Season 1

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk swept up the ruins of the Ottoman Empire and founded the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923.

Fifty years ago, Istanbul had one million inhabitants; now it boasts over seventeen million, the same number as the entire Netherlands. How is this city coping with all these newcomers?

While opposition to Turkish accession grows in Europe, Turks are seeking alternatives. Bram travels along and across the border with the Arab world.

The borders with the Arab world are opening. But the border with neighboring Christian Armenia remains closed. A journey to snowy eastern Turkey.

The Turkish state has lost its monopoly on thought. Hundreds of television channels are vying for viewers' attention. But in this country, nearly 60 journalists are also behind bars.

The Turkish economy is growing, fast, too fast. But how does a country do that without oil, without gas?

For decades, prosperity was reserved for Turks with a Western lifestyle: an old elite living in Istanbul and along Turkey's west coast. But times have changed.