Turkey to ban saucy dating TV shows

Popular Turkish dating shows accused of being sexually provocative will be banned in Turkey because they do not fit with the country’s conservative traditions or customs, the deputy prime minister has warned.

Matchmaking TV shows have become hugely popular in Turkey over the past few years, with some of these shows even airing during the morning broadcasting slots to attract a wider domestic audience.

However, their continued presence on Turkish TV screens has drawn complaints from conservative sections in society, many of whom vote for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who described the shows as “strange” and an “aberration”.

“There are some strange programmes that would scrap the institution of family, take away its nobility and sanctity,” Numan Kurtulmus explained, The New Arab wrote, citing AFP.

Kurtulmus continued:

We are working on this and we are coming to the end of it. God willing, in the near future, we will most likely remedy this with an emergency decree. God willing, we will meet these societal demands

Opponents fear the ruling AKP government is pulling the secular country down a more conservative path. However, AKP argues that it has consistently won majorities in elections and plebiscites since the turn of the millennium, and therefore arguably represents a larger, more dominant segment of society.Kurtulmus argues that dating shows are contrary to Turkey’s “customs, traditions, beliefs, the Turkish family structure and the culture of Anatolian lands”.

Citing the traditional conservative and Islamic culture of Turkey, Kurtulmus proceeded to slam politicians and social commentators that argued that advertising revenues should trump moral considerations:

So what the ratings are very high and thus the advertising revenue is high? Let there not be that kind of advertising revenues

There have been up to 120,000 complaints against dating programmes, the deputy prime minister said, using these statistics to further bolster his argument that largely conservative Turks oppose such broadcasting.