''Yabancı Damat'' (literally: ''The Foreign Groom'') is a

Turkish television drama Turkish drama () is a type of television series in the Turkish language made in Turkey. These dramas reflect Culture of Turkey, Turkish culture and considered by some to be the country's most well-known economic and cultural exports. It has seen ...

distributed by Erler Film with 106

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a serial (radio and television), series intended for radio, television or Streaming media, streaming consumption. Etymology The noun ''episode'' is ...

s in total. It deals with the relationship between a young Greek man Niko and a Turkish girl Nazlı, and the problems (and especially the prejudices) encountered in an intercultural marriage. Its comedic tone and play on historic Greco-Turkish antagonism made it a huge hit in both

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, as well as making stars out of the leading actors. The episodes are shot in Turkey and Greece. The music is Turkish and Greek. The series ran from November 12, 2004, till June 15, 2007 on the Turkish channel

Kanal D Kanal D (English: Channel D) is a nationwide television channel in Turkey that is part of Demirören Group. It was founded by Ayhan Şahenk and Aydın Doğan in 1993. The network has also run an international channel, Euro D, since 1996, whic ...

Friday evenings at 20:00 hrs.

Plot

Nazlı is the daughter of a conservative Turkish father Kahraman, who is a famous

baklava Baklava (, or ; ) is a layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. It was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine. There are several theories for the origin of th ...

maker in

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

. Her grandfather Memik Dede is a Greco-Turkish War

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

. Then there is Kadir (Engin Akyürek), son of Ökkeş, the business partner of Kahraman. Kadir is engaged to Nazli. He is kind-hearted and loves her very much. But Nazli falls in love with Niko. Niko, whose parents are immigrants from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, is the son of a wealthy Greek ship owner Stavro. Nazlı and Niko meet in

Bodrum Bodrum () is a town and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. About 200 thousand people live in the district, which covers 650 km2 and includes the town. It is a port town at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Known in ancient times as Hal ...

, fall in love at first sight and decide to marry. The comedy starts when Niko goes to Gaziantep to ask for her father's agreement to the marriage. Historical enmity between the two nations makes it very hard and both families oppose their marriage in the beginning. Finally, Nazlı and Niko form a family and settle in Istanbul. They meaningfully name their son Ege (" Aegean"), the sea between Turkey and Greece. The families visit each other several times for various reasons and get so closer. Niko's

spinster Spinster or old maid is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term origin ...

aunt Katina gets married with a Turkish man, much exasperating her mother Efthalia. Even the initial hatred between the older members of the families, Memik Dede and Efthalia, turns to a romantic affair. As Nazli and Niko enjoy their time, Kadir and Niko's secretary Anna fall in love. Kadir and Anna get engaged, but circumstances make them to separate as Anna's modeling profession is not accepted by Kadir's family. Stella (another foreigner) is the next woman in Kadir's life. They are happily married and living peacefully, when again tragedy strikes. Stella unable of having kids leaves and asks for a peaceful divorce from Kadir as she wants him to live a complete life with family and children. Finally, Kadir is married to a Turkish girl Aysel. They have a daughter whom he names ‘Nazli’.

Cast

The cast of the series is mostly made of experienced Turkish actors and actresses.

Nazlı's family

Nehir Erdoğan Nehir Erdoğan (born 16 June 1980) is a Turkish actress. She became famous in '' Yabancı Damat'', the first Turkish TV series sold to channels of Greece. She later played in other hit movies and series. With Engin Altan Düzyatan, she played ...

- Nazlı * Erdal Özyağcılar - Kahraman, Nazli's father, a famous baklava maker in Gaziantep * Sumru Yavrucuk - Feride, Nazli's mother *

Binnur Kaya Binnur Kaya (born 19 April 1972) is a Turkish actress. Biography Binnur Kaya graduated in theatre from Bilkent University in 1995. She went to Istanbul where she worked at the Ankara Sahnesi and Karatahta Child Theatres and then at the Bakırköy ...

- Nazire, Nazli's older sister * İlker Aksum - Ruşen, Nazire's husband * Arif Erkin Güzelbeyoğlu - Memik Dede, Nazli's grandfather * Ozan Uğurlu - Mustafacan, Nazli's younger brother * Ege Uslu - Nazli and Niko's older son

Niko's family

* Özgür Çevik - Niko (Nikos) * Mazlum Kiper - Stavro (Stavros), Niko's father * Ayla Karaca - Eleni, Niko's mother * Tülin Oral - Eftelya (Euthalia), Niko's grandmother *

Nilgün Belgün Nilgün Belgün (born 18 March 1953) is a Turkish actress. Life and career Belgün studied at the Special Şişli High School and later at the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory. She started her career in 1973. She first went on stage at Devekuşu ...

- Katina, Niko's aunt * Ege Uslu - Nazlı and Niko's older son * Meryem Adda - Nazli and Niko's baby-daughter

Kadir's family

* Engin Akyürek - Kadir, former lover of Nazlı *

Zeki Alasya Zeki Alasya (18 April 1943 – 8 May 2015) was a Turkish actor and film director. Alasya was of Turkish Cypriot descent and was related to Kıbrıslı Mehmed Kamil Pasha. Filmleri 1957 Bir Avuç Toprak 1958 Iftira 1959 Gurbet 1960 Tas Beb ...

- Ökkeş, Kadir's father and Kahraman's business partner * Seray Gözler - Hayriye, Kadir's mother * Asli Altaylar - Aysel, Kadir's last wife * Nazli - Aysel's and Kadir's baby-daughter

Minor characters

* Yeliz Akkaya - Esra Akman, Niko's assistant * Güzin Alkan - Döne, maid of Nazlı's family * Natalia Doussopoulos - Anna, Kadir's girlfriend * Katerina Moutsatsou - Stella, Kadir's ex-wife * Binnaz Ergin - İkramiye, housekeeper of Nazlı's and Niko's house in

Yılmaz Gruda Yılmaz Gruda (14 July 1930 – 25 July 2023) was a Turkish actor, poet, playwright, and translator. Life and career A graduate of Ankara Commerce High School, Gruda worked as a government officer and became famous in 1950s when his poems were p ...

- Celayir Usta, Ökkeş's baklava master * Ahmet Uz - Hikmet * Şinasi Yurtsever - Hamit, Döne's husband * Nazlı Tosunoğlu - Rabia, Ruşen's mother * Kayra/İlayda/Talıa Songur - Nazire's and Ruşen's daughters * Alara Bozbey - Natalia, Nursemaid

Locations

The episodes are shot in

in Turkey and on the Greek Islands of

Symi Symi, also transliterated as Syme or Simi (), is a Greece, Greek island and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality. It is mountainous and has the harbour town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller ...

Santorini Santorini (, ), officially Thira (, ) or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southern ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

International broadcast

The Greek channel Mega TV broadcast it from July 4, 2005. The first season was shown on daily basis at 23:00 hrs, the second season was shown every Monday at 21:00. The third season was split, half of the episodes where shown Saturdays of 2007 at 21:00 and the other half episodes are shown in 2008, every Saturday at 17:00. The series used to have great success, especially when the first season was shown. The ratings of the third season are very low, so the channel decided to move the series in the evening schedule. The Bulgarian channel bTV broadcasts it since August 29, 2009 daily at 17:00 hrs. with the title ''Brak s chujdenets'' (''Marriage with a Foreigner''). The series was also dubbed into Arabic with the title ''Al-Gharib'' ("''الغريب''", ''The Stranger'') and aired in March 2009 on

MBC+ Drama The MBC+ Drama was a Saudi free-to-air television channel owned by MBC Group. It was a joint venture between OSN and MBC Group. It was a 24-hour Arabic channel that offers a range of Arabic series ''First on TV'' to OSN subscribers starting 1 ...

Awards

* 2006 "Best TV Series of the Year" award by the Turkish Association of Radio and Television Journalists along with two other TV series. * 2004: "Best Supporting Actress" award by 1st Annual Primetime Beyaz Inci Awards * 2004: "Best Actor" (nominated) by 1st Annual Primetime Beyaz Inci Awards *2004: "Best Actress" (nominated) by 1st Annual Primetime Beyaz Inci Awards *2004: "Best Music" by 1st Annual Primetime Beyaz Inci Awards *2004: "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" (nominated) by 1st Annual Primetime Beyaz Inci Awards *2004: "Best Director" by 1st Annual Primetime Beyaz Inci Awards

Series overview

Release

References

External links

Official Website

Yabanci Damat at the Internet Movie Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yabanci Damat Comedy-drama television series Turkish romantic comedy television series 2004 Turkish television series debuts 2007 Turkish television series endings Turkish comedy television series 2000s Turkish television series Kanal D television dramas Television shows set in Istanbul Television shows set in Greece Television series produced in Istanbul Interfaith romance in fiction Turkish television soap operas Turkish-language television shows