History schoolbook axed

Church applauds decision but reaction from academic community is mixed

The Education Ministry yesterday withdrew a sixth-grade history textbook following complaints by the Church and right-wing critics that it distorted historical facts, following months of controversy over the education material originally destined for state schools.

Critics had said the book played down the suffering of Greeks at the hands of the Ottoman Turks and accused it of containing inaccuracies and being unpatriotic.

Recently appointed Education Minister Evripidis Stylianidis said the book was removed from the national curriculum after a panel of experts reviewed it on Monday.

“Given the serious reservations regarding the content of the book, it has been decided that the book should be withdrawn,” Stylianidis said.

“It will be replaced with the older textbook until a new book is ready,” he added.

During the election campaign in the runup to the September 16 polls, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis had said he “strongly disagreed” with parts of the book but made no mention of its withdrawal.

The Church of Greece was one of the book’s most fierce critics, demanding its immediate withdrawal months ago.

The Church said the book fails to highlight its own role during the 1821 Greek revolution against the Ottoman Empire.

Archbishop Christodoulos, in Miami awaiting a liver transplant operation, in a statement congratulated the minister for exercising the “right judgment and being outspoken.”

The decision is seen as a victory for the right-wing LAOS party that had petitioned for the withdrawal of the book.

Stylianidis, however, denied this.

“Schoolbooks are constantly reviewed and assessed by the ministry. That is how it works,” he said.

Although the book never even went to print, many parents were opposed to it and welcomed its withdrawal.

Reaction from members of the education community was mixed, with some teachers branding excuses to withdraw the book as “cheap.”

“Unfortunately, the withdrawal of the book... shows that promises made by Karamanlis, namely that he does not cooperate with extreme (political) groups, do not hold water,” said historian Antonis Liakos, a professor at Athens University.