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DE RUEHAK #0605/01 0921222
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P 011222Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5754
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000605 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: REALITY TV SHOW RATINGS ON THE RISE 
 
 ¶1. (U) As the Turkish public grows weary of the complicated 
and discouraging political developments dominating the news 
and talk shows, they are turning increasingly to reality TV 
shows for entertainment.  TRT Program Director Nisan 
Budalalik has seen a marked increase in viewership of 
American-style "reality shows." 
 
-- "Kasimpasali Cocuk" (The Guy from Kasimpasha): Ali T, a 
combative illiterate comic "thug" uses fake journalistic 
credentials to put Turkey's leading figures into 
uncomfortable situations.  One recent episode showed the host 
trying to head-clink Nationalist Action Party (MHP) Devlet 
Bahceli before being tackled by bodyguards.  In another, the 
interviewer baffled Chief of the Turkish General Staff 
General Buyukanit into stunned silence when he asserted that 
the term "Turkmen" was obviously an Anglicism for "Turkish 
men" and therefore the cherished kinship between Turks and 
their ethnic kin in Northern Iraq was an American plot to 
trip up Turkey. 
 
-- "Who Wants to Be a Turkish Millionaire?": Plucky young 
grads from top universities compete to win a job with Mehmet 
Emin Karamehmet.  Episode 1 features the two teams -- CimBom 
and Fener -- competing to sell the largest number of simits 
in Istanbul's Taksim Square.  CimBom's manager Mehmet Ali 
leads his team in implementing a flashy song-and-dance 
strategy, but is upstaged by Fener, which uses the 
time-honored "Simit-yell" technique to coast to victory. 
Karamehmet faults Mehmet Ali for poor management, but 
ultimately determines that team member Umur Azoza's combative 
personality sowed seeds of discord that undid CimBom's unity, 
leading to the loss.  "Umur Azoza, KOVULDUN!" 
 
-- "The Pious Life": Kubra Gul and Esra Erdogan join the 
staff of Club Med Antalya.  In the most recent episode, Kubra 
accuses Esra of stealing her signature double knot twist 
headscarf method. Greek shipping heir Stavros Niachos made a 
guest appearance. 
 
-- "Turkey's Next Top Headscarf Model": A catwalk showdown 
between models sporting brightly colored silk "turbans" and 
traditional Anatolian scarves tied under the chin turned ugly 
when a discussion among the all-male panel of judges erupted 
into a fistfight. 
 
-- "Fear Factor: Turkey": A recent episode featured a 
profusely sweating contestant enduring a university lecture 
flanked by two headscarf-wearing students. 
 
-- "Pimp My Tofash": A team of hipsters redesign 
80-horsepower jalopies to sport airbrushed wolves, 
automatically unfurling crescent-and-star banners, and horns 
that play the first few bars of the Independence March. 
 
¶2. (U) Some of the shows have engendered substantial 
political dispute. 
 
-- "The Turkish Bachelor": When the bachelor unexpectedly 
proposed to the homeliest bachelorette, who professed her 
desire to have "at least" three children, Republican People's 
Party (CHP) chairman Baykal immediately reacted in a press 
conference calling the show "rigged by (Prime Minister) 
Erdogan."  Erdogan in turn blamed the Dogan Media Group for 
creating Bachelor tensions.  Devlet Bahceli raised his fist 
in the air, only to trip when he tried to take a step back. 
 
-- Hit show "Big Brother: Kandil" prompted Baykal to call for 
a national boycott.  According to Baykal, the Turkish public 
had no idea that the footage taken for the reality show 
allegedly came from actionable intelligence supplied by the 
US as part of the larger US-Turkish intelligence-sharing 
cooperation.  Per Baykal, "This is proof the United States is 
meddling in our entertainment affairs, imposing cultural 
domination, and is using its pressure to influence the 
outcome of the show." 
 
¶3. (U) Budalalik notes that some of the shows have run into 
legal problems.  The Radio and Television Authority imposed a 
30-day ban on "Next Top Headscarf Model" for violating RTUK 
regulation 3406.5(b) on lighting requirements.  Prime 
 
ANKARA 00000605  002 OF 002 
 
 
Minister Erdogan has charged that the Kasimpasali Cocuk 
character's apparent dull-wittedness is insulting to 
residents of that neighborhood, and is trying to amend the 
Penal Code to make "insult to the Prime Minister's hometown" 
a crime. 
 
¶4. (U) April Fool!  Nisan Budalalik! 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey 
 
WILSON