Islamabad (AFP)

Nicknamed the Muslim "Game of Thrones", the Turkish series "Resurrection: Ertugrul", a phenomenon in Pakistan during Ramadan, is acclaimed by the Pakistani Prime Minister, testimony to the rise of cultural diplomacy wanted by Ankara.

This licked five-season fresco, which puts historical figures from the Muslim world in the spotlight, became essential during the holy month, which will end on Sunday or Monday, depending on the appearance of a new moon.

The escapades of Ertugrul, father of Osman Bey, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, who at its height in the 17th century went from Algiers to Baghdad, passing through Mecca or Budapest, have been seen over 240 million many times on YouTube in their Urdu version, the official language in Pakistan.

"The reaction was incredible. It's really great to see how the series resonates with Urdu speakers," enthuses Riyaad Minty, digital director of TRT, the Turkish public television, which produced it.

PTV, which broadcasts it, can boast of an audience five times higher than normal ... when Pakistani public television subscribes to confidential audiences, particularly during Ramadan, where it mainly shows quizzes and other content religious.

After the break in the fast, Hassam Mustafa, like millions of others, is thus glued every evening to his small screen, surrounded by nephews and nieces: "I prefer to watch the series with children, so that they have real heroes , not fictional superheroes. "

"This historic Turkish soap opera has allowed us to escape from stereotypical Pakistani series", where the stormy relationships between domineering mothers and their stepdaughters serve as the main red thread, he rejoices.

- 'Values ​​of Islam' -

Prime Minister Imran Khan's bet is won, he who instructed PTV to broadcast "Resurrection: Ertugrul" because "the values ​​of Islam" are "underlined".

"Our culture is also steeped in romance and history", he recently launched, decrying too much influence of Hollywood and Bollywood in the Pakistani population, when "obscenities" are omnipresent in Indian cinema and Pakistan receives "the worst" of American productions.

"It has a very negative impact on our children", "promotes the drug culture and increases sexual crimes" in the country, further criticized Imran Khan.

More chaste, the Turkish series are broadcast by the kilometer in Pakistan. Dozens of soaps operas made in Anatolia preceded "Resurrection: Ertugrul". A private Pakistani channel is even entirely dedicated to Turkish series.

Culture, via these television productions, has become an important vector of soft power for Ankara, of which "Resurrection: Ertugrul" is a "powerful incarnation", believes Michael Kugelman, a specialist in South Asia for the Wilson Center, a American research center.

- 'Pan-Muslim Solidarity' -

Turkey is "led by a strong man but it has a major deficit in terms of image", which its audiovisual production makes up for, he analyzes, when "many in Pakistan strongly support pan-Muslim solidarity" and "Political Islam", of which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a supporter.

In recent years, Ankara has thus become one of Islamabad's main partners on the international scene. In 2018, when Pakistan was threatened with being blacklisted from countries supporting terrorism, it was able to benefit from Turkish support.

Turkey is also supporting Pakistan in the conflict over India over Kashmir. MM. Khan and Erdogan also share common views on the issue of Islamophobia.

But Ankara's cultural diplomacy is not unanimous in the Muslim world, even if its series is appreciated by millions of people.

Egyptian justice, fearing that Turkey would seek to revive the Ottoman Empire and govern the Arab-Muslim world, thus prohibited "Resurrection: Ertugrul".

Saudi Arabia, for its part, prevented its state television from broadcasting any Turkish soap in 2018, when relations between Ankara and Ryad were at its worst.

But the Pakistani-Turkish audiovisual romance does not seem ready to stop. Imran Khan would have set his sights on another Turkish series, "Yunus Emre", according to Faisal Javed Khan, a member of his party.

The historical-religious vein is again privileged there. "Yunus was an Islamic poet, a mystic and a poor villager. This is the story of a great Sufi entirely dedicated to Allah," he described in early May on Twitter.

© 2020 AFP