What makes Diriliş so special?
A compelling storyline, perhaps? A hero who we can relate to but also invest in? Or, maybe its the epic battle scenes you’re often treated to? So far we’re convinced it’s all three, but one of the main lynchpins in Ertuğrul is titular character funnily enough. Rather than spread its plotline around an ever-revolving cast of players in the limelight, the show keeps itself central to the story of the man who helped father the Ottoman Empire. And if there was any doubt about in your mind about it being worthy of a watch, we’ll point to the two hour-long episode runtime as well as its mammoth run across four seasons to date (the current one is believed to clock in at 36, so that’s 72 hours’ worth of TV in one season alone). What kind of setting are we talking about? Is it a real-life Westeros?
Well for those not too au fait with the ins and outs of 13th Century Turkey and the first Ottoman Sultan (Osman I) we’ll give you a brief intro to Anatolia during the time of Ertugrul. Safe to say Game of Thrones fans will be able to see correlations between the period and George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic, though it comes minus the dragons and White Walkers. Anatolia as a region was a mass of separate principalities, empires and states back then. At the time that Ertuğrul was alive the Byzantine Empire was beginning to wane in its powers, though it was still a force to be reckoned with.
There was also the threat of Crusaders, as the city of Constantinople learned only too well, with Christian warriors travelling through the region on their way to supposedly reacquire Jerusalem on multiple occasions. Finally there was also the threat of the Mongol horde who rode across most of Asia and Europe during this time, conquering and pillaging vast regions. And, if that was enough there was always the Sultanate of Rum to deal with, who ruled over much of the land and was supposedly responsible for giving Ertuğrul his big start. But who was Ertuğrul Gazi, and what makes his story so appealing for a TV series that worthy of a three-day binge?
Ertuğrul is a lynch-pin in the history of the Ottoman Empire and therefore modern Turkey as a nation, given that he carved out a principality in Anatolia with the frankly mental odds arrayed against him at the time. A brief glance at history will tell you that he was a warrior and the father of Osman I, who was the founder of the empire which lasted from 1299 to 1922 – wherever you’re from that’s an impressive stretch of time. Besides raising the boy who would one day create such a historically important dynasty, much of Ertuğrul’s life remains a mystery. We know that he was the father of Osman because of artefacts from the Emperor’s rule, such as, coins having been discovered saying as much.
He’s believed to be the son of Suleyman Shah, who in turn is thought to have been the leader of the Kayı tribe of Oghuz Turks, who fled from eastern Iran to Anatolia to escape the Mongol horde sweeping across the region. After the death of his father, Ertuğrul and his followers are then said to have entered the service of the Seljuks (Sultanate of Rum), and during his years of service he was rewarded with the town of Sogut on the border of the Byzantine Empire. It is his time as the ruler of this region that is thought to have led to the founding of the Ottoman Empire. That’s a pretty epic story to base your epic historical TV drama on, just saying. Who’s the leading man of this show then?
Engin Altan Düzyatan is the man you’ll be watching cleave his sword through many a foe whilst helping to defend his home from the many dangers surrounding it, all while keeping his family and one-true love safe. The 38-year-old actor was born in the coastal city of Izmir, Turkey. He’s been in the profession since 1998 when he got his first break in a pilot for 1998’s Ruhsar. He followed this up with a role Bizim otel, and soon after the work came pouring in. He has established himself as quite the name in his homeland, but Ertuğrul could well be the role that catapults him to worldwide stardom. He married his wife Neslişah Alkoçlar in 2014, and the couple have one child.
