Istanbul Court rejects demand to stop Blonde Bride screening in Turkish schools

July 21, 2010 - 18:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The demand of the International Hrant Dink Foundation to stop the presentation of a controversial documentary movie about the events which took place in 1915 Turkish in schools was rejected by a local administrative court last month.

The movie, titled “Blonde Bride—The Inner Face of the Armenian Problem Documentary,” known as Sari Gelin, prepared by the Turkish General Staff, was distributed to education institutions as a supplementary educational material to schools on June 19, 2008. It depicts Armenian gangs killing and torturing people and setting fires after raiding Turkish villages in 1915, according to the daily Radikal.

The International Hrant Dink Foundation sued the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Education, saying the DVD’s content did not comply with the goals of education, which are fostering a culture of democracy, tolerance and responsibility.

The foundation also said the scenes could negatively affect the psychological and intellectual development of primary school students. Later, the foundation made a request to the Istanbul Administrative Court for the process’s cancellation.

“When the content of the documentary is examined, it can be seen that it possesses a content which ratchets up hostility instead of peace,” said Fethiye Cetin, lawyer for the foundation.

“Armenians are especially demonstrated as negative figures and the content of the documentary creates a grudge and hatred toward them. Moreover, the pictures illustrating skulls, sliced heads, and corpses could influence the physical and mental development of children,” said Cetin.

“We opened a case, stating that we do not find the utilization of such materials that ratchet up hostility instead of contributing to peace and democracy within educational institutions to be correct,” said Cetin.

With the decision it made on June 25, the 9th Istanbul Administrative Court rejected the demand, ruling that there was no definite process that needed to be conducted on the matter.

Shot by director Ismail Umac, the documentary was prepared after conducting a detailed study in 15 national research centers and research in the archives of 11 countries abroad, as well as the acquisition of 10 thousand archival documents, according to the official website of the Blonde Bride Documentary, Hurriyet Daily News reported.