ANKARA (Xinhua) — Turkey lodged a protest with Lebanon today requesting a ban on broadcasting a Syrian-made television series containing scenes which are very anti-Turkey.
The series "Brothers of the Earth" is being advertised to start broadcasting within next week on a private Lebanese station called "Future" owned by Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik-al-Hariri.
Turkish sources indicated the series contains scenes showing Ottomans impaling Arabs on stakes. The series covers events in the Middle East from 1912 to 1918–exaggerating incidents–said the sources.
Instead of an Ottoman flag appearing in the series–the Turkish flag was used–confusing the time period and suggesting that little has changed since the days of the Ottoman era.
Local sources said that the Syrian Army gave its support to the film by providing figurines and costumes. Both the director and screenwriter are Syrians.
The series contains 30 episodes–each 45 minutes long. The sources said that the series was produced to encourage Arab nationalism and hatred of the Turks.