After the record-breaking success of historical series Dirilis: Ertugrul in Pakistan, the government and showbiz industry’s stakeholders have collaborated with Turkish actors and producers for various upcoming projects.
However, Pakistani actress and host Iffat Omar has expressed her disapproval over Turkish, Ottoman heroes being praised in Pakistan.
The TV show host, who is known for making bold remarks, recently appeared on an interview show, where host, veteran actor Naumaan Ijaz discussed the government’s promotion of Islamic history by airing popular Turkish shows. At this, Omar made some hard comments.
The Mehar Posh actress pressed on the fact that the Turkish history is not Pakistani history and urged the government to instead invest on promoting out scientists - the actual Pakistani heroes.
"They [Turks] invaded us. Understand this. We do not need fictional characters; we need stories about scientists. There's not a single mathematician, a scientist in Pakistan that is known world over," asserted Omar.
Speaking further about the upcoming Pak-Turk collaboration on an upcoming series on Salahuddin Ayyubi, the Aangan actress restated that Ayyubi is not a Pakistani hero.
"He [Salahuddin Ayyubi] is not our hero," she asserted. "This has been indoctrinated in Pakistanis since our country has been formed. We think of ourselves as superiors. Our history is of sub-continent, we need to endorse that. Our history isn't of Turkey."
