No Blood, No Guns: Why Turkish Edtech Is Launching Kids’ Platform 97
No violence, no blood, no weapons: that is the promise of “97”, a new Turkish digital platform for children and teenagers that goes live in January 2027. Its launch title, the ten-episode series Who Are You? (Sen Kimsin?), began filming in Adıyaman on 12 November 2026 and is built on a learning framework from Doping Hafıza, one of Türkiye’s best-known edtech brands. For producers squeezed by the TV advertising crisis, it is a signal that education money is starting to fund scripted content.
In brief
- “97” is a new digital platform for children and young people; CEO Mert Mutlu says it will carry no violence, blood or weapons.
- The launch series Who Are You? has 10 episodes of about 10 minutes each and premieres on 12 January 2027.
- It is produced by Shortcut in partnership with Doping Hafıza and 97; director Levent Onan, writer Alper Sarıkaya, creative producer Esra Seyrekbasan.
- The story spans three generations, from the 1980s to 2040, with locations from a Beşiktaş school yard to a village square in Gerger.
- The script is based on Doping Hafıza’s WAY framework: 13 themes, 84 units and 312 learning outcomes agreed by experts in a three-round Delphi process.
What exactly is “97”, and who is behind it?
“97” is a new streaming-style digital platform aimed at children and teenagers, scheduled to open to audiences in January 2027. The news was reported by Turkish TV journalist Birsen Altuntaş on 11 November 2026, after the cast of the platform’s first series met for a table read.
The platform’s chief executive is Mert Mutlu. His positioning is simple and deliberately contrarian in a market where crime and action dominate prime time: content for young viewers with no violence, no blood and no weapons. The report does not name the company that owns 97, and the platform has not yet published a catalogue, price or business model. What is public is its launch partner: the content is co-developed with Doping Hafıza, the online learning brand of Doping Technology (Doping Teknoloji Grup).
The name itself has not been explained publicly. For now, the clearest description of the platform comes from its first product.
Why would an edtech company finance a TV series?
Because Doping Hafıza is moving from exam preparation to “who am I” skills, and a drama is a cheaper way to reach teenagers than another app. Founded in 2011 as an online exam-prep service, Doping Hafıza celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2025 with a plan to become a full learning “super app”: an AI lesson coach called Dopi, one-to-one tutoring modules and progress tracking, according to Ekonomist. In 2023 it launched Dopiverse, a gamified learning world for primary-school children that already had users in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, as reported by DHA.
In 2026 the group went international. At the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego in April, Doping Technology presented Dopifuture, an AI learning ecosystem for ages 10 to 18 built around a methodology called WAY. A company press release described it as the group’s first major international step and said Doping Hafıza serves millions of learners in Türkiye.
Who Are You? turns that methodology into scripted entertainment. Doping Teknoloji Grup CEO Remzi Alperen Can framed the idea this way: the problem today is not access to information but young people asking themselves who they are.
What is the series about?
It is a three-generation story running from the 1980s to 2040, told in ten short episodes of roughly ten minutes each. The settings range from a high-school garden in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district to a village square in Gerger (Adıyaman province), the longoz floodplain forests and a quantum biology laboratory. The core themes are friendship, family ties and scientific curiosity.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Who Are You? (Sen Kimsin?) |
| Platform | 97 (new, launching January 2027) |
| Format | 10 episodes × about 10 minutes, educational drama |
| Premiere | 12 January 2027 |
| Production | Shortcut, in partnership with Doping Hafıza and 97 |
| Director | Levent Onan |
| Writer | Alper Sarıkaya |
| Creative producer | Esra Seyrekbasan |
| Concept and story | Doping Hafıza Art, Design and Creativity Team |
| Filming | From 12 November 2026, Adıyaman |
The cast includes Ata Artman (Zeynel), Jessica May (Nina), Burak Can (Ömer), Mustafa Kırantepe (a psychiatrist), Yıldıray Şahinler (Suat), Neslihan Yeldan (Firuze), Nehir Gökdemir (young Firuze), Mina Akdın (Rüveyda), Doğukan Polat (Sensoy), Daniel Balaban (Serkan), Yılmaz Gökgöz (Kadir), Naz Çağla Irmak (Viyan), Murat Göçmez (Can) and Oğuz Aksaç.
How do you turn a curriculum into a script?
By starting from learning outcomes rather than from a plot. The series is based on the “Who Are You” (WAY) framework of the Way Project, Doping Hafıza’s new learning initiative. It is designed to support cognitive, social and emotional development from early childhood to the end of high school.
The framework was built with the Delphi technique, a method in which a panel of experts answers several rounds of questions until it reaches consensus. In the first round, 214 experts from all seven geographic regions of Türkiye took part. The result is a map of 13 themes, including self-awareness, empathy, art and creativity, broken down into 84 units and 312 learning outcomes.
| WAY framework | Figure |
|---|---|
| Expert rounds (Delphi) | 3 |
| Experts in round one | 214, from all 7 regions of Türkiye |
| Themes | 13 |
| Units | 84 |
| Learning outcomes | 312 |
| Age range | Early childhood to end of high school |
The partners also plan to measure the effect: a separate scientific paper will study the impact of the series on viewers, and another paper describes the framework itself. That is unusual for Turkish scripted content and is the kind of evidence schools, foundations and brands ask for before they pay for “educational” media.
Why ten-minute episodes?
Short episodes fit how children and teenagers actually watch: on phones, between lessons, in a feed. A ten-minute episode is also far cheaper to produce than a classic Turkish dizi, whose prime-time episodes run well over two hours. Ten short episodes can be shot quickly on location, subtitled or dubbed at low cost and cut into clips for social media, and the format travels to schools and foreign platforms more easily than a 120-minute weekly drama.
The timing matters too. Turkish broadcasters are in the middle of an advertising crisis: in autumn 2026 several series were pulled after a few episodes, and channels asked producers for budget cuts of around 25%. Projects financed by a sponsor with a clear purpose, rather than by ratings, are one of the few growth areas left for production companies.
Our take: what does this mean for business?
Our take: Platform 97 is small today, but it points to three opportunities for companies working with Türkiye’s creative industry.
- Branded and purpose-funded content is becoming a real budget line. When TV ad revenue falls, edtech companies, foundations, banks and FMCG brands that want to reach families can fund short series directly. Turkish producers with experience in short formats are well placed to pitch such projects.
- “Safe content” is a positioning, not a niche. Parents and schools look for content without violence; regulators and advertisers like it too. A catalogue built on that promise is easier to license to schools, airlines, telecom operators and family channels abroad.
- Evidence sells. A series backed by a learning framework and a planned impact study can be offered to education ministries, international schools and NGOs, not only to viewers. Distributors looking for Turkish kids’ and family content should ask 97 and Shortcut about international rights and dubbing from the start.
The open questions: who owns 97, how the platform will earn money (subscription, free with sponsors, or a school licence) and whether the catalogue will grow beyond Doping Hafıza’s projects. We will follow the launch in January 2027.
FAQ
When does the platform 97 launch?
In January 2027. Its first series, Who Are You?, premieres on 12 January 2027.
Who runs 97?
The platform’s CEO is Mert Mutlu. The owner company has not been named in public reports.
Who produces Who Are You??
Shortcut produces it in partnership with Doping Hafıza and 97. Levent Onan directs, Alper Sarıkaya wrote the script, Esra Seyrekbasan is creative producer.
Where is it filmed?
Filming started on 12 November 2026 in Adıyaman; the story’s locations include a village square in Gerger and a school yard in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş.
What is Doping Hafıza?
A Turkish online learning platform founded in 2011, part of Doping Technology. It offers exam preparation, an AI lesson coach and the Dopiverse and Dopifuture learning products.
Is the series available outside Türkiye?
No international distribution has been announced yet.
Sources
- Birsen Altuntaş, “Who Are You? dizisinin oyuncuları okuma provasında buluştu”, birsenaltuntas.com, 11 November 2026 (original report)
- Ekonomist, “Doping Hafıza 15. yaşını kutladı”, 21 August 2025
- DHA, “Doping Hafıza yeni dijital öğrenme platformunu tanıttı”, 25 August 2023
- Doping Technology press release on Dopifuture and Dopiverse at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026, 21 March 2026
- TRBW Creative: “Seven Dizi Pulled in 3 Nights: Inside Türkiye’s TV Ad Crisis” and “27–40 Million Lira an Episode: Why Turkish TV Wants 25% Off”
This article is for information only. It is based on public reports; figures and dates may change before the platform launches.
