WASHINGTON, DC – American Hellenic Institute (AHI) President Nick Larigakis wrote to Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos to convey the Institute’s “tremendous disappointment” and strong objection over the streaming service’s agreement to restrict the viewing audience of the series, ‘Famagusta’ to only Greece and Cyprus at the request of the Turkish government. Netflix intended to release the series to an international audience on September 20, 2024.

Larigakis calls on Netflix to take the correct course of action by standing up to censorship and reversing its decision by streaming Famagusta to a worldwide audience

“Mr. Sarandos, prevent the Turkish government from forcing its brand of authoritarianism into our homes, adding further insult to a 50-year injustice and tragedy,” Larigakis writes.

Larigakis cites a parallel of Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and asks rhetorically: “Would Netflix succumb to authoritarians and dictators such as Vladmir Putin and Saddam Hussein and prohibit the viewing of content about these unjust invasions as it has with Recep Tayyip Erdogan?”

The full letter from AHI is available online: https://tinyurl.com/dusz27wm.

Watch the trailer for the TV series on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/48ct29jy.