Muhteşem Yüzyıl üzerinden Atatürk - Osmanlı Tartışması

Magnificent Century (Original Title: Muhteşem Yüzyıl) is a Turkish prime time historical soap opera television series broadcast on Turkey's Star TV network. It is based on the life of Süleyman I (also known as Suleiman the Magnificent), the longest reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Hürrem (a.k.a. Roxelana), the slave girl who became his queen.

The show generated controversy and complaints from some viewers, for what they referred to as a "disrespectful", "indecent" and "hedonistic" portrayal of the historical sultan. Turkey's Radio and Television Supreme Council, known as RTÜK, claimed they had received over 70,000 complaints about the show and warned Show TV to publicly apologise for wrongly exposing "the privacy of a historical person". The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned the show as "an effort to show our history in a negative light to the younger generations." Small groups of Islamists and Nationalists protested the studio but the show remains popular with viewers, with consistently high ratings.

Plot

The "Magnificent Century" of the Ottomans refers to the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent , and the series dramatizes the intrigues of his harem and court.

At the age of twenty-six, when his rule began, Sultan Süleyman sought to build a empire in this world more powerful and more extensive than Alexander Macedonian and to render the Ottomans invincible.

Throughout his 46-year reign, Sultan Süleyman became known as the greatest warrior and ruler of the East and West. The young Süleyman ascended to the throne after receiving the news of his crowning at a hunting party in 1520. Unaware that he would be embarking on a reign that would later be considered the pinnacle of Ottoman rule, he left behind his consort Mahidevran and their son, little prince Mustafa, at his palace in Manisa, and, accompanied by his close friend and companion Pargalı İbrahim, took the road to Topkapı Palace in İstanbul.

While they were on route, an Ottoman ship sailed off from Crimea across the Black Sea, bringing kidnapped Christian female slaves as gifts for the Ottoman palace. On this ship was Alexandra La Rossa, the daughter of a Ukrainian Orthodox minister, who saw her father mother, and fiance being killed while kidnapped. This young girl, who had been kidnapped from her family and sold to the Ottoman palace as a slave, would become Hürrem (Roksolana), the consort who so captivated Sultan Süleyman that he took the nearly unprecedented step of making her his wife. She would bear his sons and rule his empire together with him through bloodshed and intrigue.

As Sultan Süleyman ruled his empire, he allowed his great passion for Hürrem a heavy influence in his court.

The television series focuses on the relationships between the members of the imperial household, especially the romantic entanglements and rivalries. The animosity between Hürrem and Mahidevran, and Hürrem's rise as Süleyman's favorite while pregnant with his son, her fall from favor after her son's birth and her eventual return to grace, provide the main subject matter of the series. Significant subplots include the affection between the Grand Vizier and one of the ladies of the royal household and the tension between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire.

Main Characters:

Halit Ergenç : Suleiman the Magnificent (The 10th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire)
Meryem Uzerli : Hürrem (The second concubine wife, mother of five of the Sultan's children)
Nur Fettahoğlu : The Sultan's concubine, mother of the Sultan's first child
Nebahat Çehre : Ayşe Hafsa Sultan (Valide Sultan, Selim I's wife and Suleiman's mother)
Okan Yalabık : Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha (Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire)
Selma Ergeç : Hatice Sultan (Suleiman's sister and Ibrahim Pasha's wife)
Deniz Çakır / Aslıhan Gürbüz : Şah Sultan (Suleiman's sister)
Mehmet Günsür : Şehzade Mustafa (Shehzade [Prince], Mahidevran Sultan & Suleiman's first child/son)
Gürbey İleri : Şehzade Mehmed (Süleyman's & Hurrem's first child/son)
Pelin Karahan : Mihrimah Sultan (Süleyman's & Hurrem's daughter)
Ozan Guven : Rüstem Pasha (Mihrimah's husband & servant of Sultan Süleyman)
Burak Özçivit : Malkoçoğlu Bali Bey (Commander, Hero)
Filiz Ahmet : Nigar Kalfa (Servant & apprentice in the harem)
Selma Keçik : Daye Hatun (The Queen Mother's Maid)
Selim Bayraktar : Sümbül Ağa (Chief eunuch of the harem)
Engin Günaydın : Gül Ağa (Confidant of Hürrem)
Nihal Büyükağaç : Gülşah (Mahidevran's maid,later Hürrem's maid)
Fatih Al : Matrakçı Nasuh (Mathematician,historian,geographer,miniaturist,inventor & Ibrahim Pasha's second hand)
Tuncel Kurtiz : Ebu Suud Efendi (Chief religious official)
Cansu Dere : Firuze (A Persian girl in the Harem who manages to become the first Favorite of the Sultan after Hürrem)
Yüksel Ünal : Şeker Ağa (Chef of palace kitchen)
Alp Öyken : Pope Clement VII (Pope of the Roman Catholic Church)