In the skies above Istanbul's Tophane neighbourhood, seagulls are sent scattering by a drone that's filming a policeman arresting a young woman on the streets below.

But it's for a television series called "Degenler", one of about 60 filmed annually in Turkey that have made Istanbul and other Turkish cities familiar to viewers in nearly 170 countries around the world.

Over the past 15 years, Turkey has established itself as the foremost exporter of series after the United States and Britain.

"Latin Americans find Turkish series very close to their culture," said Erdi Isik, development manager at Ay Yapim -- Turkey's leading exporter last year and whose production "Yargi" ("Family Secrets") last November won an International Emmy for best telenovela.

"When I show samples to a panel, even if they don't understand a word of Turkish, they catch what it is about because the family culture is very much the same," he said.

Censorship constraints in Turkey also provide more modest material, important for audiences in the Middle East and Spanish-speaking countries who are accustomed to watching soap operas as a........

© International Business Times