Esra Bilgiç: 'If it wasn't for the pandemic, I'd have visited Pakistan several times by now'

The crowd-favourite actor from Turkey, Esra Bilgiç has won over the hearts of all Pakistanis with her performance as Halime Sultan in historical series Diriliş: Ertuğrul.

And as the 27-year-old beauty reaches new heights of popularity, the actor recently spoke about how she was taken aback after finding out about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s directives of running the series on the state-run PTV.

Talking to local English daily Dawn’s Icon magazine, Esra said: “When I saw the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Turkish news channels, saying that a successful project such as Ertugrul should be aired on their local channel.”

“I felt surprised and proud at the same time. If we didn’t have a pandemic upon us, I would have visited Pakistan several times by now,” she added.

She has previously expressed her desire of visiting Pakistan on her social media as well.

Responding to a fan on her Instagram, Esra had written earlier: “I’m waiting excitedly to meet you all in Pakistan after this period. Take good care of yourselves. Stay in peace and health.”

The star cast of the show has been consistently sending love to their colossal fan base in Pakistan after the show’s success skyrocketed in the past months.

Leading stars of the show Engin Altan Düzyatan, Celal Al, Guslim Ali Ilhan, Cengiz Coşkun and Cavit Çetin Güner are some of the few who have been actively showering their Pakistani fans with love and praises.