Greek church attacks history book that tries to bring Turks and Greeks together

[Strengthandhonour]

Greek Church attacks history book
By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens
Controversy is raging in Greece over a new school history book, which critics say is designed to improve relations with Greece's ancient rival, Turkey. Leading opposition is the Orthodox church, which says the book waters down the severity of Turkish brutality towards Greece over the centuries.
Critics say children's understanding of Greece's history will be corrupted.
But the book's authors and supporters say it is essential to soften language used to describe modern Greek history.
Once a year Greeks gather to celebrate independence. The ceremonies mark the day in 1821 when the war of liberation began and Greeks rose up against their rulers, the Turkish Ottoman empire.
It is a day of oral history for the young participants, when the country's elders recount details of Greek heroism and Turkish barbarity.
But the new text book, which is devoid of animosity towards the Turks and omits stories of violence, takes a different approach.
Public controversy
This is obvious especially when it refers to the war of independence and what the Greeks call the great catastrophe of 1922 when they were driven out of western Turkey.


The book tries to eliminate the words which challenge and brings in front of us the bitter memories
George Mustakis, theologian
"There won't be any clear identity of what the Greek fights were all about and why did we want to rebel against the Turks," Jeni Tutsis, a teacher, told the BBC.
The Orthodox church calls the book shameful because its role in the resistance movement and the shaping of the nation is also downplayed.
But theologian George Mustakis says it's essential to sto remove bigotry and extreme nationalism from accounts of the country's recent history.
"The book tries to eliminate the words which challenge and brings in front of us the bitter memories. It's a good thing, but we are not mature (enough) to accept such a book", George Mustakis said.
The government is refusing to withdraw the book from circulation but there may be some editorial changes.
This week the prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, made some interesting comments which some people interpreted as criticism of the text book.
He said that it was essential to study history in order to make sure that the mistakes of the past were not repeated.


source: BBC NEWS | Europe | Greek Church attacks history book

[svin]

Fine example of the positive role of the Church, contributing to nationalism.

[Strengthandhonour]

It's insulting to lower down Greek history so that immigrants won't be offended. There is a difference between trying to end bigotry and just downright crushing the history of the Greek people and their struggle against the Turks. sickening.

[Crvena zvezda]

Greeks I know said that statistics say that 90% of Greeks are opposed to these new textbooks (all made by Soros funded institutions) but yet the government is disregarded them. The only good thing according to them is that it will prevent the disgustingly liberal, Turkish appeaser, anti-nationalist, pro-muslim, pro-immigration, multiculturalist Dora Bakoyannis from becoming a future prime minister.

[Crvena zvezda]

Greece should do as Serbia did when these Soros funded NGO's did when they tried to send us a similar book. People called in anti-Serbian and the government discarded the book outright and threatened to ban Soros funded NGOs.

[Franze]

This book is a shame for all christians and all greeks, it must be forbidden.

[Kernunnos]

Originally Posted by Strengthandhonour

It's insulting to lower down Greek history so that immigrants won't be offended. There is a difference between trying to end bigotry and just downright crushing the history of the Greek people and their struggle against the Turks. sickening.

As if the turks were doing the same with their history books ... they incarcerate people who question the state version of the armenian genocide. Watering down history books is the first step to servitude.

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

There is almost in all European states this trend, to create "poltically correct" history textbooks. Today I read in Croatian newspapers that new history textbooks will be used next year at schools, in which everything will be "balanced", meaning that history will be no more presented from the exclusively Croatian, but from some "neutral" point of view.

Frightening and sickening! Schools are turning into centers of indoctrination of children into the ideology of the globalism and NWO. Time to consider home-schooling or, as Theobald proposed, creating private schools (at least until truely nationalist governments are established).

[Crvena zvezda]

Petition against George Soros funded textbooks in Greece and potentially in rest of s at this post I have a link to a petition against this textbook. But it is meant to apply to all countries in Eastern Europe:
- In Croatia it portrays the Ustashe in a way Croats would not approve.
- In Serbia it portrays Chetnika in a way Serbs would not approve.
- In Serbia it will not allow the textbooks to have a somewhat good view of Mussolini as some proposed textbooks recently have.
- It makes a huge focus on the holocaust, even though the holocaust and particularly the jewsih one has little impact on the history of countries of this part of Europe in WWII.
- It recognizes FYROMians as a nation.
- Serbia can't say the collaborationist regime in WWII helped the nation survive.

[Ederico]

I'm waiting for some idiot in Malta to ask for the downplaying of the Great Siege of Malta of 1565, and the Otto Settembre (8th. September), the day when the Turks fled defeated from the islands. A day declared our national feast by Maltese nationalists in the 19th. century. Why not eliminate from history books the razzia of 1551, one of the many, of the island of Gozo in the archipelago when the Turks took all able natives into slavery as well? I actually have some Turkish friends, but like hell our history is going down the drain to please anyone else.

Might as well remove the Sette Giugno (7th. June) from the public festivity calendar, because it recounts when Maltese civilian protestors where shot dead and many others wounded in 1919 by British troops, the English might take offence!

The day this is done is the day I'll be organizing nationalist commemorations on the frontline.

[Lucas Corso]

I' still waiting that some turkish text book admits the armenian genocide...