EditThe soft power of storytelling: Turkey’s TV series offensive in the Balkans
How the export of state-backed TV dramas, known as dizi, are shaping perceptions, tourism, and influence in a contested region
In a strategic move to amplify its international cultural reach, the Turkish government has introduced on 18 February a new program offering producers a subsidy of $100,000 in Turkish lira for each episode of television series broadcast abroad.
Announced by Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy at a press conference in Istanbul, this initiative targets productions that promote Turkey, its language, and its tourism appeal, while meeting export and viewership benchmarks. The support, channeled through the General directorate of cinema and the Turkey tourism promotion and Development Agency (TGA), also includes streamlined bureaucratic processes for filming permits and free access to historical and cultural sites. This development underscores the growing recognition of Turkish television dramas – known as dizi, as a key pillar of national branding and economic strategy.
Touching an audience of one billion people
The Turkish television industry has achieved remarkable global success in recent years. Series are now available in approximately 170 countries, reaching an audience that touches nearly one billion people across Asia, America, Africa, and Europe. Data from Parrot Analytics reveals that global demand for Turkish series surged by 184 percent between 2020 and 2023, propelling Turkey to rank among the world’s top three television exporters in terms of sales and export power, after the U.S. and the UK. Export revenues have surpassed a historic threshold of over $1 billion, marking the sector as a major contributor to the national economy.
Minister Ersoy described these productions as a “global brand” that not only generates substantial income but also serves as a locomotive for broader promotional efforts, particularly in tourism.
With Turkey welcoming record numbers of visitors – over 63.9 million in 2025, generating $65.23 billion in revenue, the link between on-screen portrayals and real-world travel is evident. Experts like Dr. Deniz Gürgen Atalay from Bahçeşehir University highlight how series showcase Istanbul’s vibrant lifestyle, cuisine, music, and landmarks, inspiring fans to visit locations featured in their favorite shows. Fans, such as 22-year-old Riya Toivanen from Finland, travel specifically to immerse themselves in these settings, taking selfies amid Ottoman-era recreations and experiencing the cultural elements dramatized on screen.
The mechanics and reach of Turkish dizi soft power
This state-supported push elevates dizi within Turkey’s broader toolkit of cultural diplomacy, which includes institutions like the national broadcaster TRT and the Yunus Emre Institutes focused on language and education.
Television series stand out as the most accessible and emotionally engaging component, delivering family dramas, social narratives, romances, and historical epics that resonate daily across borders. Unlike coercive influence, soft power operates through attraction and familiarity, allowing Turkey to shape perceptions without direct confrontation. In export markets, eligibility for subsidies considers factors such as contributions to promoting the country and Turkish language, targeting priority tourism destinations, the number of export countries (with a minimum of at least three continents and 10 nations), sales figures, ratings, and overall viewership.
The industry’s evolution includes adaptations for streaming platforms, shorter formats for international appeal, and institutional backing to maintain competitiveness. Productions often blend entertainment with subtle social commentary, though some align with prevailing state narratives, occasionally raising concerns about creative constraints or self-censorship. Historical series, in particular, carry symbolic weight by reconstructing Ottoman eras or key events, influencing how global audiences interpret Turkey ‘s past and present.
Implications for the Balkans: familiarity, narrative competition, and limits
In the Balkans – a region marked by overlapping influences from Europe, Russia, China, and the United States, Turkish series exert a distinctive impact. Cultural proximity, shared historical memories, and compatible social values facilitate strong identification with characters, family dynamics, and moral frameworks. In Serbia, for example, the popularity of dizi has been linked to resonant traditional elements, while in North Macedonia, their spread sparked debates and calls for broadcasting restrictions as early as 2012, amid perceptions of growing cultural sway.
For countries including Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and Kosovo, the effects are layered. The series cultivate a form of low-intensity cultural interdependence, familiarizing viewers with Turkish aesthetics, language snippets, and daily life. They contribute to narrative geopolitics, where the storyteller’s perspective and emotional framing influence a region which produces more history than it can consume, as Churchill once famously said. State backing transforms television into a tool of strategic continuity, building a long-term reserve of familiarity that subtly informs diplomatic and economic interactions.
Yet, the soft power derived from cultural consumption has clear boundaries. Viewing habits do not necessarily translate into political alignment or endorsement of foreign policy positions, and the connection between government incentives and creative decisions is not always direct. Nevertheless, in a region where influence flows through diverse channels beyond investment or security, Turkish series function as enduring soft power infrastructure. They quietly shift dynamics from formal negotiations to the intimacy of the everyday screen.
Sources: IBNA, Daily Sabah, Hürriyet Daily News
Caption: The plot of “The Magnificent Century” vividly depicts the romantic saga of the 16th century, a story that ultimately shaped the destiny of the Ottoman Empire.
Updated: February 20, 2026 - 13:45
