A father is suing the Turkish Education Ministry for forcing his 11-year-old daughter to watch a "racist" and "disturbing" film countering claims that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians in 1915 with graphic allegations of Armenian atrocities against Turks.

The landmark case takes on what human rights activists have called the state's militarist policy of brainwashing Turkey's schoolchildren to the point of racist paranoia, aiming to preserve a nationalist status quo criticized by the European Union, which Turkey is keen to join.

The Education Ministry says that it has stopped the distribution of the documentary, "Sari Gelin (Blonde Bride)," named after an Armenian folk song. But it has apparently not recalled it and critics say that it remains part of the curriculum.