Egyptian artists sound the call to boycott Turkish soaps

ISTANBUL

Egyptian artists have initiated a boycott of Turkish soap operas to protest Turkish government’s approach towards the [Egypt’s] 30 June Revolution.

A number of Egyptian artists and filmmakers have initiated a boycott of Turkish soap operas to protest “the position of the Turkish government towards the [Egypt’s] 30 June Revolution,” reported english.ahram.org.

Turkish television soaps are staggeringly popular and in light of recent developments in relations with Egypt, some Egyptians are now challenging this.

On 30 June, the one-year anniversary of the inauguration of Mohamed Morsi into the presidency, Egyptians took to the streets en masse calling for his ouster. Some call it a “military coup” against a democratically-elected president while others saw it as the military’s concession to the masses that condemned the Muslim Brotherhood rule as inept.

Supporting

In light of the support the Turkish government has shown for Morsi, calls for a boycott have been raised by a number of production companies and the Egyptian Cinema Syndicate.

According to television director and the head of the Egyptian Cinema Syndicate Mossad Fouda, “Such an initiative was important. It received mass attention from different production companies; both private and governmental. Also, many satellite channels prevented the broadcasting of Turkish series as a protest at the Turkish intervention in Egyptian affairs and because of its negative stance towards the 30 June Revolution.”

“Many locally-made Egyptian series came under threat by Turkish soap operas, which do not offer any new artistic material,” Fouda said, another website http://www.albawaba.com reported.

Moreover, the head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, Shokry Abu Emera, who signed a number of Egyptian- Turkish protocols that give rights to Egyptian television to broadcast Turkish series, postponed their broadcast after Turkey’s response to the current political situation in Egypt.