Hatırla Sevgili

*Hatırla Sevgili*
Hatırla Sevgili
Genre	Historical, Drama, Romantic
Written by	Şebnem Çitak; Nilgün Öneş
Directed by	Ümmü Burhan; Faruk Teber
Starring	Beren Saat; Cansel Elçin
Theme music composer	Kemal Sahir Gürel; Hüseyin Yıldız; Erdal Güney
Country of origin	Turkey
Original language	Turkish
No. of episodes	68
Production
Producer	Fatmanur Sevinç
Running time	90 minutes (up to 120 minutes with commercials)
Original release
Network	ATV Turkey
Release	October 27, 2006 –; June 6, 2008

Hatırla Sevgili (Remember, Darling) was a popular but controversial Turkish TV series. The series started on October 27, 2006 on the Turkish TV channel ATV, aired on Friday evenings at 22:15 hrs local time. After 68 episodes, the final one was aired on June 6, 2008.

Plot

The series tells the story of the love between Yasemin and Ahmet, two young people from opposing families, and the relationship between their relatives and friends in the political era starting at the end of the 1950s in Turkey. In the background, historical events are depicted, beginning with Prime Minister Adnan Menderes' 1959 plane crash survival followed by the 1960 military coup, the trial on Yassıada, the executions and other important incidents that generated the radical political polarization of Turkish society afterwards.

Yasemin and Ahmet's fathers, Rıza and Şevket, who are childhood friends and neighbors, develop opposite political views as they grow up. Rıza becomes a member of the right wing Democratic Party and enters parliament while Şevket, a public prosecutor, is a follower of the leftist Republican People's Party. Riza's older daughter Yasemin falls in love with Şevket's son Ahmet, however, their families do not allow them to marry and force them to separate. Things become complicated when Yasemin discovers that she is carrying Ahmet's baby. Their mutual friend Necdet tries to help Yasemin by offering to marry her and pretending to be the father of the baby.

The unconsummated marriage between Yasemin and Necdet forces Yasemin and Ahmet apart. During their separation, Necdet's act of kindness takes on a new role as he begins to fall in love with Yasemin. Her feelings for Necdet become complicated because her heart still belongs to Ahmet. Years later Yasemin and Ahmet meet by chance again on a train. Ahmet meets Rüya, Yasemin's daughter, and wishes she were his own daughter. Ahmet tries to reconcile with Yasemin when he discovers how both families intervened to split them up but Yasemin refuses. He suggests she runs away with him but she cannot betray Necdet after all he has done for her. So Ahmet carries on alone, later becoming engaged to Ayla and working as a teacher in the same university in which Yasemin is teaching Arts. At the end of the first season Ahmet discovers that he is the father of Yasemin's daughter Rüya; he feels betrayed and disappointed by Yasemin, and sues Yasemin and Necdet to get custody of his daughter. During the trial, many truths are discovered which attenuate Ahmet's anger.

As the series proceeds various dramatic events take place, in Turkey and in the lives of the characters. The political history of Turkey from 1971 to the military coup in 1980 is portrayed, from the point of view of the two families, who eventually resolve their differences.

Cast

Family of Yasemin

Beren Saat – Yasemin Ünsal, female lead
Engin Şenkan – Rıza Ünsal, father of Yasemin, former barber, Democratic Party politician
Lale Mansur – Nezahat Ünsal, mother of Yasemin
Ayfer Dönmez – Işık Ünsal, sister of Yasemin, marries Yaşar
Turgay Aydın – Mehmet Karayel, brother of Nezahat and uncle of Yasemin and Işık, former Turkish Army officer during the 1960 Turkish coup d'état and journalist, married to Sevim Gürsoy
Berk Hakman – Deniz Karayel, Mehmet's son

Family of Ahmet

Cansel Elçin – Ahmet Gürsoy, male lead
Avni Yalçın – Şevket Gürsoy, father of Ahmet and Defne, public prosecutor, deceased.
Ayda Aksel – Dr. Selma Gürsoy, mother of Ahmet and Defne, physician
Belçim Erdoğan – Defne Gürsoy, sister of Ahmet
Laçin Ceylan – Sevim Gürsoy, sister of Şevked and aunt of Ahmet and Defne, journalist, married to Mehmet Karayel
Karina Selin Gükrer – Rüya Gürsoy, daughter of Ahmet and Yasemin (age 4)
Asena Taşkın – Rüya Gürsoy, daughter of Ahmet and Yasemin (age 9)
Ezgi Asaroğlu – Rüya Gürsoy, daughter of Ahmet and Yasemin (age 17)

Family of Necdet

Okan Yalabık – Necdet Aygün, first husband of Yasemin, patisserie owner, parliamentarian for CHP (People's Republican Party – in Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi)
Meltem Parlak – Lâle Aygün, sister of Necdet
Erdoğan Sıcak – Hasan Aygün, father of Necdet and Lâle, patisserie owner
Nurhayat Boz Yarpuz – Dilşad Aygün, mother of Necdet and Lâle

Historical figures

Hüseyin Avni Danyal – Adnan Menderes, executed former Turkish prime minister
Serap Aksoy – Berin Menderes, wife of Adnan Menderes
Oğuz Okul – Albay Tarık Güryay, colonel, commandant of Yassıada
Barış Koçak – Deniz Gezmiş, leftist militant, executed
Saygın Soysal – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Current Turkish President
İhsan Duduoğlu – Necip Fazıl, poet
Oğuz Turgut Genç – Hüseyin İnan, leftist militant, executed
Murat Zubi – Yusuf Aslan, leftist militant, executed
Erol Alpsoykan – Emin Kalafat, former Democratic Party politician.
Kanbolat Görkem Aslan – Mahir Çayan, leader of the THKP-C – Turkish People's Liberation Party-Front (Turkish: Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi), killed in Kızıldere
Emre Korkmaz – Cihan Alptekin, leftist militant, one of the leaders of the THKO – Turkish People's Liberation Army (Turkish: Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Ordusu), killed in Kızıldere
Engin Gürman – Celal Bayar, former prime minister of Turkey and Third President of The Republic of Turkey
? – Salim Başol, Headjudge of Yassıada
Savaş Dinçel – İsmet İnönü, former prime minister and Second President of The Republic of Turkey, former leader of CHP
? – Harun Karadeniz, leftist militant
İlhami Adsal – Kemal Kurdaş, former president of METU
Çetin Demir – Sinan Cemgil, leftist militant, one of the leaders of the THKO – Turkish People's Liberation Army (Turkish: Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Ordusu), killed in Nurhak
Orhan Ayça – Halit Çelenk, lawyer of Gezmiş, Aslan and İnan
Levent Akkök – Mustafa Yalçıner, leftist militant, one of the leaders of the THKO – Turkish People's Liberation Army (Turkish: Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Ordusu), wounded and arrested in Nurhak
Murat Eken – Yusuf Küpeli, leftist militant
Ercan Tulunay – Mustafa Pehlivanoğlu, rightist militant, executed after 12th September coup d'état
Tolga Güleç – Necdet Adalı, leftist militant, executed after 12th September coup d'état
? – Avni Yalçın, actor, also playing character "Şevket Gürsoy" in same TV serial

Some minor roles

Şahnaz Çakıralp – Keriman Kızıltan, lover of Rıza, night club singer
Kadir Özdal – Harun Karagöl, Deniz's friend from Galatasaray High School, romantically involved with Işık, whom he marries soon
Umut Kurt – Yaşar Çiftçioğlu, Harun's childhood fiend, marries and divorces Işık, right-wing academist and journalist
Emre Özcan – Teodolos, a.k.a. Teo, a Turk of Greek origin, Necdet's close friend and business partner, romantically involved with Lale, whom he marries
Feride Çetin – Güzide, trained pastry cook, marries Necdet
Lale Yavaş – Zeynep, a student of Ahmet's
Alp Eren Khamis – Mehmet Sinan Karayel, son of Deniz Karayel and Defne Gürsoy Karayel, grandson of Mehmet Karayel
? – Metin Kurtuluş, rightist militant, friend of Yaşar

Reception

Hatırla Sevgili became one of the most popular and most controversial TV series in Turkey. It was criticized by many because of its non-objective approach and superficial coverage of some historical events, yet it led many people to question their country's modern history. Books about the historical periods portrayed and people mentioned in the series became bestsellers for at least two weeks after the episodes about them were aired.

External links

UnOfficial website (in Turkish)
Hatırla Sevgili at IMDb