Statement from Writer Buket Uzuner, Who Filed a Plagiarism Case against Atiye

Netflix's second original series in Turkey Buket Uzuner, who filed a plagiarism case against Atiye, prepared and presented by journalists Ali Eyüboğlu and Seher Kılıç on YouTube. magazine to your notary was a guest. Claiming that the Atiye series, broadcast on Netflix and starring Beren Saat, was adapted from her own books, Buket Uzuner filed a lawsuit against the producer of the series, OG company. He filed a lawsuit.

Making statements about the lawsuit he filed in the program, the 64-year-old writer talked about what happened in the process dating back to 2019 and how one of OG's producers wrote about Defne Kaman's Adventures. Netflix series He said he made an offer to do it.

Buket Uzuner's statements regarding the Atiye case:

According to the article compiled by Oda TV, Uzuner's statements are as follows:

"The Adventures of Kaman, later 'Soil', ‘Weather' and I'm currently writing the last oneFire' He continued with his tetralogy. The script of the Atiye series broadcast on Netflix is ​​based on these books. to be plagiarized I started a legal battle because of this.

For me, plagiarism means intellectual theft. as much as financial theft important. In fact, it is a very important case because in our country, abstract things are less visible and copyrights are ignored. And I am a writer who thinks that we should be against the theft of ideas in the same way that we defend freedom of thought.

In this country, from Sabahattin Ali, from Tevfik Fikret to Nâzım Hikmet, freedom of thought for was fought. But I also think we need to fight against thought theft. I started writing these novels in 2012.

In the series Atiye, one of these novels, the characters especially; Bay kaman, her healer pharmacist grandmother Umay Nine and especially in the novel Toprak Archaeologist Güneş Aytan I use it as a book of codes Kutadgu Bilig's I saw that it was plagiarized in many elements by using it in different ways..."

'Netflix made an offer to make Defne Kaman's Adventures a TV series'

Last year, the TV series Atiye production company OG One of its producers asked him to turn Defne Kaman's Adventures into a Netflix series. made an offer Claiming that Buket Uzuner explained the process as follows:

"In 2019, one of the producers of the Atiye series wrote a letter and announced that he wanted to make Defne Kaman's Adventures a Netflix series. I also met with this gentleman, whom I found extremely reliable in my review. In other words, Defne Kaman's Adventures is a Netflix series. As a Netflix series I approached it positively. These meetings continued for about 8 months.

Meanwhile, this gentleman, one of the producers of the OG company, the company that produces the Atiye TV series, told me in Göbeklitepe He mentioned that they were shooting a TV series. I wasn't interested in that at all. I thought of it as its own other project. Later, while these negotiations were continuing, in December last year in Cyprus I was invited as a speaker to a panel on the subject of environment and women. When I returned to the hotel that day, hundreds of people that night social media I came across this message and I was very surprised. It turns out that the Atiye TV series was broadcast that day.

Defne Kaman's Adventures, which was created as a result of my efforts of almost 15 years, can be read by the readers of Defne Kaman and her grandmother, Umay Nine, in various areas of social media. they sent me messages. I was very surprised, as you can imagine... There were questions about how there are so many similarities, did you cast Defne Kaman in the Atiye series, are you on the editorial board, are you a screenwriter? When I watched the series later, my jaw dropped. Defne Kaman with another name He left the Hittite excavation site in Çorum and went to Göbeklitepe. Of course, I was very sad about this situation. My correspondence with producers "I have records in which he told me that there was no such significant similarity as a result."

'I bought and read the book to see if hundreds and thousands of Defne Kaman readers were wrong.'

“First of all, there is a novel that is said to be the source and inspiration for this work, the Atiye series. 'of the world 'Awakening' I bought the book and read it, wondering if I was wrong or if hundreds and thousands of Defne Kaman readers were wrong. The novel talks about a completely different character. Atiye in the novel is a woman who was raised as an adopted child in a village and comes to Istanbul and works as a white-collar worker. Her boyfriend is also an agent.

However, in the TV series Atiye and the novel Toprak Bay kaman, is an educated young woman with a family from Istanbul and a grandmother. There is no such grandmother in the novel that inspired her, there are some metaphysical concepts. It is a novel that has its own consistency within itself. In my novel, there is a pharmacist grandmother, a white-haired sage, and an archaeologist. Sun Aytan There is a boyfriend named "

'Theft should not be done so easily'

"Now, literary people know very well, there is no need to be a literary person, the basis of a work is its backbone, its main characters. An example I always give is from İnce Memed Thin Memed take it out and replace it Kuyucakli Yusuf sheep. There will be completely different novels. these hamlet You can do it for, Madam Bovary You can do it for. That's why the most important part and backbone of a novel is its setting and characters. Now, in this tetralogy of mine, Defne Kaman is a character in all four novels. And at the same time, since this series is based on characters, it would be a completely different series if they made Atiye as a girl who grew up in that village. And as long as the series continues Plagiarism continues throughout the seasons It does. Yes, it may be said that 'This is Turkey', but we are also citizens of the Republic of Türkiye, we are also writers and we work hard. Theft should not be done so easily.

For that reason of this case I think it will probably win. Because experts worked throughout the summer months. They compared all three works and prepared expert reports. You don't need to understand literature or cinema. When you look at these, you see them too. Very clear and distinct. Winning this case will be a great precedent. I want to hope that from now on, this place will not be remembered as a paradise of plagiarism. This is something I desire very much as a writer. I hope other writers will also support it. Writers' associations, publishers' unions... Because this is an issue for all of us.

All together, we should not make this just a matter of whether you like Buket Uzuner or not. This is a matter of law. If it was written for someone else's book, I would support it, and I still do. Idea theft shouldn't be this easy. We will see together. I say this from my heart. "I am a female writer who has been trying to make a living by writing for 30 years, and I say 'Let the right one win.'"

You can watch the entire program in the video below: