Osman’s character appearing in the new Turkish series on Netflix, “Aşk 101” (Love 101) was originally gay, but his role was changed at the request of the Turkish authorities.
The Turkish Supreme Radio and Television Council (RTÜK) confirmed this week -as some reports already pointed out- that at his request a homosexual character was withdrawn from one of the Turkish series offered by Netflix, Aşk 101 (Love 101), the third original Turkish series released on the platform.
RTÜK source confirmed in statements to the media on Thursday that the decision had been made after “bilateral talks” held between the highest body on charge of monitoring television contents in Turkey, and representatives of Netflix. “Through bilateral talks, the problem caused by that character was eliminated,” said the source, who declined to reveal his identity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The character of the controversy would be Osman, who in the series is played by the Turkish actor Selahattin Paşalı; apparently the original plot established that Osman was homosexual, but later the script was changed as a result of the controversy that broke out after its preview, and the Turkish prosecution even filed a lawsuit for the inclusion of a gay character, despite the fact that it was finally dismissed by the courts.
Although homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey as in other countries, the LGBT community still faces great social discrimination and publicly displaying homosexual attitudes is not well considered. In statements to the press this week, the vice president of the conservative AKP party of President Erdoğan, Mahir Ünal, stressed that although his party respects the gay community, it rejects the promotion of this type of behaviour through public platforms such as Netflix.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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