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Turkish textbooks encourage intolerance
By Joseph DeCaro
A report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has found that Turkey's textbooks encourage intolerance towards non-Islamic religions while reinforcing negative stereotypes.
According to Barnabas Aid, the report reveals that Turkey's religious ed textbooks teach students only what Islam believes about Judaism and Christianity and not what Jews and Christians themselves believe.
(Worthy News) - Theoretically, Turkey allows non-Muslims to be exempted from compulsory religious education if their religion is on record with the state. But parents have complained that some schools have refused to allow their children to be exempted.
Last year, Barnabas reported that an eighth grade Turkish history text described the country's campaign of genocide -- which killed 1.5 million Armenian and Assyrian Christians -- as only a series of "necessary deportations" lasting from 1915-1918.
Today, Turkey still refuses to even acknowledge its genocide of Christian.