The administration of Anatole France School in Montbéliard, France, asked the School’s Turkish parents “not to exaggerate” the story of the caricature linked with the Armenian Genocide issue, Nouvelles d’Arménie magazine of France informs, referring to Anadolu News Agency of Turkey.     

During their meeting with the parents and the members from the Turkish COJEP International Association, the college’s administration advised the parents to “not look for evil intentions,” and stated that the crisis was caused by the teacher’s unprofessionalism, who had selected a caricature for the class.      

According to the School administration, the teacher had simply printed that caricature from the Internet, distributed it to the students, and assigned them to interpret the caricature and conclude why Turkey cannot become an EU member. 

To note, the aforesaid teacher showed a caricature which depicted a mustached man—representing Turkey—carrying a sack full of human skulls. The sack symbolizes Turkey carrying the skulls and with the inscription: “Armenian Genocide.” The person standing nearby represents France. The man with the sack is climbing the mountain with an EU flag atop.

As a result, the Turkish students’ parents had filed a complaint with the French Education Ministry and the organization for the protection of the rights of foreigners.