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{{merge from|Dersim Massacre||discuss=talk:Dersim Massacre#Merger|date=November 2011}}
{{merge to|Dersim Rebellion||discuss=talk:Dersim Massacre#Merger|date=October 2012}}
{{POV|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict= Dersim Rebellion of 1937/1938
|partof=[[Kurdish rebellions]]
|casus= The residents of Dersim did not pay taxes
|image= [[File:Ataturk-PeopleHouses-Pertek.jpg|250px]]
|caption=[[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] and [[Sabiha Gökçen]] (November 17, 1937, in front of the [[Pertek]] [[People's Houses|People's House]])
|date=20 March 1937 - November, 1937,<br />2 January 1938 - December, 1938
|place=Dersim region
|result=Decisive Turkish victory. Revolt suppressed. Turkish control of Dersim region.
|combatant1={{flagicon|Turkey}} [[Republic of Turkey]]
|combatant2= Dersim tribes
|commander1={{flagicon|Turkey}} [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} [[İsmet İnönü]]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} [[Kâzım Orbay]]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} [[Abdullah Alpdoğan]]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} [[Galip Deniz]]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} [[Kemal Ergüden]]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} [[İsmail Hakkı Tekçe]]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} Şemsi Erkuş<br />[[Rêber Qop]]<br />Zeynel Top
|commander2= [[Seyid Riza]]{{POW}} {{Executed}}<br />Kamer Aga (Yusufan)<br />Cebrail Aga (Demenan)<br />Kamer Aga (Haydaran)<br />[[Alîşêr]]{{KIA}}<br />Zarîfe{{KIA}}
|strength1= 50,000<ref name="McDowall209"/>
|strength2= 3,000<ref>[[Osman Pamukoglu|Osman Pamukoğlu]], ''Unutulanlar dışında yeni bir şey yok: Hakkari ve Kuzey Irak dağlarındaki askerler'', Harmoni Yayıncılık, 2003, ISBN 975-6340-00-2, p. 16. {{Tr icon}}</ref>
|casualties1= 199 killed
354 wounded
|casualties2=10,000 killed<ref>''Turkey's Alevi enigma: a comprehensive overview'', Paul J. White, Joost Jongerden, 2003, page 198</ref> or <br />
13,160 civilians<ref name="Radikal"/>-70,000 people<ref name="pen-kurd.org">http://www.pen-kurd.org/almani/haydar/Dersim-PresseerklC3A4rungEnglish.pdf</ref> killed<br/>11,818 into forced migration.<ref name="Radikal"/>
|casualties3=
|}}
The '''Dersim rebellion''' was a [[Kurds|Kurdish]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Réseau Voltaire |url=http://www.voltairenet.org/article171949.html |title=Erdoğan présente les excuses de la Turquie pour le massacre de Dersim |publisher=Voltairenet.org |date=2011-11-23 |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.fr/books?id=PUSgS0Y-pRsC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=seyid+riza+kurdistan&source=bl&ots=W7vFphA_KX&sig=Cvo58WNIrFDR8sgEs2-c9At2Vw4&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=0Fp8UNPDLYTNhAfkv4CABA&ved=0CGoQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=seyid%20riza%20kurdistan&f=false |title=Etre Kurde, un dщlit?: portrait d'un peuple niщ - Jacqueline Sammali - Google Livres |publisher=Books.google.fr |date= |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.fr/books?id=MxKFhFCzeLcC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=seyid+riza+kurdistan&source=bl&ots=m8Z_MP0mK_&sig=Y8v7bBxlM5mhwHcXwslcVVbuGT8&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=0Fp8UNPDLYTNhAfkv4CABA&ved=0CG0Q6AEwDw#v=onepage&q=seyid%20riza%20kurdistan&f=false |title=Les Kurdes et leur histoire - Sabri Cigerli - Google Livres |publisher=Books.google.fr |date= |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklyzaman.com/en/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=4970 |title=Can Kurds rely on the Turkish state? |publisher=Weeklyzaman.com |date=2011-10-14 |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/middle-eastnorth-africapersian-gulf-region/turkeykurds-1922-present/ |title=16. Turkey/Kurds (1922-present) |publisher=Uca.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref> uprising against the [[Turkey|Turkish government]] in the [[Dersim]] region of eastern Turkey, which includes parts of [[Tunceli Province]], [[Elazığ Province]], and [[Bingöl Province]].<ref name="GD">Birinci Genel Müfettişlik Bölgesi, ''Güney Doğu'', İstanbul, p. 66, 194. {{Tr icon}}</ref> The rebellion was led by [[Seyid Riza]], an [[Alevi]] chieftain of the Yukarı Abbas Uşağı tribe.<ref>http://www.massviolence.org/IMG/article_PDF/Dersim-Massacre-1937-1938.pdf</ref>


{{Infobox civilian attack
== Background ==
| title = Dersim Massacre
| partof =
| image =Dersim_region_in_the_mid_1930s_English.png
| image_size = 300px
| alt =
| caption = Dersim in 1937
| map =
| map_size =
| map_alt =
| map_caption =
| location = {{flag|Turkey}}
| target = [[Dersim Rebellion]]
| coordinates =
| date = 1937–1938
| time =
| timezone =
| type = [[Massacre]]
| fatalities = 13,806–70,000<ref>{{cite news|title=Dersim massacre monument to open next month|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/news-296283-dersim-massacre-monument-to-open-next-month.html|accessdate=5 December 2012|newspaper=Today's Zaman|date=24 October 2012}}</ref>
| injuries =
| victim = [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] and [[Zaza people|Zaza]] [[Alevi]] population<ref>{{cite book
|title= Başlangıcından günümüze Dersim tarihi
|publisher= Can Yayınları
|last=Kaya
|first=Ali
|year= 1999
|url=http://books.google.com.tr/books/about/Ba%C5%9Flang%C4%B1c%C4%B1ndan_g%C3%BCn%C3%BCm%C3%BCze_Dersim_tar.html?id=9lttAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
|accessdate=16 May 2012}}</ref>
| perps = [[Turkey|Turkish]] government<ref>Altuğ, Kurtul. “''Celal Bayar Anlatıyor''”, [[Tercüman]], September 17, 1986. “''Şimdi, Mareşal, Erkan-ı Harbiye Reisi (Genelkurmay Başkanı), ben başbakanım. Atatürk malum... Üçümüz Dersim’de yapılan büyük ordu manevralarındayız. Manevranın da sonuna gelmek üzereyiz. Üçümüz bir arada ‘Ordunun emniyeti bakımından strateji ne olmalıdır?’, onu görüşüyoruz. İkisi de Birinci Cihan Harbi’nde muharebe etmişler. Ben daha çok izleyiciyim. Malumatları geniş... Oradaki her şeyi biliyorlar. Hatta şahsen casusları bile biliyorlar. Dersim’in o halde kalırsa her zaman ordunun emniyeti bakımından tehlikeli olacağını görüşüyorlardı... O sırada biz konuşurken, Dersimlilerin jandarma karakollarımızdan üç-dört tanesini bastıkları haberi geldi. Atatürk’le göz göze geldik. Birbirimizi anlıyorduk. Atatürk benim yüzüme baktı. ‘Ne olacak?’ dedi. Anlıyorum, orada emniyet tesis edilecek. Ne olursa olsun bana hitap edecekler. Hükümet reisi benim. ‘Anlıyorum efendim, bana hitap edişinizin manasını’ dedim. Atatürk: ‘Sorumluluğu üzerime alıyorum, vuracağız Dersim’i’ dedi ve vurduk...''”</ref><ref>[http://www.sesonline.net/php/genel_sayfa.php?KartNo=54283 Trabzon'daki belge: Dersim Katliamı'nı bizzat Atatürk yönetmiş...] "''Dersim (Tunceli)’de zuhur eden isyanda askeri durumu gösteren taktik işaretler bizzat Atatürk tarafından çizilmiştir''"</ref>
}}
[[File:Ismail Hakki Tekce & Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.Jpeg|thumb|300px|right|The commander of the Guard regiment [[İsmail Hakkı Tekçe]] and [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] at Tunceli region in 1937.]]
[[File:Sabiha Gokcen and her colleagues in front of Breguet 19.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Sabiha Gökçen]] and her colleagues in front of Breguet 19, 1937-38]]
[[File:Turkish soldiers and local people of Dersim region.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Turkish soldiers and local people of Dersim region. They were exiled to other parts of Turkey, 1938.]]
[[File:Lost girls of Dersim.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Local people of Dersim, 1938]]


The '''Dersim Massacre''' took place in 1937 and 1938 in Dersim Province (now known as [[Tunceli Province]]), [[Turkey]]. It was the outcome of a [[Turkish military]] campaign against the [[Dersim Rebellion]] by local ethnic minority groups against [[1934 Turkish Resettlement Law|Turkey's Resettlement Law of 1934]]. Thousands of [[Alevi]] [[Kurdish people|Kurds]] and [[Zaza people|Zazas]]<ref>http://www.massviolence.org/Dersim-Massacre-1937-1938 (According to the organisation encyclopedia of mass violence, Dersim is a Kurdish alevi province, and the massacre of turks were towards zaza speaking alevi kurds)</ref> died and many others were internally displaced due to the conflict.
===Ottoman period===
During the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] period, before the [[Tanzimat]], most of the empire's eastern regions were administrated by the Ottoman feudal system. Authority in these regions was in the hands of feudal lords, tribal chieftains and ''aghas'' (dignitaries).<ref name="Bulut">Faik Bulut, ''Devletin Gözüyle Türkiye'de Kürt İsyanlar (Kurdish rebellions in Turkey, from the government point of view)'', Yön Yayınclık, 1991, 214-215. {{Tr icon}}</ref>


On 23 November 2011, Turkish prime minister [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] gave an apology for the Dersim operation, describing it as "one of the most tragic events of our recent history".<ref name=BBC/>
===Early republican era===
The situation of Dersim in the Ottoman Empire continued in the early years of the [[Republic of Turkey]]. Tribes from Dersim objected to losing authority and refused to pay taxes.<ref>{{cite web
|title= Military documents to shine light on 'Dersim massacre'
|publisher= Hurriyet Daily News
|last=Ziflioğlu|first=Vercihan|date=November 18, 2009
|url= http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=military-documents-to-shine-a-light-on-the-8220dersim-massacre8221-2009-11-18
|accessdate=2010-09-22}}</ref>


== Rebellion in Dersim ==
Complaints{{Clarify|date=May 2012}} kept coming from the governors.{{Which|date=May 2012}} In an Interior Ministry report in 1926, it was considered necessary to use force against the residents of Dersim.<ref>Beşikçi, Ismail. (1990) ''Tunceli Kanunu (1935) ve Dersim Jenosidi'' (The 1935 law concerning Tunceli and the genocide of Dersim), Bonn, p.29. {{Tr icon}}</ref>
In 1934, Turkey passed a [[1934 Turkish Resettlement Law|Resettlement Law]], aimed at assimilating ethnic minority communities within the country.<ref>{{cite web

====Law on Resettlement====
The [[Turkification]] process in Turkey began with the Turkish National Assembly passing the [[1934 Turkish Resettlement Law|1934 Law on Resettlement]] ('İskân Kanunu' Law No.2510, 13 June 1934).<ref>{{cite web
|title= Reconfiguring the Turkish nation in the 1930s
|title= Reconfiguring the Turkish nation in the 1930s
|publisher= Harvard
|publisher= Harvard
Line 47: Line 48:
|year=2002
|year=2002
|url= http://www.hks.harvard.edu/kokkalis/GSW4/CagaptayPAPER.PDF
|url= http://www.hks.harvard.edu/kokkalis/GSW4/CagaptayPAPER.PDF
|accessdate=2 August 2010}}</ref> Its measures included the forced relocation of people within the country, with the aim of promoting cultural homogeneity. In 1935, the Tunceli Law was passed to apply the [[1934 Turkish Resettlement Law|Resettlement Law]] to the newly named region of [[Tunceli Province|Tunceli]], previously known as Dersim and populated by [[Kurdish people|Kurmanci-speaking]] and [[Zaza people|Zaza-speaking]] [[Alevism|Alevis]].<ref name=unwelcome>{{cite book|last=Lundgren|first=Asa|page=44|title=The unwelcome neighbour: Turkey's Kurdish policy|year=2007|publisher=Tauris & Co|location=London}}</ref> This area had a reputation for being rebellious, having been the scene of eleven separate periods of armed conflict over the previous 40 years.<ref name=McDowall>{{cite book|last=McDowall|first=David|title=A Modern History of the Kurds|year=2007|publisher=Tauris & Co|location=London|pages=207–208}}</ref>
|accessdate=2010-08-02}}</ref>


Following public meetings in January 1937, a letter of protest against the law was written to be sent to the local governor. According to Kurdish sources, the emissaries of the letter were arrested and executed. In May, a group of local people ambushed a police convoy in response, the first act of a localised conflict.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jwaideh|first=Wadie|title=The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development|year=2006|publisher=Syracuse University Press|page=215}}</ref>
===="Tunceli" law====
The Dersim region included the [[Tunceli Province]] whose name was changed from Dersim to Tunceli with the "Law on Administration of the Tunceli Province" (''Tunceli Vilayetinin İdaresi Hakkında Kanun''), no. 2884 of 25 December 1935<ref>''New perspectives on Turkey'', Issues 1-4, Simon's Rock of Bard College, 1999 [http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=uTotAQAAIAAJ&q=Tunceli+25+December+2884&dq=Tunceli+25+December+2884&hl=tr&ei=1CtxTOi0HY7ouAO0--xB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ p. 15.]</ref> on January 4, 1936.<ref>Paul J. White, ''Primitive rebels or revolutionary modernizers?: the Kurdish national movement in Turkey'', Zed Books, 2000, ISBN 978-1-85649-822-7, [http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=a80KQ4jdOeUC&pg=PA80&dq=4+January+1936+Tunceli&hl=tr&ei=6C5xTOqXDYaMvQPRid1B&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=4%20January%201936%20Tunceli&f=false p. 80.]</ref>


Around 25,000 troops were deployed to quell the rebellion. This task was substantially completed by the summer and the leaders of the rebellion, including tribal leader [[Seyid Riza|Sayiid Riza]], were hanged. However, remnants of the rebel forces continued to resist and the number of troops in the region was doubled. The methods used by the army were brutal, including the mass killing of civilians, the razing of homes and the deportation of people from less hostile areas. The area was also bombed from the air.<ref name=McDowall/> The rebels continued to resist until the region was pacified in October 1938.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chaliand|first=Gerard|title=A People without a country: the Kurds and Kurdistan|year=1993|publisher=Olive Branch Press|location=London|pages=58}}</ref>
====Fourth General Inspectorate====
{{main|Inspectorates-General (Turkey)}}


==Numbers killed==
In order to consolidate its authority in the process of [[Turkification]] of religious and ethnic minorities,<ref>Cemil Koçak, ''Umumi müfettişlikler (1927-1952)'', İletişim Yayınları, 2003, ISBN 978-975-05-0129-6, p. 144.</ref> the [[Turkish Grand National Assembly]] passed the law, numbered 1164 and dated June 25, 1927. Following the First Inspectorate-General (January 1, 1928, Diyarbakır),<ref>Birinci Genel Müfettişlik Bölgesi, p. 66.</ref>
The contemporary British estimate of the number of deaths was 40,000, although historians suggest that this figure may be exaggerated.<ref name=McDowall/> It has been suggested that the total number of deaths may be 7,594,<ref name=unwelcome/> over 10,000,<ref name=Kieser>Hans-Lukas Kieser: [http://www.hist.net/kieser/pu/responses.html ''Some Remarks on Alevi Responses to the Missionaries in Eastern Anatolia (19th–20th cc.).''] In: ''Altruism and Imperialism. The Western Religious and Cultural Missionary Enterprise in the Middle East.'' Middle East Institute Conference: Bellagio Italien, August 2000</ref> or over 13,000.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news|title=Turkey PM Erdogan apologises for 1930s Kurdish killings|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15857429|accessdate=24 November 2011|newspaper=BBC News |date=23 November 2011}}</ref> Around 3,000 people were forcibly deported from Dersim.<ref name=unwelcome/>


A 2008 conference organised by [[Kurdish PEN]] reached the conclusion that Turkey was guilty of [[genocide]], estimating that 50,000–80,000 were killed in the aftermath of the Dersim rebellion.<ref name="Dersim 38 Conference">[http://www.pen-kurd.org/almani/haydar/Dersim-PresseerklC3A4rungEnglish.pdf Dersim ‘38 Conference]</ref>
[the [[1934 Thrace Pogroms|Thrace pogroms]]{{Clarify|date=May 2012}}],
the Second Inspectorate-General (February 19, 1934, Edirne)<ref name="GD"/> and the Third Inspectorate-General (August 25, 1935, Erzurum),<ref>''Cumhuriyet'', August 26, 1935.</ref><ref>Erdal Aydoğan, [http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/45/793/10156.pdf "Üçüncü Umumi Müffetişliği'nin Kurulması ve III. Umumî Müffetiş Tahsin Uzer'in Bazı Önemli Faaliyetleri"], ''Atatürk Yolu'', Ankara Üniversitesi Türk İnklâp Tarihi Enstitüsü, Vol. 33-34, pp. 1-14.</ref> the Fourth General Inspectorate (''Dördüncü Umumi Müffetişlik'') was established on June 6, 1936, in the traditional Dersim region, which includes [[Tunceli Province]], [[Elazığ Province]] and [[Bingöl Province]].<ref name="GD"/>


==Genocide controversy==
On 1 November 1936, during a speech in the [[Turkish Grand National Assembly|parliament]] [[Atatürk]] acknowledged the situation in Dersim as Turkey's most important internal problem.<ref>Hasretyan, M. A. (1995) ''Türkiye'de Kürt Sorunu (1918-1940)'', Berlin, Wêşanên, ënstîtuya Kurdî: I., p. 262. {{Tr icon}}</ref> Firstly, military stations were built in the strategical zones.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} Then the Inspector of the Fourth General Inspectorate, Lieutenant General Abdullah Alpdoğan was given the authority to sign court orders, providing security,{{Clarify|date=May 2012}} to exile people that lived in the city when necessary. {{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}
Many Kurds and some ethnic Turks consider the events that took place in Dersim to constitute [[genocide]]. A prominent proponent of this view is the academic [[İsmail Beşikçi]].<ref>İsmail Besikçi, ''Tunceli Kanunu (1935) ve Dersim Jenosidi'', Belge Yayınları, 1990.</ref> Under international laws, it has been argued, the actions of the Turkish authorities were not genocide, because they were not aimed at the extermination of a people, but at resettlement and suppression.<ref>Martin van Bruinessen: Genocide in Kurdistan? 1994, S. 141–170.</ref> Scholars, such as [[Martin van Bruinessen]], have instead talked of an [[ethnocide]] directed against the local language and identity.<ref>[http://let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Dersim_rebellion.pdf The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937-38)] Excerpts from: Martin van Bruinessen, "Genocide in Kurdistan? The suppression of the Dersim rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) and the chemical war against the Iraqi Kurds (1988)", in: George J. Andreopoulos (ed), Conceptual and historical dimensions of genocide. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, pp. 141-170.</ref>


In March 2011, a Turkish court ruled that the actions of the Turkish government in Dersim could not be considered genocide according to the law because they were not directed systematically against an ethnic group.<ref>{{cite news|last=Saymaz|first=Ismail|title=Turkish prosecutor refuses to hear Dersim 'genocide' claim|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkish-prosecutor-refuses-to-hear-dersim-8216genocide8217-claims-2011-03-15|accessdate=24 November 2011|newspaper=[[Hürriyet Daily News]] |date=14 March 2011}}</ref>
== The Rebellion ==
[[File:Dersim region in the mid 1930s English.png|thumb|300px|A 1937 map of Dersim showing the central province, Hezat]]


==Government apology==
After the "Tunceli" Law, the Turkish government built military observation posts in the centers of districts such as Kahmut, Sin, Karaoğlan, Amutka, Danzik, and Haydaran.
On 23 November 2011, Turkish prime minister [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] apologised on behalf of the state for the Dersim massacre during a televised meeting of his party in Ankara. His comments were pointedly directed at opposition leader [[Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu]]. Erdogan reminded his audience that Kılıçdaroğlu's party, the [[Republican People's Party (Turkey)|CHP]], had been in power at the time of the massacre, then the only political party in Turkey.<ref name=BBC/> He described the massacre as "one of the most tragic events of our near history" saying that, whilst some sought to justify it as a legitimate response to events on the ground, it was in reality "an operation which was planned step by step".<ref>{{cite news|title=Turkey apologises for 1930s killing of thousands of Kurds|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/8910369/Turkey-apologises-for-1930s-killing-of-thousands-of-Kurds.html|accessdate=24 November 2011|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=24 November 2011}}</ref>


==See also==
===Meeting at Halbori cells===
* [[List of events named massacres]]
Seyid Riza, the chieftain of Yukarı Abbas Uşağı, sent his followers to the Haydaran, Demenan, Yusufan, and Kureyşan tribes to make an alliance.<ref name="Faik221">Faik Bulut, ''ibid'', p. 221. {{Tr icon}}</ref>
* [[Dersim Rebellion]]


==References==
According to Turkish authorities, on March 20–21, 1937, at 23:00 hrs, the Demenan and Haydaran tribes broke a bridge connecting Pah and Kahmut in the Harçik Valley. The Inspector General gave the order to prepare for action to the 2nd Mobile Gendarmerie Battalion at Pülümür, the 3th{{Clarify|date=July 2013|reason=Should this be '3rd', '13th' or something else?}} Mobile Gendarmerie Battalion at Pülür, the 9th Gendarmier Battalion at Mazkirt, and the Mobile Gendarmerie Regiment at Hozat, and sent one infantry company of the 9th Mobile Gendarmier Battalion to Pah.<ref name="Faik221"/>
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Reflist|3}}


==External links==
== Turkish military operations ==
{{see also|Dersim Massacre}}
{{Commons category|Dersim rebellion}}
*[http://www.guengl.org/showPage.jsp?ID=6762&PR=0&AREA=5337&GRP=0&SITE=0&CH=1&TYPE=1&FILENAME=showPage.jsp&INTERNAL=1&ISSUE=0&POPUP=0 Dersim 1938 – 70 Years After]
[[File:Breguet 19 Sabiha.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Sabiha Gökçen]] holding a bomb before the bombardment operation over Dersim with her [[Breguet 19]]]]
*[http://www.todayszaman.com/news-157244-dersim-on-turkeys-genocide-list.html Dersim on Turkey's ‘genocide' list]
According to [[Osman Pamukoğlu]], a general in Turkish Army in the 1990s, Atatürk had given the operational order himself.<ref>[http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/15589937.asp "Pamukoğlu: Dersim'in emrini Atatürk verdi"], ''[[Hürriyet]]'', August 19, 2010. {{Tr icon}}</ref>


===1937===
===In Turkish===
*{{Cite news|url=http://taraf.com.tr/makale/2797.htm

|accessdate=23 November 2008|title=Atatürk Dersim’i vuracağız dedi, vurduk
====First Tunceli Operation====
|work=[[Taraf]]|author=Hür, Ayşe|date=23 November 2008|language=Turkish}}
On September 10–12, 1937, [[Seyid Riza|Seyit Rıza]] came to the government building of the Erzincan Province for peace talks and was arrested.<ref>Ahmet Kahraman, pp. 286-287. {{Tr icon}}</ref> On the next day, he was transferred to the headquarters of the General Inspectorate at Elazığ and hanged with 6 (or 10) of his fellows on November 15–18, 1937<ref>Ahmet Kahraman, pp. 292-293. {{Tr icon}}</ref> The victims were:

*Seyit Rıza
*Resik Hüseyin (Seyit Rıza's son, 16 years old)
*Seyit Hüseyin (the chieftain of Kureyşan-Seyhan tribe)
*Fındık Aga (Yusfanlı Kamer Aga's son)
*Hasan Aga (of the Demenan tribe, Cebrail Ağa's son)
*Hasan (a Kureyşan tribesman Ulkiye's son)
*Ali Aga (Mirza Ali's son)

On November 17, 1937, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk came to Pertek to take part in the opening ceremony for the Singeç Bridge.<ref>''Cumhuriyet'', November 18, 1937, 17 Kasım 1937: Atatürk'ün Diyarbakır'dan Elâzığ'a gelişi, Tunceli'nin Pertek kazasına geçerek Murat Nehri üzerinde Singeç Köprüsü'nü hizmete açışı. {{Tr icon}}</ref><ref>[http://www.pertek.gov.tr/page.asp?id=25 "Atatürk Pertek'te"], The government of Pertek District. {{Tr icon}}</ref>

===1938===

====Second Tunceli Operation====
The prime minister, [[Celal Bayar]] (in office: October 25, 1937 – January 25, 1939) had agreed to an attack on the Dersim rebels.<ref>[http://www.taraf.com.tr/ayse-hur/makale-1937-1938de-dersimde-neler-oldu.htm "1937-1938’de Dersim’de neler oldu?"], ''[[Taraf]]'', November 16, 2008. {{Tr icon}}</ref> The operation started on January 2, 1938 and finished on August 7, 1938.

====Third Tunceli Operation====
{{Expand section|date=March 2011}}
The Third Tunceli Operation was carried out between August 10–17, 1938.

====Sweep operations====
Sweep operations that started on September 6, were continued for 17 days.<ref>Faik Bulut, ''ibid'', p. 277. {{Tr icon}}</ref>

====Aerial operations====
Turkish planes flew numerous sorties against the rebels during the rebellion. Among the pilots was [[Kemal Atatürk]]'s adopted daughter, [[Sabiha Gökçen]], the first female fighter pilot in [[military history]].<ref>[http://www.au.af.mil/au/goe/eagle_bios/1996/gokcen_1996.asp Sabiha Gökçen's biography], [[Air Education and Training Command|USAF Air Command and Staff College]]</ref> A report of the General Staff mentioned the "serious damage" that had been caused by her 50&nbsp;kg bomb, upon a group of 50 fleeing ''bandits''.<ref>Reşat Hallı, ''Türkiye Cumhuriyetinde Ayaklanmalar (1924–1938)'', T. C. Genelkurmay Baskanlığı Harp Tarihi Dairesi, 1972, p. 382. {{Tr icon}}</ref>

[[Muhsin Batur]], engaged in operations for about two months over Dersim, but he stated in his memoirs that he wanted to avoid explaining this part of his life.<ref>Muhsin Batur, ''Anılar, Görüşler, Üç Dönemin Perde Arsası'', Milliyet Yayınları, 1985, p. 25. {{Tr icon}}</ref> [[Nuri Dersimi]] claimed that the Turkish air force bombed the district with [[poisonous gas]] in 1938.<ref>Martin van Bruinessen, ''Kurdish ethno-nationalism versus nation-building states: collected articles'', Isis Press, 2000, ISBN 978-975-428-177-4, p. 116.</ref>

===Consequences===
According to an official report of the Fourth General Ispectorate, 13,160 civilians were killed by the Turkish Army and 11,818 people were taken into exile, depopulating the province.<ref name="Radikal">[http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalDetay&ArticleID=965187&Date=19.11.2009&CategoryID=77 "Resmi raporlarda Dersim katliamı: 13 bin kişi öldürüldü"], ''[[Radikal]]'', November 19, 2009. {{Tr icon}}</ref> According to the Dersimi, many tribesmen were shot dead after surrendering, and women and children were locked into haysheds which were then set on fire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.let.uu.nl/~Martin.vanBruinessen/personal/publications/Dersim_rebellion.pdf |title=The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) Page 4 |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref> According to McDowall, 40,000 people were killed.<ref name="McDowall209">David McDowall, ''A modern history of the Kurds'', I.B.Tauris, 2002, ISBN 978-1-85043-416-0, p. 209.</ref> According to Kurdish Diaspora sources, over 70,000 people were killed.<ref name="pen-kurd.org"/>

A key component of the [[Turkification]] process was the policy of massive population resettlement - a result of the 1934 law on resettlement. This policy targeted the region of Dersim as one of its first test cases, and it had disastrous consequences for the local population.<ref>George J Andreopoulos, ''Genocide'', page 11.</ref>

Hüseyin Aygün, a jurist author, wrote in his book ''Dersim 1938 and Obligatory Settlement'':
: "The rebellion was clearly caused by provocation. It caused the most violent tortures that were ever seen in a rebellion in the Republican years. Those that didn't take place in the rebellion and the families of the rebels were also tortured."<ref>Hüseyin Aygün, ''Dersim 1938 ve zorunlu iskân: telgraflar, dilekçeler, mektuplar'', Dipnot Yayınları, 2009, ISBN 978-975-9051-75-4, p. .{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} {{Tr icon}}</ref>

== Recent developments ==
On November 23, 2011, [[Prime Minister]] [[Recep Tayyip Erdogan]] apologized "on behalf of the state" over the killing of over 13,000 people during the rebellion.<ref>{{cite web|author=SELCAN HACAOGLU November 23, 2011 10:15 AM |url=http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-pm-apologizes-over-1930s-killings-kurds-115137515.html |title=Turkish PM apologizes over 1930s killings of Kurds |publisher=News.yahoo.com |date=2011-11-23 |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref> His remarks were widely commented on both inside and outside Turkey.

== See also ==
*[[Dersim Massacre]]
*[[Koçgiri Rebellion]]
*[[Sheikh Said rebellion]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}


{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2011}}
==Links==
{{Turkish nationalism}}
{{commons category|Dersim rebellion}}
*Hans-Lukas Kieser, [http://www.massviolence.org/IMG/article_PDF/Dersim-Massacre-1937-1938.pdf Dersim Massacre, 1937-1938]
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{{Middle East conflicts}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Dersim Rebellion}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dersim Massacre}}
[[Category:Dersim Rebellion| ]]
[[Category:Dersim Rebellion]]
[[Category:Rebellions in Turkey]]
[[Category:Ethnic cleansing in Asia]]
[[Category:Kurdish protests and rebellions in Turkey]]
[[Category:History of the Republic of Turkey]]
[[Category:Massacres in Turkey]]
[[Category:1938 in Turkey]]
[[Category:Alevi massacres]]
[[Category:History of Tunceli Province]]
[[Category:Zazas]]
[[Category:1937 in Turkey]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1937]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1938]]
[[Category:Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]]


{{Link FA|de}}
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[[ckb:کۆمەڵکوژیی دەرسیم]]
[[fr:Massacre de Dersim]]
[[diq:Dersim İsyanı]]
[[tr:Dersim Katliamı]]

Revision as of 05:20, 22 August 2014

Dersim Massacre
Dersim in 1937
Location Turkey
Date1937–1938
TargetDersim Rebellion
Attack type
Massacre
Deaths13,806–70,000[1]
VictimKurdish and Zaza Alevi population[2]
PerpetratorsTurkish government[3][4]
The commander of the Guard regiment İsmail Hakkı Tekçe and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at Tunceli region in 1937.
Sabiha Gökçen and her colleagues in front of Breguet 19, 1937-38
Turkish soldiers and local people of Dersim region. They were exiled to other parts of Turkey, 1938.
Local people of Dersim, 1938

The Dersim Massacre took place in 1937 and 1938 in Dersim Province (now known as Tunceli Province), Turkey. It was the outcome of a Turkish military campaign against the Dersim Rebellion by local ethnic minority groups against Turkey's Resettlement Law of 1934. Thousands of Alevi Kurds and Zazas[5] died and many others were internally displaced due to the conflict.

On 23 November 2011, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave an apology for the Dersim operation, describing it as "one of the most tragic events of our recent history".[6]

Rebellion in Dersim

In 1934, Turkey passed a Resettlement Law, aimed at assimilating ethnic minority communities within the country.[7] Its measures included the forced relocation of people within the country, with the aim of promoting cultural homogeneity. In 1935, the Tunceli Law was passed to apply the Resettlement Law to the newly named region of Tunceli, previously known as Dersim and populated by Kurmanci-speaking and Zaza-speaking Alevis.[8] This area had a reputation for being rebellious, having been the scene of eleven separate periods of armed conflict over the previous 40 years.[9]

Following public meetings in January 1937, a letter of protest against the law was written to be sent to the local governor. According to Kurdish sources, the emissaries of the letter were arrested and executed. In May, a group of local people ambushed a police convoy in response, the first act of a localised conflict.[10]

Around 25,000 troops were deployed to quell the rebellion. This task was substantially completed by the summer and the leaders of the rebellion, including tribal leader Sayiid Riza, were hanged. However, remnants of the rebel forces continued to resist and the number of troops in the region was doubled. The methods used by the army were brutal, including the mass killing of civilians, the razing of homes and the deportation of people from less hostile areas. The area was also bombed from the air.[9] The rebels continued to resist until the region was pacified in October 1938.[11]

Numbers killed

The contemporary British estimate of the number of deaths was 40,000, although historians suggest that this figure may be exaggerated.[9] It has been suggested that the total number of deaths may be 7,594,[8] over 10,000,[12] or over 13,000.[6] Around 3,000 people were forcibly deported from Dersim.[8]

A 2008 conference organised by Kurdish PEN reached the conclusion that Turkey was guilty of genocide, estimating that 50,000–80,000 were killed in the aftermath of the Dersim rebellion.[13]

Genocide controversy

Many Kurds and some ethnic Turks consider the events that took place in Dersim to constitute genocide. A prominent proponent of this view is the academic İsmail Beşikçi.[14] Under international laws, it has been argued, the actions of the Turkish authorities were not genocide, because they were not aimed at the extermination of a people, but at resettlement and suppression.[15] Scholars, such as Martin van Bruinessen, have instead talked of an ethnocide directed against the local language and identity.[16]

In March 2011, a Turkish court ruled that the actions of the Turkish government in Dersim could not be considered genocide according to the law because they were not directed systematically against an ethnic group.[17]

Government apology

On 23 November 2011, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan apologised on behalf of the state for the Dersim massacre during a televised meeting of his party in Ankara. His comments were pointedly directed at opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Erdogan reminded his audience that Kılıçdaroğlu's party, the CHP, had been in power at the time of the massacre, then the only political party in Turkey.[6] He described the massacre as "one of the most tragic events of our near history" saying that, whilst some sought to justify it as a legitimate response to events on the ground, it was in reality "an operation which was planned step by step".[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dersim massacre monument to open next month". Today's Zaman. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  2. ^ Kaya, Ali (1999). Başlangıcından günümüze Dersim tarihi. Can Yayınları. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  3. ^ Altuğ, Kurtul. “Celal Bayar Anlatıyor”, Tercüman, September 17, 1986. “Şimdi, Mareşal, Erkan-ı Harbiye Reisi (Genelkurmay Başkanı), ben başbakanım. Atatürk malum... Üçümüz Dersim’de yapılan büyük ordu manevralarındayız. Manevranın da sonuna gelmek üzereyiz. Üçümüz bir arada ‘Ordunun emniyeti bakımından strateji ne olmalıdır?’, onu görüşüyoruz. İkisi de Birinci Cihan Harbi’nde muharebe etmişler. Ben daha çok izleyiciyim. Malumatları geniş... Oradaki her şeyi biliyorlar. Hatta şahsen casusları bile biliyorlar. Dersim’in o halde kalırsa her zaman ordunun emniyeti bakımından tehlikeli olacağını görüşüyorlardı... O sırada biz konuşurken, Dersimlilerin jandarma karakollarımızdan üç-dört tanesini bastıkları haberi geldi. Atatürk’le göz göze geldik. Birbirimizi anlıyorduk. Atatürk benim yüzüme baktı. ‘Ne olacak?’ dedi. Anlıyorum, orada emniyet tesis edilecek. Ne olursa olsun bana hitap edecekler. Hükümet reisi benim. ‘Anlıyorum efendim, bana hitap edişinizin manasını’ dedim. Atatürk: ‘Sorumluluğu üzerime alıyorum, vuracağız Dersim’i’ dedi ve vurduk...”
  4. ^ Trabzon'daki belge: Dersim Katliamı'nı bizzat Atatürk yönetmiş... "Dersim (Tunceli)’de zuhur eden isyanda askeri durumu gösteren taktik işaretler bizzat Atatürk tarafından çizilmiştir"
  5. ^ http://www.massviolence.org/Dersim-Massacre-1937-1938 (According to the organisation encyclopedia of mass violence, Dersim is a Kurdish alevi province, and the massacre of turks were towards zaza speaking alevi kurds)
  6. ^ a b c "Turkey PM Erdogan apologises for 1930s Kurdish killings". BBC News. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  7. ^ Çağaptay, Soner (2002). "Reconfiguring the Turkish nation in the 1930s" (PDF). Harvard. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  8. ^ a b c Lundgren, Asa (2007). The unwelcome neighbour: Turkey's Kurdish policy. London: Tauris & Co. p. 44.
  9. ^ a b c McDowall, David (2007). A Modern History of the Kurds. London: Tauris & Co. pp. 207–208.
  10. ^ Jwaideh, Wadie (2006). The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development. Syracuse University Press. p. 215.
  11. ^ Chaliand, Gerard (1993). A People without a country: the Kurds and Kurdistan. London: Olive Branch Press. p. 58.
  12. ^ Hans-Lukas Kieser: Some Remarks on Alevi Responses to the Missionaries in Eastern Anatolia (19th–20th cc.). In: Altruism and Imperialism. The Western Religious and Cultural Missionary Enterprise in the Middle East. Middle East Institute Conference: Bellagio Italien, August 2000
  13. ^ Dersim ‘38 Conference
  14. ^ İsmail Besikçi, Tunceli Kanunu (1935) ve Dersim Jenosidi, Belge Yayınları, 1990.
  15. ^ Martin van Bruinessen: Genocide in Kurdistan? 1994, S. 141–170.
  16. ^ The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) Excerpts from: Martin van Bruinessen, "Genocide in Kurdistan? The suppression of the Dersim rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) and the chemical war against the Iraqi Kurds (1988)", in: George J. Andreopoulos (ed), Conceptual and historical dimensions of genocide. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, pp. 141-170.
  17. ^ Saymaz, Ismail (14 March 2011). "Turkish prosecutor refuses to hear Dersim 'genocide' claim". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  18. ^ "Turkey apologises for 1930s killing of thousands of Kurds". The Telegraph. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.

External links

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