Turkey has arguably lurched in an authoritarian direction under the leadership of President Erdogan, but the memory of the Turkish republic’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is sacrosanct.

That appears to be a major factor behind the decision of Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog to launch an investigation into claims that streaming service Disney+ pulled an eponymous series about the life of Ataturk, the group’s chairman said.

Some Armenian Americans had lobbied for the show to be canceled on the grounds that Ataturk, as an officer in the Ottoman army, was tied to the mass killing of Armenians in 1915.

In June, the Armenian National Committee of America called on Disney+ to cancel the series, saying that it “glorifies a Turkish dictator and genocide killer.” On Monday, ANCA thanked supporters of its campaign against Disney+ “glorifying” Ataturk and claimed the show had been canceled.

In the meantime, the chairman of Turkey’s television watchdog, RTUK, Ebubekir Sahin, said in a statement made on social media Tuesday that Ataturk is “our most important social value.”

The spokesman for President Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, Omer Celik, went one step further, condemning the reported decision not to stream the series in a post on X. Mr. Celik criticized Disney+ for “succumbing to the pressure of the Armenian lobby” in reportedly canceling the series. “This attitude of the platform in question is disrespectful to the values of the Republic of Turkey and our nation,” he stated.

The Radio and Television Supreme Board decided to initiate an investigation “based on the public information” that Disney+ decided not to broadcast the series, Mr. Sahin, the board chairman, stated late Tuesday.

Ataturk, who led the Turkish independence struggle in the years following World War I and went on to become the country’s first president, is such a venerated figure in Turkey that insulting his memory is a criminal offense.

Disney+ announced last month that the Ataturk series would be aired “on the 100th anniversary” of the Turkish Republic, which falls on October 29.

In a statement on Wednesday, Disney-owned Fox said “Ataturk” would be released as two films for TV and cinema on October 29 and December 22 respectively. The statement did not explain why plans for the production had changed from a TV series format or was not going to be aired on Disney+.

An estimated 1.5 million people were killed in what is widely viewed as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths of Armenians constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.