‘Famagusta’ Series’ Message is ‘To Love Each Other’, says Director

In a post to his Instagram story in Greek, English, and Turkish, Georgiou gave an example of his two nieces Stella and Adriana and a Turkish Cypriot family friend by the name of Isla.

“We raise them and teach them to love each other. This is the message of the series, created by people who cherish humanity. Every human being has the right to live and love freely, without borders and restrictions! Free!” he said.

Hours later, he added to his story an image of a woman painting a banner which reads “I do not forget”, a phrase commonly used by Greek Cypriots in relation to Turkey’s intervention of the island in 1974.

Georgiou’s social media activity came after Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) announced on Friday that Famagusta would only appear on the Greek version of streaming platform Netflix and would not be available in any other country.

The announcement that the show would appear on Netflix had caused controversy in both Turkey and the north due to what some perceived as an “unfair” portrayal of the events of 1974.

They said they had received confirmation from Netflix that the show would not be broadcast worldwide on the platform following the “reaching of an understanding” between Netflix and the RTUK.

They added that it was an “unacceptable mistake for some circles to come up with a film which denigrates the Turks, our country, and our heroic army, with malicious intentions.”

Meanwhile on Friday, Turkey’s defence ministry announced they had created a documentary outlining their side of the story of 1974. The documentary has been given the title The Next Day and will appear on Turkish public broadcaster TRT’s channel TRT Belgesel on Monday.

The agreement was reached after the Turkish parliament’s digital committee chairman and ruling AK Party MP Huseyin Yayman had said he had met with Netflix’s Middle East public policy director Pelin Mavili, and that Mavili would be summoned to speak in front of the committee later in the autumn.

“We never approve or endorse the broadcasting of this series on Netflix. Netflix is one of the platforms with the most subscribers in Turkey … We continue our hopeful stance that the sensitivities of Turkey, which is such a large market, and the sensitivities of our nation will be taken into consideration and a solution will be found,” he had said at the time.

Earlier, politicians from both Greece and Turkey had locked horns on the issue. Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis defended the series, saying, “the Turkish invasion of Cyprus is an issue which is not open to multiple interpretations. History has recorded it.”

He was reacting to comments made by Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, who had said, digital broadcasting platforms “must not be used as tools for Greek Cypriot propaganda.”

Source: Cyprus Mail