Turkish and Turkish Cypriot officials blasted the decision by Netflix to screen the series “Famagusta” which depicts the events of the summer of 1974 during the Turkish invasion.
The series, aired in Greece by MEGA TV earlier this year, will premiere on Netflix on 20 September.
It is a dramatic adaptation that goes on to follow a family trying to find their child who went missing in their attempt to flee fifty years earlier.
Turkish officials say Netflix’s Famagusta distorts the truth
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar called on Netflix to think twice, saying that it distorts the facts of 1974, when as 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.
“We also have to do different series to explain our own issue. They [Greek Cypriots] do propaganda according to themselves. They can influence a part of the public. We have to show the truth of the issue with our own series,” he said.
The spokesman of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Omer Celik, also took a position on the Famagusta series.
“It is very worrying that a series that distorts the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation and makes propaganda for the Greek side will be broadcast on a cinema platform from September 20.
We cannot accept that the intervention that brought peace and established justice is being targeted by Greek propaganda.
The peace operation in Cyprus, the heroic Turkish soldier, peace and justice cannot be targeted through this series,” Omer Celik wrote on X.
Famagusta’s Greek Cypriots fled
During the second phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 14 August 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 Turkish Cypriot so-called government reopened some streets to visitors.
Related: 50th Anniversary of Turkish Invasion of Cyprus: Greeks Mourn, Turks Celebrate