Cyprus TVshow gala,
Turkish drama focuses on Turkish Cypriots’ struggle for freedom
A GALA night has been held for the launch of a 26episode TV drama filmed in the TRNC that focuses on the Turkish Cypriots’ struggle for freedom.
The first episode of the big-budget series Bir Zamanlar Kıbrıs (Once Upon a Time in Cyprus), was broadcast on Turkish national TV station TRT 1 on Thursday, depicting the attack that went down in history as the “Bloody Christmas” of 1963.
Also taking part in the gala night at the Rauf Raif Denktaş Culture and Congress centre in Gazimağusa was President Ersin Tatar, Prime Minister Hamza Ersan Saner, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, other government officials and members of the public.
The series starts in 1963 when the troubles on the island between the two sides erupted, when Greek Cypriot gunmen launched an island-wide assault on Turkish Cypriots.
Over 100 Turkish Cypriots were killed or went missing during the attacks between December 21 and 31, and over 20,000 were forced to flee their homes, hundreds of which were either destroyed or looted.
The attacks were part of the notorious Akritas Plan, which aimed to achieve Enosis — union of Cyprus with Greece — by exterminating the island’s Turkish Cypriot population.
Real life characters are portrayed in the series including Archbishop Makarios, who became the first President of the island when it gained independence from Britain in 1960; General Georgios Grivas, who established the Greek Cypriot terrorist organisation Eoka on April 1 1955; Nikos Sampson, an Eoka member who was proclaimed as the President of Cyprus on July 15, 1974, following a Greek-led coup; and Rauf Raif Denktaş, the late Turkish Cypriot leader and founding President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Bir Zamanlar Kıbrıs has been produced by İstanbul-based TMC Film. The script writers are Emre Özdür and Başar Başaran, and the director is Hakan İnan.
The show features renowned Turkish actors Ahmet Kural, Serkan Çayoğlu, Pelin Karahan, and Gülper Özdemir. Devrim Saltoğlu plays the part of Mr Denktaş.
The series also features locals including Cyprus Today copy editor Eltan Halil as a British news reporter, and chief reporter Kerem Hasan as a news reader
TMC Film’s Erol Avcı said the dramatisation of the events of 1960s Cyprus aims to highlight the “struggle for survival of real heroes” and their “pain, suffering, love and separation”.
Meanwhile some opposition political parties and civil groups criticised the gala night being held under Covid-19 pandemic conditions.
A group of Republican Turkish Party members staged a small protest outside the venue on Thursday while Social Democratic Party leader Cemal Özyiğit had called for the gala night to be cancelled.
People’s Party leader Kudret Özersay said that if the gala night was allowed to go ahead, then the Communicable Diseases High Committee should allow theatre, arts and cultural events to also be allowed.
“If everyone is treated equally, than this injustice will come to an end,” he said.