistan’s Ertuğrul. Not that Khan sahib himself has to fight political opponents and invade hidden adversaries; most of his work is done by those who actually run the country. But this is 2020, and Ertugrul has to be on the same page as his selectors.

Taking the matter a bit too far was Ali Muhammad Khan, state minister of parliamentary affairs, who tweeted a photo praying to Allah to bring back the ‘golden era of Muslims’. In the photo, Imran Khan (as Ertuğrul) was flocked by Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and DG ISI Faiz Hameed. Other ministers were in the background. The post was taken down as some thought the order of men in the poster might not be what it perhaps is in reality.

After constant calls for donating to the PM’s relief fund, it seems promoting Turkish serials is the only job left for the PTI government.


Also read: For 20 yrs, Imran Khan had a dream. When he became PM, we got goats, cows & broken economy


Not a Turkish Delight

It is not for the first time that a Turkish serial has been dubbed for Pakistani audiences. In 2012, Turkish drama Ishq-e-Mamnoon (Ask-i Memnu)  or ‘The Forbidden Love’ became a rage in the country. The story revolving around a modern family and incestuous relationships changed the dynamics of viewership. Turks dressed in Western clothes with modern outlook were a revelation for Pakistani viewers. Similarly, Mera Sultan (Muhtesem Yüzyil), an extravagant historical show, or a low-budget Fatima Gul, about the life of a gang-rape survivor, changed the landscape of drama industry. Turkish productions were banned soon after because of local industry opposition.

Like then, even now local artists aren’t happy about Pakistan importing foreign dramas and not promoting its own serials, considering how Pakistani dramas have been loved and watched by people in the country and elsewhere. Actor Shan Shahid expressed his concern about PM Imran Khan  promoting and helping import Turkish serials instead of empowering local talent and own national heroes.

While everyone is free to watch any content they wish to, it is somewhat problematic when the government promotes foreign serials, and uses public broadcaster to push a myopic sense of belonging.

Pakistanis have taken Ertuğrul’s history to heart and genuinely started believing that the 12th century Turk belongs to them. If the Instagram moral policing of leading actors is anything to go by, then Halime Hatun is Halima baji now and Astaghfirullah she needs to behave like a Muslim woman from the 12th century.

And just in case you miss it, Ertuğrul is hanging out with his dog. How is that even possible, bro? Don’t you know dogs are haram in Islam? But Pakistanis don’t care about all that. As Imran Khan once told us that he is “half Muhajir”, his followers have taken it a notch higher — they are on their way to becoming ‘full Ertuğrul’.

The author is a freelance journalist from Pakistan. Her Twitter handle is @nailainayat. Views are personal.

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122 COMMENTS

  1. Ok..lets go deep into it and tell me who is the first person born on this earth and what was his/her religion? Answer me with proofs not stories…as i know everyone are converted or accepted their religion no one came with tappa (pk)…whatever our roots are…if i go deep into that then i don’t find any perfect answer for that..so whatever i am today and i am proud of that…again don’t go to roots if u want then came from beginning with proofs not stories…

  2. So Imran Khan and Pakistanis whose ancestors in Indus Valley civilization lived in planned cities 5000 years ago and traded as far as Mesopotamia want to feel proud of goat-herding turks who lived in tents even 500 years ago. Ridiculous!

  3. Isn’t this the power of Ertughral that liberals are writing hundreds of pages about the serial. They r promoting Ertughral too.

  4. Dear Ms Inayat
    You have interesting observations, but views are rather myopic. PM’s suggestion to his nation to take inspiration from Eurtugral is one of the million things, he is doing this nation to get out of infertility complex. While a few, have shown concern, but overwhelming response of general public needs no further explanation for our love for Muslims regardless of there caste, creed and religion.
    You may ask your Indian friends, why Gandhi particapated in Khilafat Movement on behalf of Muslims? Why he refused to follow a local Muslim leader – Jinnah? Why he did not stand for Muslims in Kashmir? Why he did not object to injustices done by boundary commission?
    The list goes on…..
    Pakistanis respect personalities from Sub-continent including Gokhlay, Sir Gangaram, Tegore, Raja Rajmohan Rai, Tilak, Ramonjan, Homi Bhaba, Virat Kholi but embracing fanatics like Nehru, Patel, Indira, Modi and Sehwag would be a rather a far fetched proposition.
    You have named about Ghauri and Shaheen missiles, why Indian missiles are named Prithvi, Tirshul, and Agni! Why couldn’t they be named Tipu, Haider, or Alamgir.
    Please think logically, India is a fanatic Hindu country, nothing more and nothing less. Lynching of Muslims is quite common in India, why don’t you write about the rape capital of the world (Dehli)?
    Next time ask your Indian friends to write about Ghazi Ilamdin Shaheed, a hero from western side of border. Let’s check tolerance to such blasphemy in India.
    Two Indian politicians lost their political constituency in India for praising Quaid e Azam. You talk about Pakistan, it baffles me.
    Pakistan is a very hospitable country, even Abhinandan endorsed it by calling our tea “fantastic”.
    We are a predominately a Muslim country, we are proud of Muslims who work for Muslims’ cause.
    Regardless of what you say, Pakistanis are not going to stop watching Eurtugral.
    Pakistan Zindabad
    Best Regards

    • Mr billal’s comment is shows his biasedness & prejudiced views towards India. And also indicates his rotten mindset comparing prithvi, trishul or Agni to ghazni or so, who were Invaders to present day Pakistan.
      And of course before 1300-1400 years back, his root too came from same Indian Hindu root & not from Turk or Arabs. Plz check it.

    • Bilal, why do you keep saying “your Indian friends”? There is no mention of Indian friends by the author. So why did you introduce this? Wait a minute, is that your way of saying the author is not really Pakistani, because her views on a TV show and the prime minister are different than yours? So according to you all Pakistanis think exactly alike and support the same things, like to robots? Your views are myopic so maybe you should not judge others.

    • Biland
      In india Muslim grew to 200 million due to tolerance of Hindus inspite of getting two islamic state.
      Pakistani terrorists are claiming to be Hospitable bcoz abhinandan said tea was fantastic then what about 93000 rapist Muslim niyazi soldier who surrendered and enjoyed Hospitality of indian jail for two years.
      Why should india name its missile on rapist invaders ..Pakistan is islamic rapist state which glorifies rapist and is capital of bachabazi so you name ur chinese missile as per that.

  5. s, she’s been paid by kafir to undermine Pakistan- why are kafir worried about this drama think people uhum ..AGENDA to make Pakistani youth watch Hollywood &Bollywood crap and so we lose our identity..may Allah protect the Muslim ummah.

  6. Lol while india is jealous with pakistani relations with turkey and the PM IK promoting or watching turkish history. The Muslim world have been taken by storm with these series and ur media will keep reporting sarcastically meanwhile muslims will gain some content by learning about their history! What u guys have done can be called racism because there are dozens of tv series made by Indian drama industry about ur religious events but not even a single muslim defamed it . We know how to respect every religion and know how to be peaceful within ours. It won’t stop us from watching praising it and above all reciting our Quran which has all the greatest revelations and events from the past about which we cant make movies cus we are not allowed to but ertugrul is a one fine contribution towards the historic lifestyle of muslims.

  7. What a biased article.
    With clear intentions to degrade pakistan.
    Lol , that’s all you can do anyway coz you don’t have the guts to question modi.

  8. What a biased article.
    With clear intentions to degrade pakistan.
    Lol , that’s all you can do anyway coz you don’t have the guts to question modi.

  9. What a biased article.
    With clear intentions to degrade pakistan.
    Lol , that’s all you can do anyway coz you don’t have the guts to question modi.

  10. Irony is .. Pakistan does not have role models for their youths … their honeymoon with the Arab ideology is over..hence importing the Turkish ideology showing them as suave and with modern outlook is what Imran is striving for..poor chap has more time watching the soap operas ..and Army managing day to day affairs…and army readily preparing a script to read for enactment before his poor countrymen, who are a confused lot

  11. Turkish serials are a delight. I watched muhtesem yuzyil with english subtitles ( both Hurrem and Kosem) and was captivated by them. But I think other Turks were resentful of Ottomans and same is true of other muslim nationalities who were under subjugation. Ottomans also appeared to trust European slaves for administration.

  12. It seems the Print will publish anything and everything anti Pakistani, written supposedly by a Pakistani and to top it off with a Muslim name, very convenient.
    As the inferiority complex among bakhts increases they further attack Muslims in India and outside, As a Pakistani I am secure in my identity, my language is Urdu but at the same time it could be punjabi, saraiki, pushto etc but the language of my faith is Arabic, just as in India there are hundreds of languages yet Hindu religious text is in Sanskrit.
    this piece of writing if it could in any way be regarded as such is non sensical, if anything it merely shows a fear by the western and Indian centric lobby that Pakistani society may shift away from trash that is been coming out of bollywood and Hollywood, this is not to say that bollywood and Hollywood at one did produce good entertaintainment stories, but nowadays it’s more about showing more flesh and less about the story.
    I applaud the the PM for suggesting the dubbing and airing of Ertugrul on PTV, it’s a marvellous story, well acted and it’s a story about trials and tribulations of the Kayo tribe,.
    It seems Miss,Mrs, or what gender or religion the writer is, although prolific in writing for the Print profilific writing doesn’t convey a quality of writing, but rather in all the articles published by the Print by ‘Naila’, they have been anti Muslim and anti Pakistani, to this day Indians have not accepted the creation of Pakistan from British India and this form of writing and attacking Pakistan merely reinforces the hatred of Muslims by Hindus, with the coming into power of the bjp.
    Indians rather the majority of the population have voted for a right wing Hindu extremist party which is anti Muslim and anti Christian.
    Yet the Print and this writer have the gaul and tenacity of accusing the Pakistani government and society of religious bigotry, it is in India where the Hindu extremists get away with lynching and murder of Muslims in daylight in front of the police, The police are protected by the bjp for their inaction,. It is not Pakistan that has an identity crisis on the contrary it’s India and the hundreds of millions of bakhts that have voted for the bjp,
    Mrs, Miss, Mr or whatever or whoever you are ‘Naila Inayat’, I don’t mean to be disparaging but your writings only further my desire to see a myriad of foreign dramas being dubbed into Urdu and aired on PTV

    • dont watch too many Pakistani news channels they all say democracy is in danger in india your country is about to be swalloed by chinese in just another 10 years mark my words

  13. 1. Why are authors from The Print claiming they are Pakistani Citizens ? As far as I know, The Print is an India media house.
    2. And why are you so concerned about a Turkish TV show being popular in Pakistan ? It’s a just a TV show, it’s good entertainment. So many punjabi and bollywood movies have been popular in Pakistan, no one asked ‘why’ at that time !Specially Veer-Zara.
    3. India also aired it’s old TV serials like Ramayana and Mahabharata as it’s a good distraction to people who have been sitting at home.
    4. You don’t have to worry about whether it will promote ‘Islamic’ barbarism in Society. I never heard that Game of Thrones lead to brutal murder, sword fight or trial by combat.
    5. Please engage in good journalism. This piece looks like whining by a little girl upset about a TV serial. I expect better from you guys, specially when you have started taking contributions from your viewers…

  14. Actors and actresses are not responsible to carry the roles in their personal lives apart from performing on-screen. We hope for responsible views from The Print. Thank you.

  15. what is special and every muslim to watch is the differentiation of values even within the umma. We must all perceiviour to exemplify the good values of Arthural. It’s not only Islamic, but humanely. Pakistan is part of this wide umma and all good muslim values around the world should be promoted.

  16. Sad . What a waste of time reading this sardonic article.
    انا للہ و انا الیہ راجعون.
    Going to unsubscribe right away.

  17. u feel bad as u has been converted from Hindus religion. that wave was for believers but u feels a little short after conversion the topic was not of religion but the actual culture custom and rule of Islam which is been misleaded by modern Islamists. U feel happy if it had been imported from US or Europe of India but it is Turkish as co religious country is a problem . a typical moderate thinking. realise ur existence in will get answer.

  18. I envy him for having so much Faltoo time to binge watch anything.
    Ahh, he has not to work.Easy money comes from friendly masters and narcotics.

  19. Pakistani and to be fair All Indian Subcontinent Muslims suffer with deep inferiority complex and Identity crises. This is the problem, why? Because they are FOURTH GRADE CONVERTS whose forefathers were cowards and could not fight invaders and adopted their religion in the process. Regarding some comments on Shaikh/Syed. All are fake local converts as per blood test and history. Some example Iqbal was from Shaikh but we are know his grandfather was a Hindu from Sapru Clan. Complete Deep Inferiority complex in Pakistan.

  20. Poor Imran. He is neither here or there. He realised governing the mullas and terrorists is not easy like leading cricket team. Naya Pakistan under Imran is worse than Old Pakistan.

  21. It seems the Print will publish anything and everything anti Pakistani, written supposedly by a Pakistani and to top it off with a Muslim name, very convenient.
    As the inferiority complex among bakhts increases they further attack Muslims in India and outside, As a Pakistani I am secure in my identity, my language is Urdu but at the same time it could be punjabi, saraiki, pushto etc but the language of my faith is Arabic, just as in India there are hundreds of languages yet Hindu religious text is in Sanskrit.
    this piece of writing if it could in any way be regarded as such is non sensical, if anything it merely shows a fear by the western and Indian centric lobby that Pakistani society may shift away from trash that is been coming out of bollywood and Hollywood, this is not to say that bollywood and Hollywood at one did produce good entertaintainment stories, but nowadays it’s more about showing more flesh and less about the story.
    I applaud the the PM for suggesting the dubbing and airing of Ertugrul on PTV, it’s a marvellous story, well acted and it’s a story about trials and tribulations of the Kayo tribe,.
    It seems Miss,Mrs, or what gender or religion the writer is, although prolific in writing for the Print profilific writing doesn’t convey a quality of writing, but rather in all the articles published by the Print by ‘Naila’, they have been anti Muslim and anti Pakistani, to this day Indians have not accepted the creation of Pakistan from British India and this form of writing and attacking Pakistan merely reinforces the hatred of Muslims by Hindus, with the coming into power of the bjp.
    Indians rather the majority of the population have voted for a right wing Hindu extremist party which is anti Muslim and anti Christian.
    Yet the Print and this writer have the gaul and tenacity of accusing the Pakistani government and society of religious bigotry, it is in India where the Hindu extremists get away with lynching and murder of Muslims in daylight in front of the police, The police are protected by the bjp for their inaction,. It is not Pakistan that has an identity crisis on the contrary it’s India and the hundreds of millions of bakhts that have voted for the bjp,
    Mrs, Miss, Mr or whatever or whoever you are ‘Naila Inayat’, I don’t mean to be disparaging but your writings only further my desire to see a myriad of foreign dramas being dubbed into Urdu and aired on PTV.

    • Ertugrul Ghazi has viewership far exceeding any national or foreign tv drama or movie. I would say that the production companies should take heed, because this shows that a very large section of Pakistani society (60+%) don’t want to watch the usual crap that seems to copy Indian or western dramas.

    • Inferiority complex and Identity crises are trade mark of Pakistanis who fake their identity. Go read what is meaning of inferiority complex.

    • Your country is Islamic Republic and you kidnap small girls of Non-Muslims. Be thankful that Hindus , Sikhs etc are not retaliating in the same coin ( like kidnapping & converting girls) to Islamic followers.

  22. I want to see the brothers and sisters of Pak India Bangla one day sit in a table. Erase all the past. Throw away all the weapon and hostility. Join hand together to make a strong group of 130+22+20 cr. Develop all sorts of things to rule the world. And where we will have no hatred,no fighting etc. This is the prayer to Allah and Ram. Then no US or Chinese weapon will tear the chest of ours.

    • Keep your dhimmitude with you. Islamists have to be shown their place, which is punishment for their sins

  23. Dear Ms Inayat
    You have interesting observations, but views are rather myopic. PM’s suggestion to his nation to take inspiration from Eurtugral is one of the million things, he is doing this nation to get out of infertility complex. While a few, have shown concern, but overwhelming response of general public needs no further explanation for our love for Muslims regardless of there caste, creed and religion.
    You may ask your Indian friends, why Gandhi particapated in Khilafat Movement on behalf of Muslims? Why he refused to follow a local Muslim leader – Jinnah? Why he did not stand for Muslims in Kashmir? Why he did not object to injustices done by boundary commission?
    The list goes on…..
    Pakistanis respect personalities from Sub-continent including Gokhlay, Sir Gangaram, Tegore, Raja Rajmohan Rai, Tilak, Ramonjan, Homi Bhaba, Virat Kholi but embracing fanatics like Nehru, Patel, Indira, Modi and Sehwag would be a rather a far fetched proposition.
    You have questioned the names of Ghauri and Shaheen missiles, why Indian missiles are named Prithvi, Tirshul, and Agni! Why couldn’t they be named Tipu, Haider, or Alamgir.
    Please think logically, India is a fanatic Hindu country, nothing more and nothing less. Lynching of Muslims is quite common in India, why don’t you write about the rape capital of the world (Dehli)?
    Next time ask your Indian friends to write about Ghazi Ilamdin Shaheed, a hero from western side of border. Let’s check tolerance to such blasphemy in India.
    Two Indian politicians lost their political constituency in India for praising Quaid e Azam. You talk about Pakistan, it baffles me.
    Pakistan is a very hospitable country, even Abhinandan endorsed it by calling our tea “fantastic”.
    We are a predominately a Muslim country, we are proud of Muslims who work for Muslims’ cause.
    Regardless of what you say, Pakistanis are not going to stop watching Eurtugral.
    Pakistan Zindabad
    Best Regards

    • Your fanaticism shows up from your ranting. No doubt You Islamist worst terrorist not to be fit to be called Humans. Prithvi, Trishul, Agni etc are elements not based on any ruler. Tipu or Alamgir was a terrorists , for common man and we don’t glorify terrorists

    • Ilimdin- glorifying a terrorist who killed innocents. Shame on you and you have the guts to call others as terrorist.

    • Trishul Agni Prithvi are nouns in the languages of the subcontinent. India is using genuine pride with its identity. Those names are not hindu or muslim. They are nouns that are same even in punjabi and sindhi languages. Pakistanis borrow arabic or persian words and call them their own. That’s stooping so low in self esteem.

      Also, naming their missiles after turkish invaders like ghazni ghori again is doing injustice to pakistanis themselves. Ghazni Ghori devastated afghanistan and pakistan. They did a blood bath in afghanistan and pakistan. Countless pashtuns and punjabis were massacred and a vast number of pashtuns and punjabis were taken as slaves to persia and uzbekistan. And today pashtuns and punjabis are proud of their turkish invaders and name missiles. Very humiliating to themselves.

      Formation of pakistan is a great tragedy on humanity because millions of people were uprooted from a vast geographical area as a one time eviction based on religion. Shocking that was even allowed in this world.

  24. What a pretentious article written by half literate woman. India and Pakistan share everything from food, culture, language, names, surnames and common heritage. They are bruttaly converted from their Hindu and Buddhist roots. They have nothing in common with Turkey apart from the fact that they too follow Islam. That means if any Tribal leader who got converted to Christianity in India share same roots as someone who was converted to Christianity in Oceania? How cheesy and wannabe Pakistanis are and it only proves petty knowledge of this article owner.

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