A Greek vs. Turk 'Survivor' just may ease a bitter past

But the show's popularity – in Turkey and Greece – also seemed to reveal a nostalgic yearning on both sides of the Aegean for a glimpse of how things once were.

"For the first time, they saw the other deal with deep and sensitive things that are part of their culture," Alexis Alexandris, the Greek consul general in Istanbul, says about "Yabanci Damat". "They saw how it was being dealt with on the other side of the Aegean."

For Turks, meanwhile, the show seems to have tapped into a need to resolve some of the unfinished business left behind after the rather hasty departure of the Greeks who once lived with them. "I think there's a kind of psychological trauma," says Yagmur Taylan, who co-directs the series with his brother, Durul.

"We know that there are some historical problems, deep problems, and some of them are based on our fathers' and grandfathers' actions," he adds. "We don't try to solve these problems, but confront them."

"Survivor" certainly doesn't shy from confronting some of the old animosities that remain, airing footage of the Greek and Turkish contestants verbally sparring and saying inflammatory things about each other. In one segment, a Greek contestant is asked how he felt about getting on a boat with the group of Turks. "I felt like throwing them into the sea," was his undiplomatic answer.

But Acun Ilicali, the Turkish show's boyish host (the Greek version, also shown on Mega TV, has its own host), says the show's success is an indication of how much things have changed.

"A show like this would have been more dangerous 10 years ago. From the Turkish point of view, Greeks are more sympathetic now," he says.

Still, Mr. Alexandris warns against putting too much stock in pop culture. "For me, the popular culture is an important thing and it's a unifying force, but as long as the thorny issues aren't resolved, the similarities can also be divisive," he says.

Indeed, Turkey and Greece still have long-standing territorial disputes in the Aegean while the Cyprus issue continues to drive a wedge between them. Last spring, Greek and Turkish fighter jets shadowing each other over the Aegean collided, killing the Greek pilot and putting political relations on the edge.

Koc University's Rumelili says that in the past, an incident like that would probably have led to shows like the Turkish-Greek Survivor or Yabanci Damat being taken temporarily off the air and the sound of Greek music being silenced on the streets of Istanbul. This time, that didn't happen.

"I think low politics, like popular culture, now have a calming effect during crisis moments," she says. "Now popular culture has the effect of conveying to people that things are going on as usual and that these Aegean conflicts are things that go on in the minds of military strategists."

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