These are the 9 best Turkish series to watch on Netflix, plus one about to be released

Scandinavian police, Korean series, British dramas, Latin American telenovelas: the list of public favorites has been added in recent years the category of Turkish productions, which combine the best of all these genres: crimes, dramas, revenge, injustices, romance, complications and beautiful settings outside of Hollywood. Many of the actors are celebrities beyond their country: Can Yaman, Gökçe Bahadir, Engin Akyürek, Burcu Biricik or Kerem Bürsin are well-known names in the world.

Many of them focus on Netflix, where they have stood out among this week's search trends. In addition to their huge original production, Turkish series often adapt stories from other countries that did not attract attention in the United States or Europe, and through streaming they make them reach the whole world. Here is a selection of the best 10 titles offered by the platform, including a novelty that will be released soon.

Club Estambul (The Club, Club)

This period drama, set in the 1950s, premiered the second part of its first season in January 2022. Directed by Seren Yüce and Zeynep Günay, he tells the story of Matilda, who has just been released from prison after serving 17 years in prison, and works in one of the most important nightclubs in the Turkish capital.

Her main concern in freedom is to regain the bond with her daughter Raşel and at the same time keep her away from Pera, Istanbul's European district where she soon got into trouble. Upon learning that her daughter has been accused of sabotaging the club, Matilda is employed there to pay the debt and keep Raşel away from the bad decisions she made in the past.

Con Gökçe Bahadir, Barış Arduç, Salih Bademci, Euphrates Meet, Metin Akdülger y Asude Kalebek .

Medianoche en el Pera Palace (Midnight at the Pera Palace/Midnight at Pera Palas)

To a certain extent, along the same lines as Club Istanbul, Midnight at the Pera Palace reconstructs the historical past with a touch of science fiction in eight episodes. Journalist Esra settles in the legendary building to write a note, and discovers that one of its rooms is a portal to other times: through it she reaches 1919, when Turkey is in the middle of the process of modernization.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (the founder of the current country) is the victim of a conspiracy, and a woman, Peride, dies to avoid being murdered. Esra will impersonate her and Ahmet, the particular director of the hotel, will help her face the threats of an uprising that could change the course of the country. Then the past Esra, surprisingly, bursts into her experience: she meets who will later be her grandmother.

With Hazal Kaya, Selahattin Pasalı, James Chalmers and Clare Louise Frost. Created by Elif Usman based on the novel by Charles King and directed by Emre Şahin.

Fatma

Fatma's husband, Zafer, has been released from prison but has not returned home. As she embarks on her search, this 35-year-old woman commits murder by accident. But Zafer's underworld partners see her as a fantastic tool: she is a great killer and nobody suspects her because, as a cleaning worker, she is practically invisible in contemporary society. At the same time, Fatma discovers that the anguish of years of struggle is released in each crime, and the character begins to develop a remarkable emotional depth: not only does he kill to stay alive and find Zafer, but also because inside him a murderous instinct slept.

With Burcu Biricik, Ugur Yücel, Mehmet Yilmaz Ak, Gulcin Kultur Sahin and Sehsuvar Aktas. Produced by Basak Abacigil and created and directed by Ozgur Onurme.

Lobo (Wolf, Børder)

This story with a lot, really a lot of action, evokes real events that happened in 2014. Turan, a stray bullet from a special police unit, arrives in a taxi, listening to hip-hop, to Diyarbakir and seems to enter a war zone, where he seems to feel at home and where other members of his force greet him with affection.

Diyarbakin, located next to the Tigris, is the city with the largest Kurdish population in Turkey, and a frequent source of conflict with Kurdish separatists (who consider it the de facto capital of Kurdistan) and Syrian terrorist groups. The bullets begin to sound without further delay and continue to ring during the six episodes of this miniseries. At the same time, the characters are interesting: in addition to Turan, who compensates his personality with unparalleled shooting skills, there are Behçet, the leader of the group who receives the disturbing information that other government forces could endanger them, and Kemal, a philosophical soul educated at Harvard.

Con Ahu Turkpench, Serkan Cayoglu y Emir Benderlioğlu , creada por Alper Caglar .

50m²

Servet has been a father to Sombra, as well as a good mafia boss for whom he works as a hitman. But some blurred memories of what happened to his parents lead him to discover a painful secret and seek revenge. As this thriller is also a drama, things don't work out well for Sombra, who ends up sheltering in a tailor shop and, by chance, is mistaken for the owner's son.

With his new identity as Adem Yilmaz, Sombra will try to start over, since everything he believed was his life was built on lies. But although in the neighborhood where he is staying they don't know he was a mafia, they do know that the mafia is threatening them: the local leader, Mesut, is willing to do anything to keep the properties and build a major real estate development. So in addition to escaping from his former boss, Sombra will now try to help them and at the same time take advantage of their new opportunity in life. The end of the first season left the plot open for the second season.

With Engin Öztürk, Aybüke Pusat, Cengiz Bozkurt, Aybüke Pusat and Tolga Tekin, written by Burak Aksak and co-directed by himself and Selçuk Aydemir.

The Uysal Family (Wild Abandon, Uysallar)

The most recent premiere, on March 30, tells the story of an architect who has everything, except that nothing he has interests him. About to board a plane, Oktay rushes out of an airport, although no one is chasing him: only his dissatisfaction with the life he leads becomes intolerable. His wife, Nil, is not doing much better: she quit her job when the first of her children — now a difficult teenager — was born and stayed as a housewife. Her attempt to return to the labor market shows that it is not easy for a woman of almost 40 years old.

While exploring his existential crisis, Oktay discovers that only one thing revives his taste for life: the memories of his young punk years. This is how he begins to live a double life wearing a jacket with metal details, combat boots and a striking red mohawk. The series, much celebrated by critics, explores the dissatisfaction of the contemporary individual, the pressures to achieve what is considered success and happiness, and the lack of attention to what these words can be for everyone beyond the social standard.

Con Öner Erkan, Songül Öden, Haluk Bilginer, Ugur Yücel, Nezaket Erden y Dilara Gul Demiral , dirigida por Onur Saylak .

Amor 101 (Love 101, Ajljt 101)

A teenage series that tells the memories of Işık, a woman from modern Istanbul, and takes the audience back to 1998 when a group of unruly students, very different from their peers and quite marginalized, are about to be expelled from school. Both the principal and the teachers are against it, with the exception of one, Burcu, who understands them and wants them to be treated with the consideration that troubled adolescents deserve at school.

But Burcu is not an essential asset of the school either: they are about to move it. It doesn't take a genius to understand that when that happens, nothing will stop young people from being thrown out. They draw up a plan to prevent the teacher from leaving: if she gets married, the law allows her to choose her destiny, and she could stay with them. They then go out to find someone Burcu can fall in love with, and in the process they transform and mature.

Con Alina Boz, Mert Yazıcıoğlu, Kubilay Aka, Selahattin Pasalı, Silk Filiz Yazici, Pınar Deniz y Kaan Urgancıoğlu , dos temporadas dirigidas por Ahmet Katıksız .

Breed. El Patio (The Yard, Breed)

This prison drama begins when Deniz is attacked by her husband, Hakan, who points a gun at her and their daughter, Ecem. Ecem tries to take it off and shoots it by accident. Deniz then assumes responsibility, so that his daughter does not go to jail for the duration of the trial, and is detained. He approaches one of the two women vying for control behind bars, Azra and Kudret. It assumes that, under Azra's wing, she'll be able to keep a low profile and survive until everything clears up and she's released.

However, he soon finds himself in trouble. Hakan lives, although in a coma, in the hospital, when the corpse of a guard appears under Deniz's feet, who for greater confusion has in his hand something that could have been the murder instrument. In addition to the complications and intricate internal policies that prison offers to an innocent woman, there is another concern: her daughter has begun a relationship with Alp, Kudret's son.

With Demet Evgar, Ceren Moray, Nursel Kose and Eslem Akar, 44 episodes in three seasons directed by Yüksel Aksu, Hülya Gezer and Safak Bal.

Smuggled Love (Black Money Love, Kara Para Ask, Dirty Money and Love)

One night two bodies appear inside a car, shot in the head each. One is a young woman, Sibel, girlfriend of police officer Omer. The other is that of Ahmet, a wealthy jewelry businessman.

Omer and Ahmet's daughter, Elif, argue when they meet at the police station. It is not possible for Omer that Sibel was Ahmet's mistress. Elif can't understand that someone wanted to murder her father. Together they will begin to follow in the footsteps of the double homicide, which left Omer devastated and Elif's family in the face of an unexpected event: they are bankrupt.

When they discover that the murders have to do with diamond trafficking, they both try to understand what role Sibel and Ahmet played. But the mafia is more interested in recovering the diamonds that Elif's father had, and they force her to look for them by taking her sister Nilufer hostage. With the help of Omer she will try to unravel the mystery, which for both of them will have unexpected turns.

With Engin Akyurek, Tuba Büyüküstün, Nebahat Çehre, Aytaç Arman, Bestemsu Özdemir and Hazal Türesan. Directed by Ahmet Katıksız in the 54 long original episodes that were transformed in 164 in the subdivision that Netflix edited.

Yakamoz S-245

This production will be released on the platform on April 20. It is a drama that combines science fiction and adventure under water: Arman is a biologist and diver who joins a research mission on a submarine. But while the team of scientists is working, something supernatural happens on the surface: the sun begins to kill people.

They are thus safe from the apocalypse but in trouble to survive, which causes Arman and his colleagues to join a military submarine. While trying to understand what is happening, scientists perceive hostility from the military group. The biologist feels the tension rise and confronts the second military commander, Umut, not knowing that a conspiracy will begin to come to light.

With Kivanç Tatlitug, Özge Özpirinçci and Ertan Saban. Written by Jason George (The Way of the Night) and directed by Tolga Karacelik.

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