Türkiye slams new TV series for 'distorting historical facts' on Cyprus

Türkiye on Sunday slammed the upcoming television series, Famagusta, set to air on a digital platform, saying it serves the propaganda of the Greek Cypriot administration by “distorting historical facts.”

In a statement on X, the Foreign Ministry expressed strong disapproval of the series, which it said “misrepresents” the events of 1963-74.

“This series constitutes a great disrespect to the sacred memories of the Turkish Cypriots who were massacred by bloodthirsty Greek Cypriot mobs between 1963-74,” the statement said.

“These kinds of futile attempts to present the facts differently than they are only strengthen our determination to fight for our national cause, the Cyprus issue,” it added.

The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.