Turkey’s Greek minority irked by ‘discriminatory’ TV show

A historical-comedy TV series featuring “vicious” Anatolian Greek (Rum) characters during the Turkish Independence War (1918-1923) has irked Turkey’s Greek community, prompting the group to formally complain to Turkey’s media watchdog.

“Ustura Kemal” (Razor Kemal), which was taken off the air due to poor ratings, featured Greek characters such as a prostitute, traitors and collaborators living with Turkish characters in the same neighborhood.

Greek minority representatives have taken action to try to prevent Turkish TV channels from airing such discriminative and insulting series.

“This series saddened us terribly. The Greek community has not been completely integrated into the Turkish community. We were seen as guardians carrying the burden of history. National or international, we do not have a policy as individuals but our existence annoyed some circles,” Laki Vingas, the former president of the Association to Support Greek Foundations and the person currently responsible for minority foundations at the Foundations Directorate General, told the Hürriyet Daily News on January 4 in a phone interview.