Turkiye criticises reports Disney+ will scrap ‘Ataturk’ series

Turkiye’s governing party has criticised a reported decision by Walt Disney Co’s Disney+ not to broadcast a documentary series about modern Turkiye’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, on its streaming service, Turkish local media reports.

According to the report, Ebubekir Sahin, Chairman of Turkiye’s television watchdog, RTUK, announced the probe on Tuesday night in a statement, describing Ataturk as “our most important social value”.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) called on Disney+ in June to cancel the show, saying that it “glorifies a Turkish dictator and genocide killer”. Last month, Disney+ Turkiye announced the Ataturk series would be on air “very soon”.

Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkiye’s governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, called it a “shame” that Disney+ had “succumbed to the pressure of the Armenian lobby” in reportedly cancelling the series.

“This attitude of the platform in question is disrespectful to the values of the Republic of Turkiye and our nation,” Celik said in a social media post.

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