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‘Military archives should be opened to shed light on Dersim massacre’
The authors of “Dersim 38'i Hatırlamak” (Remembering Dersim '38) interviewed 146 people in Turkey's 20 provinces and four countries for The 1937–1938 Dersim Oral History Project.
The interviewees talked about what they remember of the Dersim events, its aftermath and how it traumatized not only the older people from Dersim but also their children and grandchildren.
Bülent Bilmez, one of the authors of the book, said their research, carried out between July 2010 and June 2011, started following the remarks of an opposition figure, Onur Öymen from the Republican People's Party (CHP), who in 2009 referred to the Turkish government's response to the Dersim rebellion as an example of fighting terrorism during a parliamentary speech.
Bilmez said all archives, including those of the General Staff, should be opened in order to reach more information about the events.
“If the archives are opened, we'd know how many people were sent into exile, where they were sent and where children were given up for adoption,” he said.
Another author, Şükrü Aslan, said it is important that the current government acknowledge that what happened in Dersim was a “massacre.”
The Dersim rebellion took place in 1937 in Dersim, which had historically been a semi-autonomous region. Dersim was renamed Tunceli after the rebellion. The rebellion was led by Seyyid Rıza, the chief of a Zaza tribe in the region. The Turkish government at the time, led by former CHP leader İsmet İnönü, responded with air strikes against the rebels. CHP deputy Öymen angered Turkey's Alevi community by referring to the government's response to the rebellion as an example of fighting terrorism. Tens of thousands of Alevi Kurds and local Zazas were killed and thousands more forced into exile during state efforts to quell the unrest in Dersim.
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