Asbarez – The American Hellenic Council on Monday released a statement urging the Greek American community and all descendants of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Genocide, to boycott the new Turkish-produced film “The Ottoman Lieutenant,” expressing the AHC’s solidarity with the Armenian Youth Federation Western United States, which issued a similar call last week.

“The film is a blatant attempt to repudiate the upcoming movie, The Promise, and mislead impressionable youth into believing the Genocide was a ‘two-sided’ event, reads a part of the statement.

AHC Executive Director Ioannis Fidanakis, who signed the statement, asks the Greek community to join “an AYF-initiated letter writing campaign to local theaters to educate them about the purpose of the film.”

Below is the text of the AHC’s statement.

Dear Supporter,
We, the American Hellenic Council (AHC), in solidarity with the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) Western United States, urge the Greek-American community, as well all descendants of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Genocide, to jointly boycott the recently released film, The Ottoman Lieutenant.

The movie, which was produced by a Turkish production company, was released on March 10 and stars Michiel Huisman, Hera Hilmar, Josh Hartnett, and Ben Kingsley, is set in Ittihadist Turkey at the time of the Genocide. The film is a blatant attempt to repudiate the upcoming movie, The Promise, and mislead impressionable youth into believing the Genocide was a “two-sided” event.

Although we at the AHC, acknowledge that Ottoman Turks were affected by the state of war throughout the Empire, like all Ottoman citizens, their suffering cannot be equated with a systematic campaign of extermination, which befell the native Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian peoples of Eastern Thrace and Anatolia.

Therefore, we ask the Greek-American community to refrain from paying to watch this film in theaters or supporting it in any way.”