Turkish TV Industry Faces Major Shift: Summer Series Suspended Due to Rising Costs
Red Roses: Hot News on TV’s Controversial Series
In this content, you can find the latest developments about FOX TV’s controversial series “Red Roses” (Kızıl Goncalar), which has been the subject of intense debate in recent days and has a political impact on Türkiye’s agenda. Content is updated as the news update.
Dec.29, ‘Red Roses’ on Its Way to the Administrative Court
While the trailer for the third episode of the series “Red Roses” on FOX TV was shared, the air date for this episode was announced as 8 January. Faruk Turgut, the producer of the series, explained the process in a statement to Patronlar Dünyası.
Turgut said about the 2 times suspension and administrative fine imposed by RTÜK, “The process works as such: FOX TV will appeal this penalty to the administrative court. The administrative courts of the Council of State will evaluate this. RTÜK’s decisions are not binding. It is open to court decisions. If it can stop the execution, all the better, if not, the broadcasting of the series will be banned for 2 weeks.”
‘WE ARE LOOKING FOR A NEW VENUE’
Turgut, who reacted to the cancellation of the shootings on his social media account by sharing the receipt of his monthly payment of 200 thousand liras to Darülaceze, was asked where he planned to shoot the new episodes and said, “I am looking for a location. We are currently looking for a new location with all my friends. We were using it as a hospital, it was cancelled. Other venues under the Ministry of Culture were also cancelled. Now we are endeavouring to re-establish and rebuild both of them”.
Producer Faruk Turgut said, “I respect all the decisions of Turkish justice. We will pay the price. As a result, it is clear what I said. It is also clear what RTÜK says.”
Dec.28, Red Roses Penalised by RTÜK
The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), in its decisions taken at its meeting held today, imposed an administrative fine of 3 percent and 2 programme suspensions on the series “Red Roses” for violating the “national and moral values of the society”.
Before the meeting, it was reported in the media that more than 31,000 complaints had been received about the series “Red Roses”.
The series, the first episode of which had aired the previous Monday, had been the target of the pro-government media and tariqahs. The series’ posters were attacked, the permits of the locations where the series would shoot were cancelled and RTÜK started an investigation into the series.
ADMINISTRATIVE FINE AND PROGRAMME SUSPENSION
Today, RTÜK imposed an administrative fine and 2 programme suspensions on FOX TV, where the series “Red Roses” was broadcast.
It was stated that the fine was imposed on the grounds of violation of “national and moral values of the society”.
CHP’s RTÜK member İlhan Taşçı shared the fines given by RTÜK to FOX TV and other television channels.
Dec.27, New Statement from Gold Film
Gold Film, the production company of the Red Roses series, whose shooting was stopped after it was targeted, issued a statement. The statement emphasised that they believe that RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin and its members will make the right decision.
The statement reminded that the President of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), Ebubekir Şahin, has initiated an investigation into the Red Roses and said, “We fully believe that our RTÜK President Mr Ebubekir Şahin and our esteemed members will make the right decision on behalf of the Turkish nation.”
Gold Film’s statement is as follows:
“The news claiming that ‘we will be satisfied with the punishment to be given to our series’ in these days when RTÜK has started an investigation and is at the decision stage regarding our series ‘Red Roses’ produced by our company, are completely manipulated and deliberate news aimed at damaging our series and our company and to negatively influence the members of the RTÜK Supreme Council to impose a penalty against our company at the investigation and decision stage. Our company has been operating in the TV and cinema film production sector for 30 years and we firmly believe that the official authorities and especially our RTÜK Chairman Ebubekir Şahin and our esteemed members will make the right decision on behalf of the Turkish nation.”
Dec.26, The Producer of the Controversial Series Made a Statement to 12punto
Faruk Turgut, the producer of “Red Roses”, spoke to 12punto for the first time about the publicly discussed series. Turgut said, “They declared war on us, but we will fight until the end. These obstacles will cause me a loss of 10 million TL, but so be it. We will find better new venues without giving up,” he said.
Turgut said that the blocking of the series did not affect him negatively, “This situation motivates me. I set out by calculating what will happen. We will not give up and we will continue the struggle. I am not a man who will be deterred by fear or threats. If I were afraid, I wouldn’t do these jobs. I could shoot TV series that put people to sleep, I could do this profession without touching anything, but it wouldn’t suit my character.”
Stating that the series deals with the meeting of the fates of Levent (Özcan Deniz), a secular Kemalist, and Meryem (Özgü Namal), who lives in a religious sect, the producer said: “I am trying to hold a mirror to the sociology of Türkiye in an objective way. The facts should be discussed, we cannot get anywhere by ignoring them. But unfortunately, we ignore the facts. We have such a problem. I don’t do my job so that something negative will happen to the unity, solidarity and order of this country.”
“What kind of logic is it to watch 2 episodes of the series and make judgements? Last year, they also penalised One Love, and no one has heard of the series. I hope RTÜK will penalise us too. It works for me, I hope they continue in the same way.”
‘I WANT POLARISATION TO END’
Underlining that he has been producing for 40 years, Turgut said: “I have 600 people working for me. I want the absurd polarisation in society and ignoring each other to end. I want people to look at each other’s conscience and mind, not their clothes.”
Dec.26, The Justification for the Shooting Ban of Red Roses in Darülaceze Revealed
The set of the Red Roses series, which is on the agenda of the public opinion, was stopped with the instruction of the Ministry of Family and Social Services, and the shooting permits in Darülaceze were cancelled. Producer Faruk Turgut announced the justification for the cancellation of the Hospice with the document he shared on his x account.
The document contains the following statements as justification:
“‘Red Roses’, which was produced by Gold Prodüksiyon Yapımcılık A.Ş., was allowed to shoot some scenes in our institution, and at this point, it has been unanimously decided to cancel the decision of the Standing Committee dated 04.09.2023 and numbered 18 on the shooting of the series ‘Red Roses’ due to the fact that the first part of the series consists of scenes that polarise the public and humiliate spiritual values and contain opposition to social peace, and its attitude against the philosophy of existence of our institution, which has not discriminated against language, religion, race, gender and sect for 128 years.”
With its 2nd episode aired yesterday night, Red Roses achieved a rating of 7.85 in the ABC1 category and showed an impressive performance.
Dec.25, Second Episode of Red Roses Aired, Logic Debate Tops SM
The second episode of the controversial series RR was broadcast on Show TV. In this episode, which was remembered with a series of scenes, there were many discussions on Social Media. One of the discussions was the logic lesson given by the gifted Zeynep to the 28 February Physics Professor Suavi. With her logic example, Zeynep was explaining that both sides had the same approach to the headscarf issue and that girls suffered as a result.
This sequence in the second episode of the series was discussed a lot on Social Media.
Dec.24, İstanbul, Demand to ban the series
Members of Mil-Diyanet Sen protested against the series “Red Roses”, which is targeted by Tariqas and Jamaats and was monitored by governmental organisations as well. The protesters gathered in front of Fox TV and claimed that “religious values and religious officers were targeted” in the series. The protest demanded that RTÜK ban the series.
RTÜK’S DECISION AWAITED WITH CURIOSITY
Now, the eyes now turned to the investigation initiated by RTÜK – Radio and Television Supreme Council. The General Assembly of RTÜK will decide whether a penalty or sanction will be imposed on the series. The Council is expected to meet in the middle of this week and take the series on its agenda.
Dec.24, Permission to shoot was cancelled
Since the first episode aired on Show TV last Monday, the series “Red Roses” has been targeted. Tariqas and Jamaats have been targeting the series, and governmental bodies have been attempting to censor and block it.
Finally, the permission to shoot at the Darülaceze Care Home affiliated to the Ministry of Family and Social Services was cancelled, and it was reported that this decision was taken by the Ministry.
In the previous days, it was announced that there was no cancellation regarding the hospital scenes, but when the set workers went to shoot, they learned about the cancellation decision.
The series “Red Roses” aired on Fox TV has been targeted by the media, tariqas and jamaats close to the ruling party since days.
STRONG REACTION BY PROMINENT SECT
The İsmailağa Jamaat made the following call for the cancellation of the series on its social media account: “It is unacceptable to see in the current media broadcasts and programmes that seem to aim at insulting our religion and religious people by targeting the names of Allah, our holy book the Holy Quran, our Sufi concepts, our spiritual institutions such as sects and tariqas, and various titles such as hajji and hodja.”
‘COMPLAINTS WERE REGISTERED’
RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin said, “The complaints of our citizens through our call centre regarding the latest series broadcast on FOX TV are being carefully registered. All complaints are examined by our supreme board experts responsible for the supervision of the broadcasting organisation in question.”
The production company Gold Film had recently released a statement on the subject.
PREVIOUSLY BLOCKED SHOOTING
Last week, Istanbul Foundations 1st Regional Directorate cancelled the shootings in Bayrampaşa Madrasah and Siyasal Foundation. Public pressure and RTÜK review were presented as the reason for the cancellation.
You can access the content of Episode International related to Red Roses here.
