Turkey has reportedly succeeded in its campaign to block the TV series “Famagusta” dealing with Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus on Netflix.
The country’s TV watchdog claimed that the series will not be broadcast outside Greece. The series, aired in Greece by MEGA TV earlier this year, will premiere on Netflix on September 20th, but only in Greece.
The recent decision by Netflix to broadcast the series has 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.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar called on Netflix to think twice, saying that it distorts the facts of 1974. He said, “The Turkish army made a short peace operation on the island.”
“The Cyprus issue never started in 1974. The 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation was essentially a military intervention that saved the Turkish Cypriots from genocide,” he said, speaking to CNN Turk.
“This peace is known to Turks and Greeks all over the world that the bloodshed in Cyprus stopped with the 1974 Peace Operation. After 50 years, peace continues in this difficult region. The whole world knows that the Turks of Cyprus were massacred,” he added.
Greek Cypriots fled Famagusta
During the second phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on August 14, 1974, Famagusta was bombed by Turkish aircraft. It took two days for the Turkish Army to occupy the city, prior to which Famagusta’s entire Greek Cypriot population had fled into surrounding fields.
As a result of Turkish airstrikes, dozens of civilians died, including tourists.
Unlike other parts of the Turkish-controlled areas of Cyprus, the Varosha suburb of Famagusta was fenced off by the Turkish army immediately after being captured and remained fenced off until October 2020, when the purported Turkish Cypriot government reopened some streets to visitors.
Related: 50th Anniversary of Turkish Invasion of Cyprus: Greeks Mourn, Turks Celebrate