Ah Turkey! Where the mystic East meets the West, as the continents of Europe and Asia straddle the sparkling Bosporus. Constantinople, standing astride a cultural divide where the Black Sea meets the Sea Of Marmara.
Since 660BC the gateway between continents has been fought over, has been smuggled through, has been the chessboard where spies of the world play out there deadly games against each other.
Most recently a place where dissidents keep vanishing, newspapers get closed down and the former Mayor of Istanbul tightens his iron grip. Where a tweet can get you thrown in jail. Sounds kind of like Portland.
One company refusing to bend to the will of the Turkish state is Netflix. It has moved swiftly to completely cancel production of a new scripted drama If Only. This is after the Turkish government demanded that a gay character is removed from the show.
According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter the Turkish authorities deemed the presence of a gay supporting character undesirable and refused to issue filming permits unless he was removed. Instead of censoring the script, Netflix responded by canning the show altogether and walking away.
Ay Yapim was producing, with Turkish star Ozge Ozpirincci in the lead. The sudden position of the Turkish authorities came as a surprise as they allow Netflix to show Hollywood, Sense8 and Orange Is the New Black uncut despite the themes and content in those shows. Much like the China conundrum this represents a challenge for Netflix as Turkey is one of the primary growth markets for global streaming.
The current silence from Hollywood virtue signallers and other assorted Twitterati is expected to dissipate once they have worked through their cognitive dissonance and aligned around their excuses.
