The rise Turkish soap power

At the start of the protests that recently swept Turkey, journalists picked out one man with a luxuriant beard among the youthful crowds in Istanbul's aamir Square.

About to film its fourth season, it is one of the shows that earned Turkey $140m in foreign sales last year - up from a mere $2m in 2005.

Later he met the Turkish PM as part of a group hoping to mediate between the government and people and police demonstrators.