Category: 2023

Disney’s Decision to Cancel Ataturk Series Leaves Turks Angry

Markos Nalchajian
Aug 3 2023
Hamdi Firat Buyuk
Sarajevo
BIRN

August 3, 202313:16

Disney’s decision to axe a series on Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk from its Disney+ streaming service after a campaign by Armenian diaspora groups in the US has been described as ‘shameful’ by Ankara.

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/

Turkish Officials Blast Disney+ For Dropping History Series Accused Of Downplaying Armenian Genocide

Arpi Talalian
Forbes
Aug 3 2023
BREAKING
William Skipworth

Forbes Staff

 

Disney will not air a series about the founder of Turkey on its Disney+ streaming platform as originally planned, the company told multiple news outlets, after criticism over his ties to the Armenian genocide—a decision that sparked outrage from high-profile Turkish figures and marks the latest international controversy embroiling U.S. film and TV studios.

Atatürk, a six-part historical drama TV series about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was originally scheduled to broadcast on Disney+ on October 29, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern Republic of Turkey.

Instead, the series will be released in two parts, one of which will air on Turkey’s Disney-owned Fox network and the other will appear in theaters, the company told the Washington Post—a move it linked to a “revised content distribution strategy.”

While Atatürk is praised by many Turks for his prominent role founding a secular state in Turkey in 1923 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, many Armenians accuse him of participating in the Armenian genocide and embracing the central perpetrators.

The Armenian National Committee of America has issued repeated calls for Disney to cancel the series, which it accuses of “glorifying Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – a Turkish dictator and genocide killer with the blood of millions.”

Ebubekir Şahin, head of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, announced an investigation Tuesday into Disney’s decision and the possibility that it was made after a lobbying campaign from the Armenian diaspora.

Forbes has reached out to Disney for comment.

Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told Politico: “Anything that looks at Atatürk without putting his genocidal legacy at the very center risks normalizing what he did,” adding that “if there’s now a national or an international discussion about that legacy, that’s a very welcome thing.”

Spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s governing AK Party, Ömer Çelik, called Disney’s decision “a shame” and “disrespectful to the values of the Republic of Turkey” in Turkish.

This is not the first U.S. film or series to spark uproar and create tension with foreign government officials. In July, Vietnamese officials announced Greta Gerwig’s hugely successful Barbie film would be banned in the country over a scene depicting a map that appeared to display China’s contested territorial claims in the South China Sea. In June 2022, Saudi Arabia banned the animated Pixar film Lightyear due to the inclusion of a same-sex kiss. In Saudi Arabia same-sex relationships are illegal. Until February, China had been banning Disney’s Marvel film series for three-and-a-half-years with little explanation.

Historians estimate 1.5 million Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks were killed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 in what the United Nations, the International Association of Genocide Scholars and 34 countries, including the U.S., has called a genocide. Mass killings of Armenians were recorded in the late 1800s, but during World War I, the Young Turks—a political movement that controlled the Ottoman empire—began forced marches and killings of Armenians, whom it accused of being loyal to the Russians. Over 90% of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were wiped out by the end of the war. Atatürk was a member of the Young Turk movement and an officer in World War 1—most notably at the Battle of Gallipoli—but there is debate amongst scholars whether he personally participated in the genocide or his responsibility for embracing those who did commit the atrocities. The Turkish government denies the allegation it was a genocide, disputes most historians’ estimates and reveres Atatürk so much, it made it a crime to criticize the historical figure.

Turkey fumes as Disney axes founding father series after Armenian outcry (Politico)

Turkey investigates reported cancellation of Disney Plus series on Ataturk (Washington Post)

Disney Axes Atatürk Series After Armenian Lobbying

Antranik Varosian
The European Conservative
Aug 3 2023
Turkish authorities launched an investigation into Disney after the network pulled a dramatisation of the life of Kemal Atatürk following lobbying by the Armenian diaspora.
  • Thomas O'Reilly
  • — August 3, 2023

American media conglomerate Disney has come under heavy diplomatic fire from Turkey after the company decided against airing a TV series dramatising the life of Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk following lobbying from Armenian activist groups.

Disney had intended to show a recently released six-part series simply named “Atatürk” on October 29th in honour of the centenary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic. 

A monumental figure in Turkey’s national mythology, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk served as his nation’s first President from 1923 to 1939 and is revered for establishing a secular Turkish Republic out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. 

While commended in the West for his commitment to secular values in the majority Muslim nation, Atatürk is a despised figure in Greek and Armenian history in particular for his role in the Armenian genocide, a historic fact disputed by the Turkish government to this day.

Disney’s decision has been publicly slammed by Ankara’s ruling Justice and Development Party which blasted the cancellation of the series as perpetuating the “politics of lies” at the behest of the Armenian lobby.

Disney executives had been pressured into cancelling the series after public lobbying from the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) which campaigns for greater recognition of the Armenian genocide. A spokesperson for Disney said the show will be syndicated on its sister company FOX and denied caving to political pressure.

The Armenian diaspora forms a powerful ethnic bloc in American politics with the recognition of the Armenian genocide, estimated to have killed over a million people between 1915 and 1923, a major foreign policy sticking point in Turkey’s international relations.

Officially, Turkey downplays the mass killing of Armenians which it says has been heavily exaggerated and driven by natural causes rather than specific Turkish policy. Both the United States and the EU recognise the Armenian genocide despite diplomatic protestations from Ankara.

The refusal of Disney to broadcast the series comes as Turkey and its ally Azerbaijan are accused of human rights abuses in the disputed Lachin region which it has blockaded in an effort to drive out ethnic Armenians following a border war with Armenia. 

While ostensibly a Western ally and NATO member, Turkey is judged by many pundits to be moving away from Europe and embracing a form of Islamic populism under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and has earned much criticism for its support of Sunni radicalism in the Middle East and ongoing attempts to fan the flames over Quran burning incidents in Scandinavia.

Thomas O’Reilly is an Irish journalist working for The European Conservative in Brussels. He has an educational background in chemical sciences and journalism.

Turkey investigates reported cancellation of Disney Plus series on Ataturk

Maral Chavushian
Aug 2 2023
MIDDLE EAST

By Joe Snell

Turkey’s state radio and television agency has launched an investigation into reports that digital platform Disney Plus pulled an upcoming series on the country’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The six-part series was set to be released on the streaming service on Oct. 29 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.

Disney confirmed to The Washington Post on Wednesday that the series will instead be released as two films, the first to air on Fox in Turkey on Oct. 29 and the second to premiere in Turkish theaters on Dec. 22. Both films will return to Fox next summer. Disney purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019 in a landmark $71 billion acquisition.

The company did not comment on why its plans had changed or on the political controversy now swirling around the project, saying only that it was part of its “revised content distribution strategy.”

Yenicag, a Turkish daily newspaper, first reported Friday that the series had been removed from Disney Plus under pressure from Armenian American advocacy groups, which feared it would obscure Ataturk’s role in the Armenian genocide.

“It’s a shame that an American-based film and TV platform succumbed to the pressure of the Armenian lobby and canceled the ‘Ataturk’ series without airing it,” tweeted Omer Celik, deputy chairman of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP. “This attitude of the platform in question is disrespectful to the values of the Republic of Turkey and our nation.”

Ataturk took power after the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, presiding over the formation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and serving as the country’s first president until his death in 1938.

He introduced political, economic and social reforms while promoting a secular Turkish national identity. He is so widely celebrated in Turkey today that insulting his name is a criminal offense.

“Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of our Republic of Turkey, is our most important social value,” Ebubekir Sahin, chair of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, tweeted Tuesday. “The allegations of Armenian lobby intervention, which are reflected in the press, will be meticulously investigated.”

Historians estimate that 1.5 million Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks were killed in a campaign of forced marches and mass killings between 1915 and 1923, born out of Ottoman concerns that Christian communities would align with Russia during World War I. Armenians argue that the latter stages of the genocide were overseen by Ataturk once he took office.

The Armenian ‘genocide’: This is what happened in 1915

Turkey has acknowledged that many Armenians were killed in fighting with Ottoman forces, but disputes the larger casualty counts and denies that the events constituted genocide.

In 2021, President Biden officially recognized the Armenian genocide, making him the first U.S. president to do so since Ronald Reagan.

“Ataturk completed the last stages of the crime; he denied it and then consolidated the fruits of that atrocity and set the stage for basically a century of Turkey obstructing justice for that crime,” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), which lobbied for the cancellation of the series. “Turkey’s made a special effort to present Ataturk as a sort of a George Washington, when there’s just an awful lot more to the record than that.”

Disney Plus launched in Turkey in June 2022 as part of a global expansion that included new markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The launch included Disney Plus’s first Turkish-language original show, “Escape.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/02/turkey-disney-ataturk-series-cancelled/

Armenpress: Authorities report higher tax revenues

Edgar Tavakalian

 10:01, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. 1 trillion 265 billion drams in tax revenues and state duties was collected by the State Revenue Committee in January-July 2023 -  178,4 billion drams or 16,4% more compared to the same period of 2022.

In a statement released Thursday, the State Revenue Committee said that 210,2 billion drams was returned to corporate taxpayers and natural persons in the reporting period, which is 63% more compared to the previous year’s same period.

Ucom discontinues the use of stamps

Mary Lazarian

 10:21, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. “Ucom” closed joint-stock company has decided to discontinue the practice of using stamps on contracts, protocols, and other related documents, in line with the amendments introduced in the RA Law "On Joint Stock Companies", the RA Civil Code in 2012. This decision was approved by the executive body of "Ucom" CJSC. The legislative changes have rendered the use of round seals mandatory requirement null and void.

"We are now officially announcing the discontinuation of stamp usage, and we assure all our partners that it will have no impact on their cooperation with Ucom," stated Ralph Yirikian, the Director General of Ucom.

UN Secretary-General calls for opening of Lachin Corridor, urgent action to deliver humanitarian aid

Adrine Hakobian

 10:33, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed deep concern on the ongoing blockade of Lachin Corridor, describing it as ‘continued challenges related to the freedom of movement along the Lachin Corridor’, and called for urgent steps to facilitate access for the delivery of humanitarian aid. 

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the reports of continued challenges related to the freedom of movement along the Lachin Corridor,” Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said in a statement. “He recalls his previous statement on the need for the Parties to implement the Orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), including the Orders issued on 22 February 2023 and reaffirmed on 6 July 2023, related to measures to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.  He is particularly concerned about reports of the deteriorating humanitarian situation on the ground and calls for urgent steps to facilitate access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to people in need.  He urges both parties to intensify efforts towards the long-term normalization of relations for the benefit of peace and security in the region,” the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General added.

Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.  Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. The ICJ reaffirmed its order on 6 July 2023.

Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations.

On July 25, the Government of Armenia said that it will try to send over 360 tons of flour, cooking oil, sugar, and other foodstuffs and medication to Nagorno-Karabakh to mitigate the humanitarian crisis resulting from the blockade of Lachin Corridor. Armenia requested the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh to escort the aid but Azerbaijan has blocked the convoy at the entrance of the Lachin Corridor.

Pashinyan calls on Azerbaijan not to block humanitarian aid for Nagorno-Karabakh as step of commitment to peace agenda

Emil Lazarian

 11:35, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has urged Azerbaijan not to block the Armenian humanitarian aid convoy’s access to Nagorno-Karabakh as a step showing commitment to the peace agenda.

Speaking at the August 3 Cabinet meeting, PM Pashinyan said that the humanitarian convoy carrying 361 tons of emergency food and medication remains blocked at the entrance of Lachin Corridor. He said that Azerbaijan is grossly violating the terms of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement and the blocking is illegal.

“I call for not obstructing the access of the humanitarian goods sent by Armenia through the Lachin Corridor, as a step of commitment to the peace agenda, moreover because obstructing the passage of the goods is a gross violation of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement and the decisions of the International Court of Justice,” Pashinyan said.

The Armenian Prime Minister pointed out Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s recent statement in an interview with Euronews, where the latter again falsely claimed that the Lachin Corridor is open. Pashinyan said that the Russian peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh ought to comment on this statement, as to why the Russian peacekeepers are failing to ensure the humanitarian convoy’s access to Nagorno-Karabakh if Azerbaijan insists the corridor to be open.

“I believe that an explanation of this issue is important and our relevant bodies must work in the direction of receiving explanations over this matter,” the PM added.

Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.  Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. The ICJ reaffirmed its order on 6 July 2023.

Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno-Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations.

On July 25, the Government of Armenia said that it will try to send over 360 tons of flour, cooking oil, sugar, and other foodstuffs and medication to Nagorno-Karabakh to mitigate the humanitarian crisis resulting from the blockade of Lachin Corridor. Armenia requested the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh to escort the aid but Azerbaijan has blocked the convoy.

Pashinyan urges Azerbaijan to refrain from undermining chance of peace

Albert Nalbandian

 11:44, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has said that there is a chance of achieving long-term and sustainable peace with Azerbaijan and called on Baku to refrain from steps aimed at decreasing these chances.

“Despite all difficulties, we really do have a chance of achieving long-term, sustainable and lasting peace. And I call on Azerbaijan to refrain from steps aimed at decreasing this chance, for example the continuous torpedoing of Stepanakert-Baku dialogue within the framework of an international mechanism, the illegal blockade of Lachin Corridor and the kidnapping of Vagif Khachatryan, who was being transported by the ICRC to Yerevan, from Lachin Corridor earlier this week.  The release of Vagif Khachatryan, other captives, prisoners of war and detainees would be an impressive signal of commitment to the peace agenda,” Pashinyan said.

Water crisis in Armenia is getting worse, warns Pashinyan

Hovik Karapetian

 13:28, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan believes that the water crisis in Armenia is getting worse, which is caused both by people’s attitude towards water and by mismanagement of water resources.

During the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, the Prime Minister emphasized that it is necessary to change the attitude towards water at all levels.

"The water crisis in Armenia is getting worse. It is a global crisis, and in Armenia it is deepening due to lack of or worn-out infrastructure, as well as our attitude towards water," Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said he realized the seriousness of the water problem while visiting various towns of Armenia.

He said that the water problem will be the government’s next strategic plan after implementing the plans related to roads, schools, kindergartens and health system.

“We must treat water seriously, which is not managed in Armenia, but just flows. There are organizations, officials, procedures, laws, government decisions, but the water is not managed in the republic, which is our biggest problem. There is also a problem of knowledge here. We don’t know what water management is. It is a serious issue, on which serious decisions should be made,” Pashinyan concluded.