Arab Image In Turkey - Historum

**Afrasiyab** · August 22nd, 2011, 01:16 PM

Examination of the Arab image in Turkish popular perception has both historical and current importance when the complexities of relations between are considered.

There may be many sides to this discussion as how Arabs are observed through media, i.e., in movies, music industry, in terms of historical and religious bonds/enmities etc.

Statistical results:

* Turkish people believe that Arabs are better than Europeans or Americans as indicated by survey results. 43,4% of Turks have better views of Arabs when compared to their views on Europeans or Americans. Egypt enjoys the most positive images among Arab nations with 42,7%. Saudi Arabia comes second with 41,5% of the respondents. Then follow Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Lebanon, Algeria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq and Mauritania whereas attitudes towards Americans is 64,8% negative, 35,0% negative to Europeans, 71,5% negative to Jews, 39,5% negative to Iranians, 73,9% negative to Armenians.

* Reading Arabic literature is very rare although interest in learning Arabic is very high.

* Arabic music is favored by the 28,6%of the respondents.

(Survey by Talip Küçükcan, 2010)

However, in movies, Arabs are portrayed as lustful, wealthy, impolite and weird-speaking people. The only positive Arab image in Turkish cinema is an Arab woman called 'Arap bacı > Arab Sister' as a sympathetic, funny-speaking fat woman. She is generally a nanny or a maid in a big mansion and is close friends with the household, though she is depicted very dark, almost as an African.

**DreamWeaver** · August 22nd, 2011, 01:20 PM

Statistical.......facts......

**Afrasiyab** · August 22nd, 2011, 01:23 PM

Alright, Alright. I changed it to 'results'. Pardon my French.

**Mohammed the Persian** · August 22nd, 2011, 01:31 PM

Its true, most Arabs (ESPECIALLY the women) hold Turkey in high regards, mostly because of your bloody soap operas

I like Turkey for its History, I might not like the whole Sunni vs Shia aspect it endorsed during the Ottoman era, but I admire and love Turkey. Turkey is a special country in the world

**DreamWeaver** · August 22nd, 2011, 01:36 PM

Turkish Soap Opera's you say.....intriguing.

**Mohammed the Persian** · August 22nd, 2011, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamWeaver

Turkish Soap Opera's you say.....intriguing.

Show a picture of this guy to any Arab girl and they'll go on and on

You can imagine us men are jealous

zombie · August 22nd, 2011, 02:25 PM

for europeans according to turks =p

click

Ayazid · May 17th, 2012, 07:19 AM

I frequently see Turks (specially secular nationalists) insulting nastily Arabs on the net. I wonder why? I don't see anything of that kind from the Arab side.

**Mohammed the Persian** · May 17th, 2012, 07:38 AM

Once again, the TV shows boost Turkey's image

Shaheen · May 17th, 2012, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afrasiyab

The only positive Arab image in Turkish cinema is an Arab woman called 'Arap bacı > Arab Sister' as a sympathetic, funny-speaking fat woman..

I did not know Baji meant sister in Turkish. It is the same in Urdu. I suppose a reason why Turks may have had negative opinions of Arabs was due to the events that took place during world war 1. I actually watched a Turkish soap with my fiance (arab) and her family once. The dubbing was so bad and so out of tune i could not take the show seriously. (not that i understand arabic very well in the first place).

On another note I watched the first episode of Muhtesem Yuzel online with English subtitles but cant find the rest of the episodes with English subtitles. It was really impressive nevertheless.