One of the biggest dream factories in the world can be found in the Turkish town of Kocaeli, an hour from Istanbul.

On “Seka Filmset”, an area the size of 25 football fields, entire parts of Istanbul’s old town have been recreated, including its famous Grand Bazaar.

Many technically elaborate television series which have achieved international success have been filmed here over the past few years, including the Ottoman-period detective series “Filinta”.

Turkey has become one of the biggest exporters of soap operas in the world, having sold productions in around 100 countries.

Only the United States exports more television series, according to Turkey’s exports association.

The audiences are 10,000 kilometres away or more.

The Turkish soap opera “Guemues” (“Silver”) flickers on a television screen in a pub in Cartagena, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

“Turkish series are just beginning to get popular here,” says Angela Amador Ramos, a chef who never misses an episode.

The 51-year-old says the Turkish productions are more diverse than Latin American telenovelas.

“It’s not just love stories that are central but also Turkish culture. I’m interested in the daily lives of Turks,” she adds.

The breakthrough for Turkish melodramas abroad came around five years ago with the period series “Muhtesem Yuezyil” (“Magnificent Century”), based on the life of Ottoman Sultan Sueleyman the Magnificent.

After first becoming a hit in the Middle East, it was soon sold on to another 70 countries around the world.

While in the 1990s Turkish channels mainly broadcast Brazilian telenovelas, nowadays they’re selling their own productions to Latin America.

“Turkish series are breathing fresh life into the television industry there,” says media expert Asli Tunc of Istanbul’s Bilgi University.

“To them, Turkish culture is exotic.”

Fateful encounters, beautiful people and tragic love stories, often in a period setting: Turkish television series are epic |fairytales.

“In fact stories that in earlier times were told orally are now being told by TV series,” explains Mustafa Akilli, who has worked as a producer on various television series for more than 20 years.

Ece Yoerenc has written scripts for series including “Ask-i Memnu” (“Forbidden Love”) and “Fatmaguel’uen Sucu Ne?” (“What’s Fatmaguel’s Fault?”), both of which were hits in Arab countries.

“Fatmaguel’s about violence against women, so a very global topic, which affects women in daily life. We decided to write a very strong woman’s role,” says Yoerenc.

The series is even credited with encouraging women in Saudi Arabia to campaign for more rights.

“In my opinion Turkish series have practically brought about an Arab Spring for women,” says Yoerenc.

“The series have become such a phenomenon in the Middle East, as well as in the Balkans and in Latin America, because viewers in every region discover something of their own in them,” adds Tunc.

Greeks watch the Istanbul fairytales with nostalgia because they see reflected in them the Greek values of the 1970s, she says: a traditional society in which the family is all important.

In Arab countries by contrast, the series have had a liberating influence on women.

“Ironically viewers in the Middle East see the same series as emancipating, while the audience in Greece thinks it’s conservative.”

But the success of Turkish series abroad isn’t being viewed as positive by everyone.

“Since the series have been sold abroad, they’ve got longer and longer,” grumbles Arda Sariguen, an assistant director.

Why? Because the longer the episode, the more adverts can be slotted in.

“When I was working on Arka Sokaklar (Side Streets) four years ago, one episode was around 90 minutes long. Last year we were supposed to produce 150 minutes a week and we had two teams working seven days a week.”

It’s become a “conveyor belt” industry, he says.

An episode of 150 minutes is equivalent to a very long film, and it all has to be filmed within a week.

“That’s only possible if people work on set until they’re completely burnt out,” says Ersin Goek of actors union Oyuncular Sendikasi.

“At the moment they’re working 16 to 18 hours a day on average, often without insurance and proper safety measures.”

The television series industry is completely unregulated, he says.

“The more the sector grows without government regulation, the more people are exploited.”

And that’s not good for the quality of the series, which are becoming ever more alike – though that doesn’t appear to have dented their popularity.

In unpredictable times, they offer audiences an escape from their daily lives, says Tunc.

“In hard times, people need to see fairytales. They want the baddies to get their just deserts.”