Dest-i Izdivac, a Marriage TV Show

"I am 20 years old and from Sanliurfa. According to where I come from, this is a marriageable age. I am here to find my match. I am here since 2 months. Due to an eye defect, I wasn't allowed to join the military. My father and I own a bicycle repair shop. Since we are not so busy right now, I can come here more frequently. But if I am not able to find my match until summer starts, I won't be able to continue coming here." Musa, a applicant of Dest-i Izdivac (a marriage program on Flash TV)

"I am 65 years old, my son. I am coming here since 7-8 years. My husband never interfered with my coming here. He died 2 years ago. I am living with my son and his family. I bought a special TV only for this show. It is recording the show while I am here watching it live at the studio, so that I can see myself on TV once I get home. My neighbor bought one of these first, then I did. We are watching our younger selves from 6-7 years ago. Filiz is going to get her teeth fixed, that's why she does not want to be seen." Sevim, a member of the audience of Dest-i Izdivac.

I enter the building of Flash TV, meet the applicants and the audience of Dest-i Izdivac. Some are here to enjoy themselves, some come here to connect and some are here to get rid of their loneliness. Air time is close. While the female applicants are reapplying make-up, the male ones are fixing their attires. Everyone is putting his/her phone on silent. After seat and stage time arrangements, the applicants enter the stage in order to get to know each other, whereas the audience take their seat to bear witness to this. Music starts, the show is on air…

According to researches of the Radio and Television High Council (RTUK) in 2012, people in Turkey are spending 3,7 hours on an average of watching TV on weekdays. Retirees, housewives, divorcees, widows and widowers rank first on the list of TV program consumers. Marriage shows are playing a big part of the average consumer's daily TV schedule. "Dest-i Izdivac", the first marriage programme on TV, was aired in 2007 on Flash TV for the first time. Many resembling shows have been produced and aired on different TV channels afterwards. Recent complaints concerning these marriage shows and the fines that TV channels have to pay for airing them, have made these shows a big topic in parliament. With the researches of RTUK, marriage shows have been declared inappropriate for Turkish customs.

In accordance with the executive order number 690 made public on 29 April 2017 within the emergency state, new sanctions will be imposed to marriage programs on Turkish televisions.

"Dest-i Izdivac" Photostory from Visual Storytelling Workshop of NarPhotos