Turkey lobbies Netflix to confine TV series ‘Famagusta’ to Greece
A Greek and Cypriot co-production dealing with Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974 will not be broadcast outside Greece on Netflix following lobbying from Turkey, Turkey’s TV watchdog has claimed.
The recent decision by Netflix to broadcast from September 20 the TV series “Famagusta” had caused intense reactions in Turkey.
“As the organization that regulates and supervises digital broadcasting services in our country, [we have] held the necessary meetings with the broadcaster Netflix and an understanding has been reached that the production will not be broadcast [outside Greece],” Ebubekir Sahin, head of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, said in a social media post.
“The production in question will only be included in the Netflix catalog in the country where it was previously broadcast (Greece), and will not be included in Turkey or any other country’s catalog,” he continued.
Sahin said it was “an unacceptable mistake that some circles, with malicious intent, have come up with a film that denigrates the Turks, our country and our heroic army, while the historical facts are obvious.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry had slammed the series as serving “the black propaganda of the ‘Greek-Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus’ [Republic of Cyprus], distorting historical events.”
“This series is a great disrespect to the honored memories of the Turkish Cypriots who were massacred by Greek-Cypriot gangs in the period 1963-74,” it claimed.
