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TURKISH STATE TV AIRS HOLOCAUST FILM
By SUZAN FRASER
The Associated Press
January 27, 2012 Friday 10:05 AM GMT
An epic French documentary about the mass murder of Jews under
the German Nazi regime has appeared on Turkish television to mark
international Holocaust Remembrance Day the first time the film has
been aired on public television in a majority-Muslim country.
State television TRT's documentary channel showed the first episode
of filmmaker Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah" late Thursday the eve of the
day of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust.
The film has been subtitled into Arabic, Farsi and Turkish by the
Paris-based Aladdin project as part of its campaign to promote
understanding between Jews and Muslims and to fight Holocaust denial.
Last year, a Los Angeles-based Farsi satellite channel broadcast the
9-plus-hour documentary in Iran, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
has questioned historical accounts of the Holocaust and called for
Israel's destruction.
The film is not the first Holocaust film to be shown on television
in Turkey, a secular country that is seeking membership in the
European Union. Turkey also has its own Holocaust film: "The Turkish
Passport," which was released last year and tells the true story
of Turkish diplomats who saved thousands of Jews by issuing them
Turkish passports.
"Shoah" has also been shown to a limited audience at a Turkish film
festival.
Nevertheless, it was the first showing of "Shoah" on a public
television channel in a Muslim country. The director said he hoped
more Muslim countries would follow suit.
"It is a historical event," Lanzmann, 87, said in a telephone interview
with The Associated Press from his home in Paris. "It is extremely
important that it is being shown in a Muslim country."
"The Turks are engaged in a pioneering work and I am sure it (the
showing) will be followed by other Muslim countries," he said.
The documentary's airing comes at a time when some Jewish groups have
warned of growing anti-Semitism in Turkey, following the country's
frayed relations with Israel.
Turkey was outraged by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian
civilians during Israel's war in the Gaza Strip three years ago. Ties
worsened in 2010 after Israeli naval commandos killed nine Turks in
a botched raid on a flotilla that was trying to breach Israel's Gaza
blockade. Israel's refusal to apologize for the flotilla killings
sent relations deteriorating even further.
The documentary was also aired amid an escalating dispute between
Turkey and France over French legislation that would make it a crime
to deny that the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks amounted
to genocide.
Most historians contend that the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians
as the Ottoman Empire broke up was the 20th century's first genocide,
and several European countries recognize the massacres as such.
But Turkey rejects the term genocide, saying there was no systematic
campaign to kill Armenians and that many Turks also died during the
chaotic disintegration of the empire. It also says that death toll
is inflated.
"Shoah" includes testimony from concentration camp survivors and
employees about the slaughter of millions of Jews in Europe during
World War II. Lanzmann worked for 11 years on the film, which was
released in 1985.
By SUZAN FRASER
The Associated Press
January 27, 2012 Friday 10:05 AM GMT
An epic French documentary about the mass murder of Jews under
the German Nazi regime has appeared on Turkish television to mark
international Holocaust Remembrance Day the first time the film has
been aired on public television in a majority-Muslim country.
State television TRT's documentary channel showed the first episode
of filmmaker Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah" late Thursday the eve of the
day of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust.
The film has been subtitled into Arabic, Farsi and Turkish by the
Paris-based Aladdin project as part of its campaign to promote
understanding between Jews and Muslims and to fight Holocaust denial.
Last year, a Los Angeles-based Farsi satellite channel broadcast the
9-plus-hour documentary in Iran, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
has questioned historical accounts of the Holocaust and called for
Israel's destruction.
The film is not the first Holocaust film to be shown on television
in Turkey, a secular country that is seeking membership in the
European Union. Turkey also has its own Holocaust film: "The Turkish
Passport," which was released last year and tells the true story
of Turkish diplomats who saved thousands of Jews by issuing them
Turkish passports.
"Shoah" has also been shown to a limited audience at a Turkish film
festival.
Nevertheless, it was the first showing of "Shoah" on a public
television channel in a Muslim country. The director said he hoped
more Muslim countries would follow suit.
"It is a historical event," Lanzmann, 87, said in a telephone interview
with The Associated Press from his home in Paris. "It is extremely
important that it is being shown in a Muslim country."
"The Turks are engaged in a pioneering work and I am sure it (the
showing) will be followed by other Muslim countries," he said.
The documentary's airing comes at a time when some Jewish groups have
warned of growing anti-Semitism in Turkey, following the country's
frayed relations with Israel.
Turkey was outraged by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian
civilians during Israel's war in the Gaza Strip three years ago. Ties
worsened in 2010 after Israeli naval commandos killed nine Turks in
a botched raid on a flotilla that was trying to breach Israel's Gaza
blockade. Israel's refusal to apologize for the flotilla killings
sent relations deteriorating even further.
The documentary was also aired amid an escalating dispute between
Turkey and France over French legislation that would make it a crime
to deny that the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks amounted
to genocide.
Most historians contend that the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians
as the Ottoman Empire broke up was the 20th century's first genocide,
and several European countries recognize the massacres as such.
But Turkey rejects the term genocide, saying there was no systematic
campaign to kill Armenians and that many Turks also died during the
chaotic disintegration of the empire. It also says that death toll
is inflated.
"Shoah" includes testimony from concentration camp survivors and
employees about the slaughter of millions of Jews in Europe during
World War II. Lanzmann worked for 11 years on the film, which was
released in 1985.