Daily Star – Lebanon
Feb 23 2009
Armenian activists protest over screening of ‘racist’ documentary in
Turkey By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Monday, February 23, 2009
ISTANBUL: Armenian and other rights groups called for action Saturday
over Turkish school screenings of a controversial documentary on the
Ottoman mass killings of Armenians, charging that the film incited
racism and enmity. The call follows an outcry in the small Armenian
community following reports earlier this week that the education
ministry had asked school teachers to show the documentary to students
and file reports on the result of the screenings.
The documentary, called "Blonde Bride – The True Face of the Armenian
Question," has come under fire for taking Turkey’s official line that
Armenians were not the victims of genocide at the hands of Ottoman
Turks in 1915-1917.
The film has also been criticized for violent images of Armenian gangs
attacking Turks and piles of corpses it says were of Turks killed by
Armenians.
"This documentary is a propaganda film … It is not only biased and
hostile but also provocative and openly racist," said a declaration
signed by seven rights organizations, among them Armenian foundations
and the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly. The film "has been made to poison
people’s souls and to turn Turks and Armenians into enemies," it said.
It called on the education ministry to launch an internal
investigation and "expose and punish" those behind the order for
school screenings.
Earlier this week, the ministry said it had sent copies of the film to
schools to be viewed by teachers as additional material and not by
students. It added that it had halted the distribution in July 2008
after discovering "uses outside its original purpose."
Armenians say during World War I Turkey’s predecessor, the Ottoman
Empire, massacred up to 1.5 million of their people, terming the
killings as genocide. Turkey rejects the label of genocide and argues
that 300,000-500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in
civil strife when Armenians took up arms for independence. – AFP