To commemorate the centenary of the Republic of Turkey, Disney+ planned to launch the series Atatürkwhich originally announced Emma Watson as part of its lineup.
According to an IMDB review, the series “tells the life story of the great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk”. However, it was recently revealed that the six-part production will be released on October 29, 2023. will be a film that will be released on November 3 only in Turkey.
This change was due to the American Armenian National Council (ANCA) campaign against the production, which they believe “glorifies Mustafa Kemal, Turkish dictator and genocidal assassin”.
“We are asking Disney Plus to cancel a series that glorifies Mustafa Kemal. AtatirkTurkish genocidal dictator and murderer, on whose hands is the blood of millions of Greek, Armenian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Syrian, Aramaic, Maronite and other Christian martyrs,” the ANCA said in a statement.
“It’s a shame that the American television and film platform succumbed to pressure from the Armenian lobby and canceled the series about Ataturk without airing it. This attitude of the platform in question is a disrespect for the values of the Republic of Turkey and our people.”Ömer Celik, Vice President of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, tweeted.
During World War I, Atatürk served as a major in the Ottoman army and worked closely with Talaat and Enver Pasha, the main organizers of the Armenian Genocide.
An estimated 1.5 to 2 million Armenian civilians were persecuted and killed by the Young Turkish government in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. The Turkish government still does not admit that it was a genocide, so relations between the two countries remain tense.
Atatürk continued his anti-Armenian policy by publishing a book in 1927 entitled Nutuk (“speech”), which he himself acknowledged in publication for the purpose of writing (or rewriting) the official modern history of Turkey.
In it, he wrote that the British invented the idea of the Armenian Genocide to provide a pretext for their invasion of Istanbul in 1920. He further added that the Armenians are pursuing a policy of “extermination” against the Muslims of the Republic of Turkey.
Disney Plus launched in Turkey in June 2022 as part of an expansion plan that included new markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.