FOUNDATION TAKES LOCAL EDUCATION DIRECTORSHIP TO COURT OVER ‘SARI GELIN’ DVD
Today’s Zaman
Feb 24 2009
Turkey
The administrators of the International Hrant Dink Foundation announced
yesterday that they have filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of
Education for its directive to all elementary schools to show a DVD
called "Sari Gelin: Ermeni Sorununun Ä°c Yuzu" (Yellow Bride: The
True Face of the Armenian Question), a controversial documentary on
the Armenian question.
The foundation, which was established after Turkish-Armenian
journalist was assassinated in 2007, opened a court case yesterday
at an Istanbul administrative court against the Istanbul Provincial
Education Directorship to end the distribution of the DVD to schools
in the province.
Indicating that the screening of the documentary in primary schools
would cause psychological harm to students, the foundation also
presented experts’ views regarding the issue. The lawsuit brief stated:
"What is important here is that the violence and brutality shown would
be associated with the Armenians. In the whole of the documentary,
the word ‘Armenian’ has been used thousands of times and only with
negative connotations attached to it."