Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar attended the opening of a new television series, whose premise is the hunting of “bad” Greek criminals and terrorists by the “good” Turkish soldiers who are carrying out an operation on a Greek island! The series is titled “Red Flag” and is shown on Turkish state television.
This is a clear popularisation of Turkish propaganda, propaganda that directly targets the sovereignty of the Greek islands – hence the presence of Akar at the opening of the series.
According to Proto Thema, in the series, Turkish generals plan an invasion mission to fight terrorists and arms smugglers who threaten Turkey and are active on a Greek island.
Although the island is not named, there are scenes with Greek slogans on the walls, such as “Solidarity to Maziotis” and “Out with the Nazis”. And the “bad guys” who threaten Turkey are, of course, Greeks who collaborate with Kurdish “terrorists”!
Akar stated that it is very important to showcase the heroism and self-sacrifice of the Turkish military.
It is not the first time that Turkish propaganda is spread in Turkish series. But, in the past, this was limited to recent Turkish history, with propaganda serials about the Asia Minor Disaster, the Cyprus War, etc.
In 2016, the series “My Homeland and You”, an ambitious television production that recounts the events of the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922, but from Turkey’s genocidal perspective.
The Greek military were presented as murderers and tyrants of the peaceful Turks who see their properties and families destroyed unprovoked.
The protagonist is the great star of the neighbouring country, Halit Ergenç, famous in Greece for his role as “Suleiman the Magnificent”. He plays Cevdet, the character who, after his unjust persecution, rebels and gets his revenge against the Greeks.
Millî Savunma Bakanı Hulusi Akar, Al Sancak dizisinin Millî Savunma Bakanlığında yapılan ilk gösteriminde yapım ekibini ve oyuncuları tebrik etti. Bakan Akar, Mehmetçiğin kahramanlık ve fedakârlıklarının anlatılmasının büyük önem taşıdığını vurguladı.https://t.co/lXpEo9Oxog pic.twitter.com/Y8Ix2JrTuZ
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) January 20, 2023
In 2021, the premiere of the Turkish series entitled “Once Upon a Time in Cyprus” took place in occupied Famagusta, again on Turkish state television. The series is a television rendering of the well-known Turkish propaganda about the Cyprus issue: EOKA was a “terrorist organisation” and the Greek Cypriots were planning a “genocide” of the Turkish Cypriots with the help of Athens, etc.
The Turkish television industry is growing dynamically, having conquered more than 300 million viewers in more than 75 countries.
At least 70 series, usually soap operas, have crossed the Turkish border and flooded the markets with Middle Eastern and Balkan countries as the main recipients.
READ MORE: Turkish media: “We urgently need fighter jets, Greece has surpassed us.”