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Turkey’s soft power on the rise, one episode at a time

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14 years ago
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By: Andi Balla

Economic and political ties between Albania and Turkey are at their highest level in a century, but it is the arrival of a highly popular Turkish soap opera that is bringing Ankara’s soft power directly to Albanian homes.

TIRANA, Oct. 20 – Whether it is old men in the southern Albanian city of Gjirokastra discussing the characters over coffee or middle-aged women rushing home from work to catch the latest episode, the current television obsession in many Albanian homes appears to be Gymysh. The Turkish melodrama, known as G

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