Our Founder Gülin Tarhan’s Interview Published in Korea!

In today’s part of our interview series, our founder Gülin Tarhan’s interview published in Korea. Gülin Tarhan, the founder of White Organisation, which serves the entertainment industry of both countries by strengthening the connection between Turkiye and Korea with her work, conducted an interview with KOFICE, Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange. The full interview, in which our founder Gülin Tarhan explains the state of K-Pop perception in Turkiye and the aims of White Organisation in this context and what it has achieved so far, is with you!

<Employees of K-pop Organisation Company “White Entertainment”

Source: Gülin Tarhan>

Recently, a Turkish woman contacted me directly, saying she wanted a telephone interview about K-pop.  Unless there is a special situation, I usually ask for a guarantee first, but for some reason I was curious about the reason of the person who contacted me. First, she revealed her name as Gülin Tarhan and introduced herself as the founder of White Entertainment, an entertainment company that plans K-pop cultural events in Turkiye. However, she said that it is not a company that raises celebrities like Korea. She said that she plans and organises K-pop festivals in Turkiye and encourages more Turks to experience K-pop.

During my first meeting with Gülin, the Founder of White Entertainment, I thought that what she was doing would have a big impact on Turkish K-pop Hallyu fans and after the meeting I decided to get more details through phone calls and emails. The website she told me about included what the company has done so far. At the top were interviews with several K-pop artists.  Among them was an interview video with the Choi Family (Korean Choi Sung-ho, Turkish wife Choi Sevgi), known as an international couple in Turkiye. Choi Family is a famous YouTuber couple with 170,000 subscribers. I think the company is working on creating and promoting various projects related to Turkiye and Korea as well as K-pop.

< Istanbul K-pop Party June Event Hosted by White Entertainment

Source: Gülin Tarhan>

White Entertainment Founder Gülin said that she also organised a K-pop event in Istanbul last June.  It is said that this time they prepared the time for Turks to experience Korea by selling postcards of K-pop artists, Korean ramen and snacks that are difficult to buy in Turkiye for the Hallyu fans who attended the event.  The event brought together nearly 1000 Turkish Hallyu fans who love K-pop, and it is said that K-pop events will be held in Ankara, the capital of Turkiye, in August.  I could feel that they played a very big role in spreading the Korean Wave of K-pop in Turkiye. We see teams that you meet several times at the venues where big K-pop competitions are held in Turkiye, such as the Korean Cultural Centre in Turkiye, because the stage experience is very valuable to them.

I thanked Gülin for continuing to create opportunities on stage for more Turks to get to know and experience the Korean Wave K-pop culture and asked her what content she wanted to report on. In response to my question, Founder Gülin quickly calmed down in contrast to her excited voice and explained why she wanted to report on it.  Below is a summary of my interview with Founder Gülin to make it easier for readers to understand.

1. What is the background and reason why Founder Gülin asked me to report on the news?

Yes, the reason why we asked you to report is that the negative perception of K-pop in Turkiye is spread through some media and public opinion.  Some media outlets in Turkiye emphasise the dark side of K-pop artists, claiming that K-pop causes suicide, drug addiction and sexual identity confusion.  We can also give examples of male artists wearing heavy make-up.

Of course, the reason we continue to organise K-pop events is for Hallyu fans who love K-pop together.  But recently, the reason and purpose for hosting the event has changed.  Now, we are not doing it for those who love K-pop, but for the media and the public in Turkiye who humiliate and distort K-pop.  So Turks who are new to K-pop come directly to the event and we do this to let them know that the information they claim is not true.

2. What exactly does it mean for K-pop to create confusion about gender identity?

To understand the arguments presented, you must first understand Turkiye. In our country, the religion of 99 per cent of the people is Islam. Under the influence of their religion, Turks make a sharp distinction between men and women. Even when they worship in an Islamic place, the places for men and women are clearly separated. However, if you look at Turkish Korean fans who love K-pop competitions or dances, women give powerful performances in clothes that reflect the image of a man like a warrior. In Turkiye, female fans are very fond of listening to songs that give a strong image, such as BLACKPINK’s “Kill This Love”. On the other hand, Turkish men generally like girl K-pop artists more. They often catch cute and lively images when a girl group performs. If you look at the content of some media organisations’ complaints about this issue, they say that Korean culture creates confusion about the gender identity of Turkish youth.

3. When I looked at the event page, there were K-pop related products such as photocards of K-pop artists, but I also saw Korean ramen. What is the connection between Korean ramen and K-pop? Did you sell it to fans?

Yes, as I mentioned above, our aim in continuing to organise K-pop events is to convey correct information to those who distort K-pop culture. There are already a lot of people in Turkiye who like Korean ramen because of the K-drama influence. When it comes to Korean ramen, some Turks talk as if we fry pork in lard and consume it. The Korean ramen that is currently being distributed in Turkiye was brought in to declare that it does not contain lard and is made with halal food for Muslims. Therefore, we brought the Korean ramen that appears in K-dramas so that Turkish people can eat it safely and to promote Korean ramen.

4. I am very curious about the background of Founder Gülin’s first encounter with K-pop.

Yes, now I am so involved with K-pop that I have established a K-pop entertainment company. Actually, K-dramas had a great influence on my first encounter with K-pop. Of course, I didn’t like K-pop from the very beginning. While watching K-dramas, I spontaneously experienced Korean culture. *The fact that I love K-dramas is the basis of the fact that we gathered as Turkish fans in 2017 and attended the Lee Minho fanmeeting event in Korea. In this way, I was fascinated by K-dramas, the same was true for K-pop, and it progressed to establishing a company. However, when I look at Hallyu culture, the two are interrelated, so in the end I was interested in a completely different genre.

<*Turkish fans who visited Korea to attend the 2017 Lee Minho fan meeting event – Source: Gulin Tarhan>

When I heard the news from Ms. Gülin, the CEO, about two conflicting public opinions on K-pop, I thought a lot. I realised that I need to consider my perception of K-pop in a more mature way, starting with myself. Of course, the efforts of artists are the biggest part of the background of K-pop’s growth. That’s why when I see the enthusiastic overseas Korean fans who enjoy K-pop, I feel proud of the artists. However, even as I’m writing this article, newcomers I’ve never seen before have started to catch my eye; the same people as Ms. Gülin, CEO of White Entertainment. They organise events for people who love K-pop, but they say that the goals and expectations have changed. They say that there are also people who do not like K-pop and distort the truth with false information in order to gain popularity with the light of K-pop spreading more and more in Turkiye. While writing today’s article, I can’t pass over a quote from Ms. Gülin, the CEO. Showing the truth with the voices of people who are passionate about K-pop, even when those who are uncomfortable with the culture of K-pop do not hear their voices, it is the realistic efforts of people who work hard to spread correct information and culture. Thanks to such people, I have no doubt that K-pop in Turkiye will grow and mature in the future.

REFERENCES

White Entertainment homepage http://whitentertainment.com/en/

White Organisation youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awg0YICNEzE

Name: Im Byeong-in (Turkiye/Istanbul)

In short: Former YTN World reporter / Overseas Cultural Promotion Agency Korean Bar Announcement Group

We would like to thank Ece Yıldırım for enabling our journalist to reach us.

*In the interview text, it is written as 2015. The correct date is 2017.

Written by: Merve Yuksel

Translated by: Cemre Erşen – Gizem Yanık