ATHENS – Pressure from Turkey has reportedly made Netflix agree not to allow broadcast of a series about the 1974 invasions of Cyprus that split the island be seen outside Greece, said Turkey’s TV oversight body.

The movie Famagusta is a Greek and Cypriot co-production but won’t be seen on the island that was invaded after Turkey – which has released propaganda and anti-American movies – said it got Netflix to back down. It premieres Sept. 20.

“As the organization that regulates and supervises digital broadcasting services in our country, (we have) held the necessary meetings with the broadcaster Netflix and an understanding has been reached that the production will not be broadcast (outside Greece,)” Ebubekir Sahin, head of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, said in a social media post.

“The production in question will only be included in the Netflix catalog in the country where it was previously broadcast (Greece), and will not be included in Turkey or any other country’s catalog,” he continued.

Sahin said it was “an unacceptable mistake that some circles, with malicious intent, have come up with a film that denigrates the Turks, our country and our heroic army, while the historical facts are obvious.”

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry had slammed the series as serving “the black propaganda of the ‘Greek-Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus’  distorting historical events.”

“This series is a great disrespect to the honored memories of the Turkish Cypriots who were massacred by Greek-Cypriot gangs in the period 1963-74,” it claimed without noting Turkish atrocities during the invasions and imprisoning Cypriots.

There was no reported response from Netflix, whose co-CEO and head of content and original programming is Greek-American Ted Sarandos, or details on the claims made by the Turkish agency.

Famagusta is in Turkish-Cypriot occupied northern third of the island, along the east coast sea line and includes the once famous resort of Varosha, which was sealed off over 1974 and opened partially in 2020.

During the second phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus the Mesaoria plain was overrun by Turkish tanks and Famagusta was bombed by Turkish aircraft, killing dozens of people, reportedly including tourists, which Turkey doesn’t want shown.

A United Nations Security Council resolution said that any attempts to settle any part of Famagusta by people other than its inhabitants would be unjust and wants the area under its control, but has been ignored.

While the series will be shown only in Greece, subscribers in other areas may be able to see it by setting their Virtual Private Network (VPN) to Greece. There was no initial response from Greece or Cyprus.