Criminal complaint filed against Turkish comedy series for ‘encouraging alcohol and smoking’

Duvar English

The No to Addiction and Smoking Association has announced that they filed a lawsuit against the Netflix series The Life and Movies of Erşan Kuneri for “encouraging consumption of alcohol and smoking.”

Speaking on behalf of the association, Dr. Şahan Can Şahan told Demirören News Agency that “It is clear that the suspect engages in acts that encourage alcohol and cigarettes in almost every scene in the series Erşan Kuneri, and we thought that he obtained benefits from cigarette and alcohol cartels.”

"Even though we are in the 18th place in the world population ranking, we are in the 8th place in the smoker population ranking. Cigarette advertising is prohibited, but they do it hidden anyway. They use celebrities in this regard, too. In this sense, we are seeking rights for our children and youth. We have filed a lawsuit against Cem Yılmaz,” he added.

"It is not right to put cigarette scenes in all movies so insistently. This can only be achieved by obtaining a financial benefit," he further claimed.

Played by famous comedian Cem Yılmaz, Erşan Kuneri is an iconic character which was first featured in Yılmaz’s G.O.R.A. (2004) movie. The character is a producer and actor of erotic movie genre in Turkey in 1970’s. In The Life and Movies of Erşan Kuneri series, Kuneri decides to produce and act in movies in different genres.