In recent years, following the narrative tradition of American soap operas and Spanish telenovelas, Turkish television series, known as dizis (serial, row, sequence) are growing in popularity in both domestic and foreign markets. The Turkish dizi genre are particularized television serials, telling historical and contemporary stories of love, familial, ethnic and class conflict, often two hours in length per episode, relying heavily on “familiar ethnographic imagery,” including “scenes from Turkish ordinary life and dialogues with traditional sayings” (Öztürkmen). Despite this focus on regional storytelling, Turkey is now second only to the United States in worldwide TV distribution, whereby dizi exports to the MENA region, Balkans and Central Asia, parts of Africa and South America estimate at an exceeded $350 million. This paper looks at the cultural impact of what author Fatima Bhutto terms “dizi imperialism.” We will analyze plotlines, characters and dialogue in both current and past series to consider two points of inquiry: First, we will look at the fictional world of dizis as a lens to translate cultural codes and traditional norms in Turkey. More specific, we will show how, by turning its performance gaze inward, away from the West, dizis provide a space of cultural encounter with clear ideological boundaries (distinctly Eastern) centered on tradition. We will argue that by sidelining the West as the “Other,” and conflating Turkish modern identity with authentic masculinities and femininities and honor-based morality, dizis empower hegemonic identity formation, and maintain social control. Second, we look at the success of Turkish dizis on a global stage. Here we will look at how stories, inherent to Turkey’s social and cultural landscape, characterized by Fatima Bhutto as “not-always-secular modernity with traditional values in urbanized settings,” resonate with a global audience. We will ask the question: How can regional knowledge production reframe global hierarchies? We will argue that by offering global viewers a site with a perceived similar value system in terms of gender and class, dizis force us to revaluate our understanding of modernity, asking the question: Can we read the popularity and defense of cultural values in dizis as a signal of the global decline of Euro-American cultural appeal, and instead, the rise of a newly constituted Eastern modern sensibility ?