Turkey: pupils dressed as devils with Greek and British flags at a school celebration spark outrage

Photos from the celebration of a Turkish primary school for the anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, on October 29, are causing strong reactions on social media. In the school performance, small pupils appeared in red devil masks with horns, wrapped in the Greek and British flags.

The images circulated on Sunday, November 1, with the accompanying posts saying that the performance re-enacted the founding of the Republic and the Turkish “War of Independence”. That is what Turkey calls the conflict that in Greek history is linked to the Asia Minor Campaign and the Catastrophe of 1922.

What the photograph shows

In the photograph accompanying the post, a child stands in front of the camera in a red devil mask with the Greek flag tied around the shoulders like a cape. Behind, in the yard, appear another pupil in a red mask with a Greek flag, a child in an orange hat wrapped in the British flag and another with a red and yellow flag. At the back right, above the yard fence, hangs a Turkish flag, while a man in a grey jacket and black vest stands behind the children. At the far right are also children in red shirts, one of them with a Turkish flag.

The photos provoked a wave of criticism online. October 29 is a Turkish national anniversary honouring the proclamation of the Republic in 1923.

According to the posts, children appeared in masks of devils and monsters, wrapped not only in Greek and British but also Italian, German and other foreign flags, while the children playing the Turkish side held only Turkish flags and wore no masks.

A pattern in Turkish public rhetoric

The images circulate a day after the anniversary of Greece’s “No” of October 28, which Greece marked with parades and school celebrations across the country. It is not the first time Turkish public rhetoric has presented Greece, and the Greek islands, as a threat to Turkey: Greek observers have recorded such cases before. The photos come from social media posts, and the school and the exact circumstances have not been officially confirmed.