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A glitzy soap opera produced in Turkey is having an unexpected influence on tourism. The program flopped in its home country, but it drew 85-million viewers across the Arab world. Reporter Matthew Brunwasser reports that now many of those Arab fans are flocking to Turkey to see a different kind of Muslim culture.

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. Turkey’s prime minister has pledged to bring his country closer to its Muslim neighbors in the Arab world and he’s taken some steps on that front. For one, the government has dropped visa requirements for most Arabs. That’s gone some way in boosting Turkey’s popularity. But something that’s really fueling Arab interest is a Turkish soap opera. Matthew Brunwasser reports from Istanbul.

MATTHEW BRUNWASSER: It’s another day of tears, love, and betrayal in the beautiful waterfront mansion of the Shadoeloo family in Istanbul.

[SOUND CLIP FROM SOAP OPERA]

This is a clip from the Turkish soap opera Gumush, the name of the lead female character. In Arabic it’s called Noor. While it was a dud in Turkey, last year’s finally was watched my 85 million viewers across the Arab world. It’s so popular that Turkish tour operators started getting phone calls from Arabs asking how they could see the shows glamorous locations.

TOUR GUIDE: [SPEAKING ARABIC]

BRUNWASSER: On this boat tour of the Bosphorous in Istanbul, the high point for many Arab visitors is seeing the house where Noor was filmed. Muzna a-Wad is here from Jordan and she’s a big fan.

MUZNA A-WAD: Yes I like Noor. Because the actors are beautiful. The country is very beautiful. So it makes you curious about you are going to come here and discover the country.

BRUNWASSER: Her husband Mohammad Sada says western TV is easily available in Arab countries so it’s not a big deal to see people drinking alcohol on TV, professional women with careers, or cheating spouses. But until Noor the only people who did these things on TV were Americans, Europeans, and other Westerners. Turks are fellow Muslims.

MOHAMMAD SADA: It is maybe the first time that the people, the Arab people, they watch some Muslim culture with such an openness. That’s why it was a little bit different. Some people, they were shocked about such things. They thought that Muslim culture it is supposed to be always very much restricted and very much closed.

BRUNWASSER: One Saudi cleric publicly declared the series replete with evil, wickedness, moral collapse, and a war on the virtues. But plenty watch it all the same. Noor has definitely made Turkey more attractive in the eyes of Arabs. But Sada notes it was an incident in the political arena that made Arabs see Turkey as a friend. At the Davos conference in Switzerland last January the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan rebuked Israeli President Shimon Peres over Israel’s incursion in Gaza.

SADA: When such an incident happened we feel that there is a big supporter to Arabs now – to our case. People there respect the Turkish government much more now.

BRUNWASSER: Statistics from the Turkish tourism ministry tend to back this up. For instance the number of Saudi visitors to Turkey is up by 31% compared to last year. The group travels by bus to Chamlica, a scenic spot overlooking Istanbul. Ayman Smadi is another visitor from Jordan. He lived in the US for 22 years.

AYMAN SMADI: I think the Arabs have grown to admire Turkey. To me, as somebody who lived in the States, I like the fact that you could have religious heritage. You could have a lot of culture and history and still be part of the civilized modern world.

[MUSIC]

BRUNWASSER: Tourism commercials like this one have added to Turkey’s buzz in the Arab world. But while Turkey is reaching out to the east, it’s also pursuing stronger ties with the west. And the TV show Gumush, or Noor, may be helping on that front as well. The soap opera has found new audiences as Lubire de Argint in Romania and Perla in Bulgaria. For The World I’m Matthew Brunwasser in Istanbul.

[MUSIC]

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