Pokémon in Turkey

The Pokémon franchise officially reached on January 31, 2000 with the airing of Pokémon! Ben seni seçiyorum!
==Pokémon video games==
Though the games and consoles themselves have been sold by private retailers previously, in 2004, Avaturk began distribution of Nintendo products in Turkey following a partnership deal made with Nortec Multimedia SA, the distributor of Nintendo products in some of the Balkan countries.https://www.chip.com.tr/haber/nintendo-avaturk-ile-turkiye-pazarinda_1225.html In 2005, Avaturk was transformed into Nortec Eurasia.https://www.linkedin.com/in/hasan-colakoglu-1ab2a137 They released DS titles, including Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, which went on to become bestsellers in Turkey.https://web.archive.org/web/20160815065943/http://www.trgamer.com/Haber.aspx?YaziID=13132 After the bankruptcy of Nortec Eurasia in 2012https://microsite.nintendo-europe.com/nintendo.turkey/, it was not possible to purchase physical games, aside from the unsold stocks. Yandex.Money from April 2017 began digital distribution of Nintendo Switch.https://www.ewdn.com/2017/04/25/yandex-money-distributes-nintendo-switch-games-in-russia-and-turkey/ In April 2018, CD Media became of the official distributor of Nintendo products (including Pokémon games) in Turkey.https://www.baslattusu.com/nintendo-turkiye-pazarina-resmi-olarak-geri-dondu-45476.html
As of January 2023, and are the only Pokémon games that have been localized into Turkish.https://view.email.pokemon.com/?qs=bec7e1b76e8779226aa1f7f367af67dc45ea959a159c93d4f612132ae79b19a7457aed6f82112f504bbac3066abd5edff727a92019036e8926983091134c01caab8c8ff8172fcf32https://www.posta.com.tr/bilim-teknoloji/pokemon-go-tamamen-turkce-oldu-2448470 The Turkish names of most Pokémon are the same as their English names, with the exception of and the Paradox Pokémon. For more information on these localized names for Pokémon, see List of Turkish Pokémon names.
==Pokémon animation==
The Pokémon animated series was first aired in Turkey on January 31, 2000 on ATV.https://www.milliyet.com.tr/molatik/galeri/uzerinden-20-yil-gectigine-inanamayacaginiz-13-sey-83781/1
The animated series continued to air regularly until the Charizard Sakinleşiyor. After the episode, previous episodes have been reran for several times.https://pokemoncu.net/anime/portakal-adalari/#Not-1
After Radio and Television Supreme Council of Turkey (RTÜK) ordered a ban on the animated series, show's popularity had begun to dwindle. Pokémon had been relaunched on December 9, 2002 by Star TV. The first few seasons were aired from that date until May 2004, when episodes following Charizard Sakinleşiyor started to air. In June 2005, RTÜK forced Star TV to stop airing Pokémon. The magazine of Presidency of Religious Affairs, Diyanet, has reiterated similar claims by RTÜK on March 2, 2005 (shortly before they shut down the production).http://www.internethaber.com/diyanet-pokemondan-uzak-durun-1111439h.htm After this, Kanal 1 and Kanal 7 began to broadcast the first episodes of Pokémon for a while. Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire was never aired. Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl began airing in 2009 on Jetix Turkey shortly before it transformed into Disney XD (and eventually to ). Pokémon the Series: Black & White began airing in 2011 on Disney XD. It was also streamed on later on.
The animated series fully started re-airing on September 1, 2014, beginning with the seventeenth season. It carried on through the subsequent years, and on April 7, 2018, the twentieth season was released on Netflix. The twenty-first season was released on April 1, 2019. Pokémon Journeys: The Series started to air on Netflix on July 1, 2021.
===Controversy===
In Turkey, there were two separate reports of kids falling out of windows while claiming to be Pokémon in late 2000. One of these was Ferhat Ağırbaş, a four-year-old child from Mersin on October 30.https://web.archive.org/web/20070608155003/http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2000/10/30/haber/hab08.html Another was Seyda Aykanat, a seven-year-old student from Kilis on November 25.https://web.archive.org/web/20010610184031/http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2000/11/25/yasam/yas05.html 
After these incidents, a report was published by the Health Ministry stating the animated series has negative effects on children. Due to these cases, RTÜK ordered a ban on the animated series.http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/12/08/turkey.pokemon.reut/index.html ATV stopped airing Pokémon on December 13, 2000.
===Cast and crew===
Ahmet Taşar has voiced the main character Ash Ketchum from 2000 to 2016. Kerem Kobanbay has voiced Ash Ketchum from 2016 to 2018. Birtanem Coşkun Candaner provided the voice of while Tugay Erverdi has provided the voice of . Jessie was voiced by Figen Harman while James was voiced by Levent Sülün and then by Aydoğan Temel. Murat Keskinoğlu provided the voice of . Officer Jenny was voiced by Mehpare Özlük, while was voiced by Tunç Ozdil.
Beginning with Sun & Moon, James is voiced by Murat Sarı, Jessie by Müge Oruçkaptan, Meowth by Fatih Özkul, Kiawe by Mert Aydın, Sophocles by Gülnur Badakal, Lillie by Selay Taşdöğen, Lana by Zencan Saka, Professor Kukui by Ali Hocaoğlu, Nurse Joy by Bergen Coşkun, the Rotom Pokédex by Gökhan Şimşek, and the narrator by Savaş Özdural.
In Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution, Birtanem Candaner reprised her role as Misty, while Ash was voiced by Arda Oğul Meriçliler and Brock was voiced by Ilker Guler.
===Pokémon movies===
Most of the Pokémon movies were translated and dubbed into Turkish as well. Only exceptions are eighth, ninth and tenth movies. The first movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, was shown in theaters on June 9, 2000, and the second movie, The Power of One, was shown in theaters in January 19, 2001. They were also released on DVD and VCD.
The third movie, Spell of the Unown, was released on DVD and VCD in 2002. 
Celebi: The Voice of the Forest, Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, Jirachi: Wish Maker, and Destiny Deoxys were released on DVD and VCD in 2006. 
Disney XD aired the eleventh and twelfth films in 2009 and 2010, respectively. 
Zoroark: Master of Illusions, White—Victini and Zekrom and Black—Victini and Reshiram and Kyurem VS. The Sword of Justice were released on DVD in 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively. 
All of the movies starting from sixteenth movie have been released on Netflix.
Mewtwo Returns was also released under the title in 2001.https://pokemoncu.net/filmler/
===Music===
Until the twelfth season, the dub used the English version of the opening themes. However, since the twelfth season, dubbed opening themes have been used for the series. 
The Turkish CD version of Pokémon Theme was sung by Ahmet Taşar. The first album was released in 2001. It was adapted by Sibel Erülgen, engineered by Fuat Güney, and produced by BMG MÜZİK A.Ş. Gülşen Karanlık and Kerem Akaydın also provided vocals for a majority of the songs featured in the album.
==External links==
* Official Turkish Pokémon social media:
** Official Pokémon YouTube channel in Turkish
** Official Pokémon Twitter in Turkish
** Official Pokémon Facebook Page in Turkish
** Official Pokémon Instagram in Turkish
* Pokémon GO website (Turkish)
** Pokémon GO Turkey on Twitter
** Pokémon GO Turkey on Facebook
** Pokémon GO Turkey on Instagram
* Defunct Nintendo official website in Turkey
** Nintendo of Europe message to their Turkish customers in June 2012
* Fan history of Pokémon in Turkey (in Turkish)
* Türkçe Pokémon
==References==
==Related articles==
* List of Turkish Pokémon themes
* List of Turkish Pokémon names