A candidate for Ottawa school board trustee says her views on the complicated shared history of Turkey and Armenia would have no bearing on how she would do her job if she unseats Zone 8 incumbent John Shea.

“I would most definitely put the well-being of all our children above and beyond anything else,” Lale Eskicioglu said. Zone 8 includes the municipal wards of Orléans and Cumberland.

The Ottawa chapter of the Armenian National Committee of Canada says it has “grave” concerns about Eskicioglu.

The committee says Eskicioglu lobbied against Canada’s recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, in which an estimated 1.5 million people were killed by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire. It remains one of the most disputed events of the 20th century, with Turkey, the empire’s successor, insisting that the count of the dead is inflated and that atrocities were mutual.

The ANCC claims Eskicioglu was also a vocal opponent of the Toronto District School Board’s decision to include details about the genocide in a Grade 11 history course. The group alleges that, if elected, she will use her position as trustee to block the curriculum from being presented in Ottawa schools.

“Given her credentials, it is questionable whether Ms. Eskicioglu will put the interest of Ontario’s students first before other agendas she may be pursuing,” the ANCC said Tuesday in a release.