DUBAI: Can a smash TV soap bring closure for historical wrongs and succour from contemporary turmoil? Check out a Turkish series on the 16th-century Ottoman monarch Suleiman the Magnificent.

From the Arab world to the Balkans, the story of the sultan’s harem and his romance with a Slav beauty has captivated nations that suffered under Ottomon domination.

“This series is a real phenomenon,” said Khulud Abu Hommos, executive vice president of the OSN network.

“The Magnificent Century” — or “The Sultan’s Harem” in its dubbed Arabic version — tells the tale of Suleiman and Roxelana, against a background of palace intrigue at the peak of Ottoman power.

A sumptuous costume drama, more than 300 episodes have been aired so far in what Abu Hommos told AFP was “the highest ever watched drama show on OSN” — though she declined to give figures.

“It is also a kind of fairy tale, mixing romance with history,” she said, but “it has political relevance.

“In the Arab world where people are frustrated with the political situation, it gives them pride in Muslim history — it portrays Muslim leaders as just and fair.”