The movie titled “Blonde Bride – The Inner Face of the Armenian Problem Documentary” prepared by the Turkish General Staff was distributed to education institutions as a supplementary education material to schools on June 19, 2008.

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 is seen that it possesses a content which ratchets up hostility instead of peace,” said Fethiye Çetin, 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 Çetin.

“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 Çetin.

With the decision it made on June 25, 2010, the 9th Istanbul Administrative Court rejected the demand, ruling that there was no definite process that needed to be conducted on the matter.

The foundation, however, said the content of the letter sent to all schools or the words utilized contradicts with the court’s justification.

Noting that the provincial education directorates requested feedback reports to be sent after the documentary was shown to every student in every state and public schools, the Dink Foundation said this illustrated an obligation to report on whether the DVDs were shown in the way desired.

Furthermore, it was demanded that the DVDs be sent to the Culture Department before March 2, 2009, without demanding a second follow-up, which should not have been done, said the Dink Foundation.

The Blonde Bride Documentary advocating the Turkish thesis against the Armenian genocide allegations narrated how Armenian gangs killed and tortured people and set fires after raiding Turkish villages, according to the daily Radikal.

Shot by director İsmail Umaç, 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.