BAKU, Azerbaijan - Turkish television dramas repeatedly use Azerbaijani speech as a punchline and portray Azerbaijani characters as swindlers, helpless petitioners or people obsessed with money, Musavat TV host Sevinc Telmanqizi said in a televised commentary.
Telmanqizi said the concern goes beyond isolated jokes. When similar portrayals recur across popular productions, she argued, they can shape a mass audience’s view of an entire people despite the close political relationship commonly described by officials as “one nation, two states.”
Language Used as a Punchline
She cited Yahşi Cazibe, whose central Azerbaijani character was portrayed for much of the series as sincere, decent and self-sacrificing. Telmanqizi said the character’s Azerbaijani speech was nevertheless regularly accompanied by canned laughter.
In the finale, the character was recast as a con artist who had deceived men from several countries. Telmanqizi linked the abrupt change to a dispute between the actress and the production team, but said an internal production conflict did not justify turning a national character into an object of humiliation.
She also objected to writers using recognizable Azerbaijani expressions as an automatic comedy device. Saying that the language sounds “cute,” she argued, does not explain why a character’s words should be treated as funny before the situation or conduct provides any reason for laughter.
Telmanqizi pointed to the character Abidin in Kızılcık Şerbeti and the repeated expression “ay balam” as another example. In her view, such scenes invite viewers to laugh at the way an Azerbaijani speaks rather than at the character’s actions.
“We never said that calling you brothers gives permission for any joke at our expense,” she said.
Claims of Greed and Dependence
In Kurtlar Vadisi, or Valley of the Wolves, Telmanqizi said dialogue associated Azerbaijanis with an excessive attachment to money. She criticized a different pattern in Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu, or Valley of the Wolves: Ambush, where Azerbaijani characters are presented as weak and dependent on help from Turkish protagonists.
One scene, she said, can be read as suggesting that Azerbaijan’s survival in the region is possible only because of Turkey. Telmanqizi argued that this framing replaces an alliance between equals with a hierarchy in which one side rescues and instructs while the other is expected to express gratitude and admit helplessness.
She also criticized the portrayal of an Azerbaijani nanny in Binbir Gece, or One Thousand and One Nights, saying the character was reduced to a submissive domestic worker with little agency. In the historical drama Muhteşem Yüzyıl, or Magnificent Century, she objected to a scene she regarded as dismissive of Shah Ismail.
Criticism Focuses on Repeated National Markers
Telmanqizi said her objection was not that Azerbaijani characters must always be admirable. Criminals, liars and swindlers can belong to any nationality, she said. The problem arises when national origin repeatedly becomes a marker of vice, backwardness or comic inferiority.
She described the recurring pattern as evidence of bias among some creators in Turkey’s television industry and said references to comedy, genre or artistic fiction do not remove responsibility for images broadcast to millions of viewers.
Telmanqizi said she was not rejecting the close relationship between Azerbaijan and Turkey. On the contrary, she said, that closeness makes the scenes more painful and creates a greater expectation of respect.
“A brother does not humiliate a brother or turn him into an object of ridicule in films and television series,” she said.
She said Azerbaijani viewers were asking for basic respect for their language, history and dignity, and that the “one nation, two states” formula should also be reflected in how Azerbaijanis are represented on screen.
Sources: Vesti Baku; Musavat.com background report.