Turkey slams Netflix series about Cyprus
Following complaints from Turkish authorities, Netflix has suspended international streaming of the television series Famagusta about Turkey's invasion of Cyprus in 1974, which was scheduled to begin on 20 September. The series will now only be available in Greece, where it had already been aired on television. The Foreign Ministry in Ankara has condemned the series as "black propaganda" by the Greek Cypriots.
Taking apart a 50-year-old myth
Ankara is afraid of the truth, says Phileleftheros:
“The inclusion of Famagusta on the Netflix platform has very much annoyed the Turkish side. Some of the historical truths presented in the series depict the brutality of the 1974 Turkish invasion and refute the narrative of it being a peacekeeping operation. These short stories, which are pieces of a larger truth about what happened in 1974, can reach the whole world via a digital platform, and Turkey doesn't want that. Fifty years have passed since the invasion. It seems that the Turkish government is worried by this possibility.”
Streaming services being used for propaganda
The Netflix series is one-sided and defamatory, complains the conservative pro-government Yeni Şafak:
“Recently we have frequently been confronted with the phenomenon of states using such spaces for their own propaganda. The recent discussions about the upcoming release of Famagusta, a series co-produced by Greece and Southern Cyprus [the Republic of Cyprus], on Netflix are a concrete example of this problem. With Famagusta, the countries in question are trying to present a one-sided version of the Cyprus peace operation and the historical facts that preceded it, and portray the peaceful intervention of the Turkish military as an occupation.”
Apparently an impressive work
Writing in Politis, Turkish Cypriot columnist Şener Levent vehemently rejects the propaganda accusations:
“I haven't watched the series yet. But judging by the reactions of the officials in Ankara and [the Turkish-occupied part of] Nicosia, it must be a very impressive work. They were furious even before the film was released. ... This is black propaganda, they say. The Turkish army didn't kill any civilians, they say. ... As if they weren't the ones who bombed Varosha. ... Can there be such a thing as 'white propaganda' for such hellfire? So much blood. So much death. So many rapes. So many missing persons. Isn't that black - nothing but black?”