İLKER ZÜĞÜRT, 64

ILKER Züğürt was a fighter during the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation, when he was taken prisoner by Greek Cypriots in Larnaca. He escaped, was recaptured, but eventually released.

As someone who “witnessed the inhumane treatment from the Greek Cypriots first-hand” he felt that Bir Zamanlar Kıbrıs has “missed the point” as “some parts are not based on the truth”.

“The thing that caught my attention the most is the leader of Eoka falling in love with a Turkish [Cypriot] woman,” he said.

“Nothing close to this happened in the past. I have never heard of a Greek [Cypriot] man falling in love with a Turkish [Cypriot] woman between 1963 and 1974, not once.

“Even though we lived intertwined in some villages, not all villages, that didn’t mean that people would be in love.

“This is very wrong. There was suffering of Turkish Cypriots . . . those who had to continue working in Greek Cypriot areas due to poverty experienced things such as not being paid, being denied passage . . . and even not talking in Turkish to protect themselves from Greek Cypriots . . . We had no voice; if they spotted us they would harass the ‘crazy Turk, the dog Turk’.

“The Turkish audience is going to think ‘these [people] were worried about love’ but we were worried for our lives. Would a Greek Cypriot listen to love? They would torture or cut the heads of any Turk[ish Cypriot] they got hold off.

“So if you are going to film a serious TV series like this, it is quite wrong to sprinkle a love story in there to make it more interesting.

“Instead of this stuff I would rather see the TMT’s leadership in cooperation with the Turkish generals.

“There are Turkish generals who led the TMT in Cyprus and are still alive. [The producers] should have consulted [them] which would have produced a serious script that is closer to the reality.

“The current script was written before the facts were gathered. That’s why I am not interested in the series but some people from around the world might be. What I lived through is different and what is shown is different.

“The thing that is good is the fact that an idea emerged to represent the past, from 1963 to 1974, on screen for the first time after many years. It is also great that TRT picked up this mission. Yet the preparations are incomplete.

“For instance [former Turkish Cypriot leader] Dr [Fazıl] Küçük was not recognised for the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community. He was a leader as much as [founding TRNC President, Rauf Raif] Denktaş, but he has been left in a secondary role in the show and is portrayed as being really passive.

“Küçük was our leader between 1963 and 1965, and a really good leader at that. A movie on the resistance of Turkish Cypriots cannot be without Küçük. There are 24* more episodes, we will see how it develops.”

Mr Züğürt also complained of other ways that Turkish Cypriots were “misrepresented” in the first two episodes.

“Turkish Cypriots didn’t have siestas as many were battling poverty, working in farming and fishery jobs,” he said.

“Greek Cypriots didn’t speak broken Turkish. Most knew English, Turkish and Greek before 1963, and after that those languages were not taught because we cut off contact. . . The Greek Cypriots didn’t store weapons in derelict churches, they held religious services in churches so they were kept in good condition.

“In conclusion, fortunately they filmed this pain that we’ve been through here but there are so many shortcomings.”

*This article was written before the third episode of Bir Zamanlar Kıbrıs was broadcast on Thursday, April 15.