Netflix Cancels Turkish Series
The Claim
Netflix will end its Turkish service after the production of an upcoming local drama that was blocked by the country’s government over a gay character.
News posted on
Emerging story
Many social media users shared the news claiming that Netflix will end its operations in Turkey. Users claimed that the Radio and Television Supreme Council of Turkey passed a law to ban Netflix over LGBTQ content.
Users expressed their anger against the Turkish authority's decision to ban gay content linking the killing of a 27-year-old girl last week. The body of Pınar Gültekin, a university student living in the southwestern province of Muğla, was discovered on Tuesday after she was reported missing on July 16. Gültekin’s former boyfriend Cemal Metin Avcı after he confessed to the murder. Gültekin's body was found buried inside a barrel in a forest in Muğla’s Menteşe district. Claims were circulating across the MENA region.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation finds the circulating claims misleading. Netflix axed a Turkish drama series after the government denied it a filming license over a gay character, it didn’t end its operations in Turkey. Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council had confirmed earlier this month that the character was removed after a request from the council.
In a tweet on Monday, Mahir Ünal said he believed that the company would show higher sensitivity toward Turkish culture and arts “with deeper cooperation.”
Homosexuality is legal in modern Turkey but executive resistance to the LGBTQ community has increased in the last few years with actions such as the banning of the Istanbul Pride march, which has been the case for five years in a row, becoming more commonplace.
Netflix has confirmed it has canceled production on its original Turkish series but it didn’t halt all of its production services as mentioned in the circulating claims.
