Omer Celik, a spokesperson for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP said on Wednesday that the Walt Disney Co’s axing of a series about former Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk from its Disney+ streaming service was “shameful”.

Celik alleged that the company caved in to “the Armenian lobby” in the US.

The Armenian National Committee of America had called for the cancellation of the series, describing Ataturk as a “dictator and genocide killer” and arguing that he should not get the “Disney treatment”.

The Turkish opposition shared the fury of the government.

“We see the Disney administrators’ decision is a hate crime against our founding father and great leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. We condemn the decision,” said Faik Oztrak, spokesperson for Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party.

The Walt Disney Company confirmed that it cancelled the series for Disney+ streaming but said it will be broadcast in Turkey.

“As a result of the changes made in our content strategy, a special TV version of ‘Ataturk’ will be broadcasted on our FOX channel [in Turkey]; two films will be in the movie theatres [in Turkey] and then on FOX TV screens,” Cenk Soner, the director for Turkey of the Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday.

The series was originally intended to be a six-part period drama be aired on the Disney+ platform for a global audience.

Ebubekir Sahin, head of the Turkish state agency that monitors and sanctions radio and television broadcasts, announced on Wednesday that an investigation has been launched into Disney+.

The Union of Armenian Foundations in Turkey urged the Armenian diaspora to be more reatrained.

“We call on Armenian institutions and organisations in the USA and international media organisations to support the normalisation process between Turkey and Armenia and to act more responsibly,” Bedros Sirinoglu, president of the Union of Armenian Foundations in Turkey, said in a statement.

The modern Turkish republic founded by Ataturk after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire is to celebrate its first 100th anniversary in 2023 and the Disney+ had designed the series to coincide with the centennial.

Armenian diaspora groups describe killings and deportations of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War I as a genocide. They claimed the series would glorify Ataturk as an Ottoman army officer.

Turkey strongly rejects the genocide allegation.

https://balkaninsight.com/2023/08/03/disneys-decision-to-cancel-ataturk-series-leaves-turks-angry/