When I sat down to write about Famagusta, I struggled to find the right words to start. How do I explain that I’ve just watched the most harrowing TV series of my life? How do I explain that it was so powerful it re-framed my existence as the daughter of Cypriot migrants? It answered why my parents are the way they are, why my culture is the way it is, and why my upbringing was so challenging.  A series based on the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Famagusta first aired in January 2024 on Mega (Greece) and Alpha (Cyprus) for the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion. I streamed from Australia via Alpha but with no English subtitles—yet another layer of censorship. In September 2024, in the face of Turkey’s threats to pull its 2.6 million subscribers (vs Cyprus’s mere 50,000), Netflix caved, banning Famagusta outside Greece and Cyprus. …

---