It's likely you're thinking of the 1982 German-Turkish miniseries *Forty Days of Musa Dagh* based on the novel of the same name by Franz Werfel. Here's the main cast for that production:
* Anthony Quayle as Franz Werfel
* Michael York as Gabriel Bagradian
* Klaus Maria Brandauer as The Patriarch
* Robert Rietty as The Mukhtar
* Jean-Claude Brialy as Aram Bagradian
* Günter Meisner as A Turkish Officer
* Filiz Akın as Isko's wife
* Ayla Algan as The Patriarch's wife
* Ayşen Gruda as The Mukhtar's wife
* Haluk Bilginer as Musa
* Yılmaz Zafer as A Turkish Officer
* Gülhan Tekin as Isko's sister
This miniseries was a significant production, but it doesn't appear to have gained widespread notoriety in English-speaking markets.