TURKEY: Controversial Turkish television series does not deliberately traget Israeli army says producer

Record ID: 396541

  • Title: TURKEY: Controversial Turkish television series does not deliberately traget Israeli army says producer
  • Date: 16th October 2009
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (OCTOBER 15, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) PRODUCER OF SEPARATION SERIES SELCUK COBANOGLU SAYING "This kind of brutality and this kind of sad events and drams are happening in that region and we go and eyewitness this we are thinking about our debt to the 300 children killed in the latest operation by Israel"
  • Embargoed: 31st October 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Communications,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA49L62YTIDSGBO4GJLFL4WXWMF
  • Story Text: A Turkish television drama which depicts an Israeli soldier shooting dead a Palestinian baby, strained already tense relations on Thursday (October 15) between between Israel and Turkey, a strategic Muslim ally.
    Previous close ties between the Jewish state and Turkey, a secular state with a Muslim population, have deteriorated since Israel's offensive in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Islamist group Hamas.
    Turkey has at the same time strengthened its relations with neighbouring Syria, where much of Hamas' leadership is based.
    Israel summoned a Turkish diplomat to protest at what it called "state-sponsored incitement" by state-owned TRT television's "Separation" series, in which actors playing Israeli soldiers and Palestinians fight street battles in Jerusalem.
    "The series, which has no connection to reality whatsoever, is not even suitable for an enemy country and certainly not for a country that has full diplomatic relations with Israel," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.
    Producer of the show, Selcuk Cobanoglu is saying that Israel is afraid of its own reality.
    "If the Israeli government is disturbed because of this it means that they are disturbed by the reality. What we are telling here is exactly what is happening in this region. But we did not code this in the series, if that has been conducted by Israeli soldiers or someone else," says Cobanoglu.
    The scene, broadcast on Israel's Channel Two television on Wednesday, showed a Palestinian father holding a baby above his head and an Israeli soldier deliberately shooting the infant.
    Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip in December and January killed 1,387 Palestinians, of which 773 were clearly civilians according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
    The Israeli military has said 1,166 Palestinians died, of which 295 were definitely civilians.
    During a meeting with the Turkish embassy charge d'affairs, a Foreign Ministry official said Israel "cannot stand by when such blatant incitement is being broadcast against Israel and (Israeli) soldiers," a statement issued by the ministry said.
    The official also said the portrayal of Israeli soldiers as "a master race eager to murder children" could endanger Israeli and Jewish tourists who visit Turkey.
    Turkish officials in Ankara and Tel Aviv were not immediately available for comment.
    Turkey barred Israel from participating in a NATO war exercise this week and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the move was a result of public concerns over the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip earlier this year.
    The drill was postponed indefinitely after other nations, including the United States and Italy, refused to take part without Israel's air force.
    In January Erdogan, who heads the Islamist-rooted AK Party, stormed out on Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in protest over the offensive.
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