The rise of the Korean culture in Turkey — and everywhere else
Korean culture and music have created one of the most rapidly increasing influences worldwide, and Turkey has been one of the major countries which had experienced this influence very closely. Similar to the expansion of Turkish TV series (read our article here), which had created a tremendous effect globally, Korean culture has also gained comparable recognition worldwide.
Not only did Korean music (K-Pop) begin this expansion, but recently their Netflix series production Squid Game (2021) became a canonical success in the history of Netflix as it rocked the world.
Historical ties between South Korea and Turkey
As the two rising cultural influencers, it is essential to add that Turkey and South Korea have had historical and cultural ties since the Korean War between 1950–1953, regarding the fact that the Turkish army was sent to support South Korea back in those years.
Even recently, a feature film called Ayla: The Daughter of War (2017) was produced based on a real story of a Turkish Military Officer who adopted a Korean girl who had lost her family in the war and brought her to Turkey after his service ended.
Reasons for K-Pop and drama popularity in Turkey
But despite the cultural ties between the two countries, South Korea has had an emerging cultural influence since the end of the 1990s. With this increasing influence, Korean drama and pop have become global products. They have also become very trendy in Turkey among Generation Z and the younger generation, primarily young girls from conservative families. This phenomenon gained national attention after three young girls fled from their home in Istanbul to go to South Korea in 2021.
We can consider some of the reasons why the Korean culture explicitly influenced a particular part of the young generation as;
- Repression: Girls from conservative families generally have a repressed social, cultural and emotional life. They cannot go out at night, they are not supposed to have a boyfriend, and their families do not let them go to many places, such as bars, clubs and sometimes even cinemas.
- The boys in the boy bands have a similar life. Their agents don’t let them have a girlfriend because they fear losing media and their female fans’ attention if they publicly have a girlfriend. So, they have stringent contracts that prevent them from living their lives freely.
- Korean dramas have very supportive, understanding, and lean storytelling. On the other hand, Turkish TV series are long, complicated stories and always have struggles in front of characters. This makes Turkish TV series more popular globally, but they are less catchy for the Turkish youth, eventually leading them to be quickly affected by Korean series.
- Korean character stereotypes and gender roles are different from Turkish. Males and females are more equal, the characters and stories do not enforce gender stereotypes and functions, and one might say they have more gender-fluid representation in K-Pop and K-drama.
Korean drama remakes in Turkey
Turkish producers and screenwriters are also aware of Korean dramas’ popularity in Turkey, as there have been countless adaptations of Korean shows in Turkey over the years. In addition, the proximity of Turkish and Korean cultures to family values and romantic relationships maintains a suitable foundation for transformations.
For instance, the Turkish teen drama Güneşi Beklerken (Waiting for the Sun, 2013) was broadcasted as an adaptation of a well-known Korean drama, Boys Over Flowers (2009). As a result, it attracted considerable attention from the Turkish teen and young-adult audience and achieved enormous success. Similarly, Kiralık Aşk (2015), the remake of Can Love Become Money? (2012) became a popular romantic-comedy series in Turkey following the success of Güneşi Beklerken by widening the age group of its target audience.
It is also notable how both shows depict the relationship between naive middle-class women and troubled rich men, which is a stereotypical topic that would become popular everywhere, especially in countries like Turkey, considering its cultural similarities with Korea.
The rise of the ‘Korecan.’
The increasing popularity of Korean culture is not limited to its effect on the Turkish television sector; the popularity of Korean culture also led to its fandom not only in Turkey but also in the world. The younger generation who had become a part of this fandom calls themselves ‘Korecan’ as ‘Kore’ is the country’s name in Turkish, and ‘-can’ is an addition that makes it mean (in a way) “the one who loves” and refers to a person who loves Korean culture.
Another example is ‘Hallyu’, meaning ‘Korean wave’ in the Mandarin language, which is the name of the Korean cultural wave. Even their linguistic culture is recognised as Koreans have a vast dictionary of terms and symbols. For instance, a hand gesture called ‘finger heart’, which has emerged with K-Pop is widely used among Korean culture fans worldwide, including the Korecans in Turkey.
Another expression now known globally because of the famous Korean song Gangnam Style (2012) is ‘Oppa’, a term used in the Korean language for an older brother, which may refer to a non-sexual love between a female and a male.
The popularity of K-Pop and Korean dramas in numbers
According to research, there were 6.1 billion tweets about K-Pop and its bands, such as BTS, that were tweeted between July 2019 and July 2020, which created the most considerable increase in the #KpopTwitter conversation growth chart from 2010–2020.
Also, research on the popularity of South Korean dramas in Turkey in 2019 stated that 33.5% of the people said they were “very popular”, and 34.3% of them voted for “quite popular,” which resulted in the majority of people being very fond of the South Korean drama series.
If we look back at the fame of the Korean culture in Turkey, Turkey has been one of the top 20 countries that talked the most about K-pop on Twitter in 2020. This is because a significant majority of young people are fans of Korean dramas and K-Pop, and even there have been several K-pop band concerts in Turkey which drew much attention to the topic.
Koren culture under investigation(!)
Much surprisingly, last year, the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs of Turkey started an investigation on the influence of K-pop and Korean drama on the Turkish youth after three girls ran away from their homes to go to South Korea. As a result, political pundits and columnists started to depict K-pop as a bad influence over the young people for promoting a “genderless lifestyle” and a foreign power which had been a hot topic for some time in the Turkish media.
Korean cultural influence over the world
This influence is not limited to Turkey and other emerging markets. According to research by Min Joo Lee, who researches “Korea’s gender and race politics as a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University Bloomington”, shared findings with CNN:
“After visiting eight hostels and interviewing 123 women, mostly from North America and Europe, Lee came to the conclusion that many had been drawn to the country by what she calls ‘the Netflix effect.’” He says that young women in their 20s from the US and European countries are looking for love and compassion in South Korean drama and visiting the country with this hope.
The rise of non-Western cultures worldwide
Non-Western cultures are permeating beyond their geographic and political borders and creating an interconnected cross-cultural network. As a result, they can understand not only each other but also Western culture, and Korean culture is one of them. This trend is expanding and increasing its influence daily as new productions are being made continuously, and the world will continue to experience this expansion.
However, it is possible to say that Western culture is not aware of their significance yet. Moreover, the rising influence of non-Western cultures over each other makes it even more complex to achieve a deeper understanding. Therefore, Western businesses and brands must begin gaining awareness of cross-cultural understanding.
Cross-cultural understanding is key to success in local markets.
More local cultural phenomena and creative productions are becoming globally popular. In this way, they are not only establishing a cultural awareness but are also influencing the Western-dominated global culture. In this way, the world is truly becoming a diverse, inclusive and multicultural space, simultaneously creating a complex environment that cannot be decoded and deciphered by traditional approaches and understanding.
That’s why strategic guidance from cross-cultural experts such as pakt agency is crucial in making better informed strategic decisions when approaching cultural domains. Get in touch with us today and tell us about your challenges or dreams, and we’ll help you to see them from a locally grounded perspective.
