Turkish Schoolchildren Instilled Hatred

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

TURKISH SCHOOLCHILDREN INSTILLED HATRED FOR CHRISTIANS

PanARMENIAN.Net

20.01.2009

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish Ministry of Education has issued a new

history textbook inciting schoolchildren to persecution of Christians.

 

The teenagers are taught "to confront Christian missionaries who

threaten Turkish national unity and culture."

 

The Union of Christian Churches of Turkey condemned publication

of the textbook, which fills the children with old stereotypes of

"Christian conspiracy against Turkey," Regions.ru reports.

 

Two Christian monks were killed in Turkey in 2007. 4 people were

killed in an assault on a Christian mission in Malatia in 2008.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

 

 

Turkish Textbooks See Change in Genocide Wording

 

 

AsbarezOnline

January 22, 2009

 

 

 

ANKARA (Combined Sources)--Students in Turkey will see a change in the way the 1915 Armenian Genocide is taught in their schools with text books covering the period will no longer use words that blatantly negate the reality of the genocide, reported the Turkish Hurriyet Daily on Thursday.

 

Text books for Turkish 8th graders will no longer refer to the Armenian genocide as a “baseless” accusation or a “so-called” genocide, Hurriyet said. Instead, the 8th text books that cover the issue will refer to the Genocide only as the “1915 events.”

 

The curriculum change comes after a review by the Coordination Board to Fight Baseless Genocide Claims (ASIMKK), the Education Ministry and the Head Council of Education and Morality.

 

As a result, the 8th grade curriculum for the course “Revolution History and Kemalism” has been amended, as well as its official description. The sentence describing the curriculum as one that will teach 8th Turkish 8th graders the “historical development of Turkish-Armenian relations and Armenian allegations,” has been replaced with a statement that says the curriculum will teach “Turkish-Armenian relations, 1915 events and related Armenian allegations.”

 

[Yervant1]

HATRED FOR ARMENIANS PROPAGATED IN TURKISH SCHOOLS

 

PanARMENIAN.Net

18.02.2009 20:18 GMT+04:00

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Constantinople Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic

Church summoned a conference to discuss the recent decision of the

Turkish Ministry of Education decreed to screen Sari Galin documentary

on 'murders of Turks by Armenians' for Turkish schoolchildren.

 

The documentary is a Turkish view on the Armenian Genocide in the

Ottoman Empire. With lots of violence shots, it aims to propagate

hatred for Armenians.

 

43 representatives of the Armenian community of Istanbul have already

sent a note to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Normarmara

 

[Yervant1]

CHILDREN EXPOSED TO RACIST PROPAGANDA MOVIE

 

BIA

Feb 18 2009

Turkey

 

A "documentary" on the events of 1915 prepared by the Turkish army

incites protest by NGOs and individuals. The nation-wide showing of

the propaganda material in schools will instill hatred in a whole

generation they warn.

 

The General Staff of the Turkish Army has prepared a six-part

"documentary", which was sent to all primary schools through the

province authorities of the Ministry of Education. The DVDs are

to be shown to children "at a convenient time", and schools are to

report back on the effects of the film by 2 March, so a letter sent

to schools by the Ministry in January.

 

One of Turkey's most controversial issues The film is named after a

well-loved folk song, "Sarı Gelin" (Blonde Bride), a song whose melody

is known in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia, yet, so the vehement

critics, the film has nothing to do with promoting intercultural

understanding.

 

The full title of this "documentary" is "Sarı Gelin: The Inside Story

of the Armenian Problem", and it was sent out to primary schools in

June 2008.

 

It deals with the events of 1915, when, so many Armenians and

also an increasing number of Turks say, millions of Armenian

citizens of the Ottoman Empire were forcibly sent into exile

across to Syria. Definitions of the event range from a genocide

(i.e. a deliberate plan to eradicate an ethnic group) to claims

that the government was at the least negligent in letting so many

people starve, die of exhaustion or be killed by gangs. The Turkish

official discourse has long been to deny any wrongdoing, and rather

blame nationalist Armenian gangs for causing upheaval in the Ottoman

Empire and killing Turkish civilians.

 

A recent rapprochement between Turkish President Abdullah Gul

and Armenian Serzh Sargsyan, as well as an initiative by Turkish

intellectuals to apologise for the events of 1915 seemed to be

indications of a lessening of polarisation. However, critics of this

"documentary" say that it reiterates the Turkish nationalist stance.

 

"A generation fed on hatred" The education trade union Egitim-Sen

has demanded that schools immediately stop showing this film. Trade

union leader Zubeyde Kılıc told bianet that their report on the

film would be published within a week, and that they may go to court

in order to prevent further screenings at schools.

 

According to Kılıc, the film would teach 12 million children,

aged 6-14, to hate Armenians and anyone who is different. It would

"create a generation fed on hatred."

 

She added, "These children are at an age when they accept information

without interpreting it, when they accept what they are told as

the truth, and when things are stored in their memory. It will be

impossible for a child watching this film not to feel hatred for

Armenians."

 

"As for the Armenian children (i.e. citizens of Turkey who will also

be exposed to this film), they may be marginalised or discriminated

against afterwards. This worry may lead to them hiding their

identities."

 

Kılıc has called on an education which would teach the events

of 1915, as well as other controversial parts of Turkey's history,

in a way that would heal wounds. "But this film encourages conflict."

 

"Human rights violation"

 

The History Foundation has also denounced the film as propaganda

rather than a documentary. The foundation is currently working on

a project to identify human rights violations in school books, and

argues that this film represents just such a violation. It has also

called on the Ministry of Education to halt the viewings.

 

The foundation added, "This documentary is using a language of

hostility and discrimination to sow seeds of hatred in a society where

a hostility towards Armenians exists already. The 'justified reasons'

for this hostile attitude towards people who are 'not one of us' is

built on manipulative and selective 'arguments' put forward in the

film. The young pupils watching this film will accept those claims

as the truth."

 

Societal peace needs to be promoted

 

The History Foundation further said, "All these children and their

families are citizens with equal rights in this country. It should

be expected from the Ministry of Education that it would respect such

sensitivities in its practices. A safe environment, and societal peace,

can only be created when education practices are in tune with such

an understanding of citizenship. Damaged children's brains can only

stand in the way of societal peace."

 

Armenian schools worried Aris Nalcı, a writer for the Turkish-Armenian

newspaper Agos, reports that schools have started showing the film. He

says that the Armenian schools, which have also received the DVDs,

are worried. Some heads of school have said that their teaching

staff watched the film and decided that it would create traumas

among children.

 

Images of mass graves and bones for children The journalist cites

psychologist Asist. Prof. Dr. Serdar Degirmenoglu, who says that

children at that age would not be possible to recognise bad propaganda

material. The militarist tone of the film is supported by images of

mass graves, bones and skulls. Old men, who are calculated to evoke

feelings of sympathy, are interviewed. The psychologist expressed

his hope that the unsuitability of such a film for such an age group

would be realised.

 

 

 

[gamavor]

Since it comes from the military, most likely the US State Department joint efforts to promote the movie in an effort to facilitate Turkey's joining to the EU!

 

Why Euro-Americans are so predictable?

[Yervant1]

EDUCATION MINISTRY OF TURKEY HALTS SCREENING ANTI-ARMENIAN FILM CALLED 'SARY GELIN' AT SCHOOLS

 

ArmInfo

2009-02-20 12:46:00

 

ArmInfo. After an outcry from academics and Armenians, the Education

Ministry said that it had halted distribution of a documentary about

the Turkish version of 1915 events to primary schools eight months ago.

 

Turkish media reported that academics and Armenian citizens in Turkey

sent a letter to the prime minister demanding to stop distributing the

film called "Sary Gelin: The True Face of the Armenian Question," at

least to Armenian schools. The Education Ministry sent a statement at

the end of January to all primary schools asking for a summary report

of reactions from the documentary that it sent out June 25, 2008.

 

The documentary was criticized by academics for reflecting the

official ideology of the Turkish Republic about the incidents of

1915 and undermining the claims of an alleged Armenian genocide. The

documentary mentioned the 1915 incidents. It is mostly criticized as

unscientific and weak in its claims because it exaggerated the deaths

of Turks while undermining Armenian deaths in an attempt to dismiss

Armenians claims of genocide.

 

"The students were forced to watch that documentary, which indeed

had no scientific background. That would only increase hatred and

discrimination against the Armenians," the History Foundation of

Turkey said in a written statement on Tuesday.

 

Also, 500 Armenians and intellectuals have sent an open letter to the

prime minister protesting this incident. The letter asked the prime

minister to exempt at least Armenian schools and Armenian students

who attended the same classes with Turkish students from watching

the documentary. For academics, involving children in a conflicting

situation is wrong, according to Ali Bayramoglu, a columnist at daily

Yenisafak "This is to make the official ideology and the public opinion

exactly the same. This is similar to the practices of a totalitarian

state," said Bayramoglu, adding that it is undemocratic that Armenian

schools and Armenian students attending the same classes with

Turks were told to watch the documentary. Mensur Akgun, an academic

from Istanbul Kultur University, said although he did not watch the

documentary, he guessed it was a type of propaganda. "In a period when

relations between Armenia and Turkey are improving, it is wrong to

distribute propaganda materials, especially to children," said Akgun.

 

 

 

[Yervant1]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle5818155.ece

 

February 28, 2009

 

Father sues Turkish Education Ministry over Armenian 'genocide' DVD

 

Suna Erdem in Istanbul

 

A father is suing the Turkish Education Ministry for forcing his

11-year-old daughter to watch a `racist' and `disturbing' film

countering claims that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against

Armenians in 1915 with graphic allegations of Armenian atrocities

against Turks.

 

The landmark case takes on what human rights activists have called the

State's militarist policy of brainwashing Turkey's schoolchildren to

the point of racist paranoia, aiming to preserve a nationalist status

quo criticised by the European Union, which Turkey is keen to join.

 

`My daughter was very disturbed and frightened by the documentary and

kept asking me if the Armenians had cut us up,' said Serdar Kaya, an

ethnic Turkish doctor, who is suing the ministry and the child's

school for inciting racial hatred.

 

`There are many mass graves, bones and skulls in the DVD. They have

interviewed old grandads who inspire confidence and compassion. When

they say things like 'They cut off his head' and 'They used it instead

of firewood', that is bound to stay with the children,' Serdar

Degirmencioglu, a psychologist, told the Armenian newspaper Agos when

news first broke that the documentary was being shown to primary

school children - including ethnic Armenian Turks.

Related Links

 

The Education Ministry says that it has stopped the distribution of

the documentary, Sari Gelin (Blonde Bride), named after an Armenian

folk song. But it has apparently not recalled it and critics say that

it remains part of the curriculum.

 

Some MPs are bringing up the case in Parliament. The education union

Egitim-Sen has condemned the film, and the History Foundation has

dismissed it as baseless propaganda.

 

Another lawsuit has been filed by a foundation set up in honour of the

murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. The former editor of

Agos was murdered in 2007 by a young nationalist whose links to a

group of ultra-nationalists, codenamed Ergenekon, operating within the

security forces and state bureaucracy are now being investigated. `In

the whole of the documentary the word 'Armenian' has been used

thousands of times and only with negative connotations,' the

Foundation said.

 

Mr Dink had been one of several high-profile intellectuals, also

including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel literature laureate, and Elif Shafak,

the bestselling author, who had been sued by nationalist lawyers over

comments and writings alluding to the mass Armenian deaths. `You can

see that all those cases were part of a project of manipulation ...

There is a sick, abnormal tissue of Turkish society that is poisoned

by a nationalist, racist virus,' said Ufuk Uras, an independent MP who

backs Mr Kaya's case.

 

Many historians class the 1915 events as genocide, but even those who

reject the term accept that hundreds of thousands of Armenians died

when the Ottoman Turks deported them from eastern Anatolia. According

to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the death toll

was `more than a million'.

 

`You go and kill more than a million Armenians, wipe the traces of

Armenians from Anatolia, grab their property, and then show children

videos about 'What the Armenians did to us' ... We are cutting these

children off from the rest of the world,' said Ahmet Altan, editor of

the independent newspaper Taraf.