The European Parliament is scheduled to later this month host an event called the "Dersim '38 Conference," labeling the Turkish Republic as having committed genocide against Kurdish-Alevi population 70 years ago. Feleknas Uca, Kurdish member of the European Parliament from Germany, is lending support to the conference, which will be held Nov. 13 by the Left Party of the European Parliament in Brussels. The event is dedicated to commemorating 70th anniversary of the events called the Dersim Riot or Revolt. A riot/revolt by the local Kurdish-Alevi population in the eastern Anatolian province of Tunceli -- then named Dersim -- was forcefully suppressed. While those alleging genocide claim that around 70,000 people were killed, no official figures have been provided by authorities.
Key figures from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), which is facing a closure case in the Constitutional Court, are among those who will participate in the conference. According to an announcement from the Association of Reconstruction of Dersim, which is organizing the conference, DTP deputies Şerafettin Halis and Aysel Tuğluk as well as Tunceli Mayor Songül Erol Abdil, also of the DTP, will deliver speeches.
MAHIR ZEYNALOV
LAURA MOTH
JAMES KIGER
PINAR VURUCU
DENİZ ERGÜREL
SEVGİ AKARÇEŞME
SİNEM CENGİZ
ABDULLA HAWEZ
ESRA MADEN
ŞULE KULU
M. EDİB YILMAZ
ERGİN HAVA
FATMA DEMİRELLİ
ABDULLAH AYASUN
BEGÜM BURAK
E. BARIŞ ALTINTAŞ