Since Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen last month defended the violent suppression of a rebellion in 1937 in the Alevi-dominated province of Tunceli, the Dersim Rebellion has occupied the agenda of the country, with many questioning the background of the rebellion and the violent way it was suppressed.
During a speech in Parliament on Nov. 10 criticizing the government’s Kurdish initiative, which seeks to expand the rights of Kurds in Turkey to alleviate and ultimately end the separatist terrorism of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Öymen said: “Didn’t mothers also cry at the time of the Sheikh Said Rebellion? Didn’t mothers also cry at the time of the Dersim Rebellion?” in response to the government’s use of the phrase “Let no more mothers cry” as part of its efforts to end the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) campaign of terrorism.
Öymen’s remarks led to an outcry among the Alevis
Visiting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Prime Ministry on Tuesday, a delegation from Tunceli headed by Tunceli Education and Health Foundation President Kazım Arık made two requests to Erdoğan. One of their requests was for the restoration of the name Dersim in place of Tunceli and the other was for the missing graves of the rebellion leaders Seyit Rıza and Sheikh Sait to be found.
During the meeting, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, AK Party deputy leaders Hüseyin Çelik and Salih Kapusuz and AK Party deputies Reha Çamuroğlu and İbrahim Yiğit of Alevi origin were also in attendance. Taking notes of the Alevi requests, Erdoğan told the delegation that the government would hold two more Alevi workshops in addition to the five already held so far and added: “A declaration will be prepared after these workshops. I think your requests will be included in this declaration. We will make short, medium and long-term studies regarding the Alevis’ problems. In time, you will see your problems being solved one by one.”
Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Kapusuz said the Alevi delegation’s requests were just and right. “It is possible to meet these demands. But the prime minister did not say these demands will be immediately fulfilled but he said he will take a close interest in the issue.”
Following the meeting, Erdoğan asked Atalay whether it was possible to change Tunceli’s name to Dersim. Atalay said it could be done through a law and no referendum was needed for a change. Upon this, Erdoğan ordered the preparation of a draft law that will make the name change possible.
