A furious row was sparked over reports that a Turkish school in Istanbul had “banned” Christmas.
Politicians in Berlin voiced their outrage over an alleged decision by the German-backed international school in Istanbul to cancel its Christmas festivities.
But the Turkish school denied the ban, which was first reported by the respected German news agency dpa last week.
Set up in 1884, the Istanbul Lisesi is a Turkish-German bilingual state school partly backed by the German government.
The German foreign ministry said in a statement: “We don’t understand the surprising decision by the management of the Istanbul Lisesi.
“It is too bad that the good tradition of pre-Christmas intercultural exchanges at the school with a long German-Turkish tradition has been suspended.
“We are of course taking this up with our Turkish partners.”
In response to the claims, the school said: “The reports in German media about restrictions on Christmas festivities of German teachers do not reflect reality.
“A concert was cancelled by the German teachers in question without explanation. There is no question of the school or its management placing an obstacle in its way or prohibiting it.”
German politicians reacted with anger including left-wing lawmaker Sevim Dagdelen, who said the government must “immediately summon the Turkish ambassador and send a note of protest to Ankara”.
The Greens’ education policy spokesman Ozcan Mutlu described the alleged ban as “simply shocking” and said if it remained then the Government should urgently reconsider whether German taxpayers should continue to fund the school.
