The Dersim Genocide 1938

[Alexandros]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938




Military documents to shine light on 'Dersim massacre'

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Vercihan Ziflioğlu

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

A new book on the 1938 Dersim Operation aims to challenge the official Republican history on the event with previously unseen photographs, historically important documents and eye-witness accounts. Hasan Saltuk’s 600-page book will be released in May in both English and Turkish

Another taboo of Turkey’s Republican history is about to be broken with the publication of a book by Hasan Saltuk on the 1938 Dersim Operation.

Saltuk, who is the owner of record label Kalan, a researcher and an ethnomusicologist, has spent nine years collecting previously unseen photographs, historically important documents and comments from soldiers who participated in the operation. He plans to present his findings in a new 600-page book to be published in both Turkish and English in May.

He criticized the present state of research in Turkey. “Historians here cannot go beyond the official ideology; they do not do any research. Those who do research and know the truth cannot raise a voice because they are afraid.”

Saltuk, who is from one of the oldest families of Dersim, said that even though he was from a Turkmen tribe on his father’s side, dozens of their relatives were murdered during the operation.

“My grandmother was pregnant with my mother but she saved herself from the firing squad at the last minute,” Saltuk said in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “Dersim residents are still afraid to talk. The elderly still think somebody’s going to come and kill them.”

Was the operation planned?

The official historical sources say the 1938 operation in Dersim, now called Tunceli, was implemented to quash a Kurdish tribal rebellion. Saltuk, however, performed his research in largely international archives, especially English and Armenian ones, collecting documents of historical importance.

“We see in the documents that the Dersim operation was planned; the reports were prepared in 1920. The law related to the operation was passed in 1935 and action was taken in 1937. Seyit Rıza and his friends were hanged on grounds that they were leading a rebellion,” Saltuk said.

Although the rebellion was labeled a Kurdish tribal insurrection, Saltuk said the fundamental reason behind the operation was that the region was home to Tunceli Alevis and that they were merely Armenians who had changed their identities.

“The official sources say Dersim residents were not paying taxes or performing military service and that they were always rebelling. However, we have documents proving the opposite. Atatürk led the Dersim operation himself,” he said.

“Over 13,000 people were killed during the operation and 22,000 were exiled. Orphaned children were subjected to Turkification policies in orphanages,” Saltuk said.

Soldiers regretful

The book would reprint the comments he found on the back of all the photographs he obtained. In many cases, the comments expressed remorse for the events in Dersim. “[Many] felt qualms of conscience for what was experienced. Some expressed their feelings with the words, ‘I have become a murderer.’ Others wrote, ‘I caused the deaths of 250 people,’” Saltuk said.

The project involved following the trails of surviving soldiers who participated in the operation, Saltuk said, adding that he saw many who were unable to adapt to social life. “Many soldiers we [interviewed] demanded their names be made public after their deaths. A few people did not mind having their names in the book; some said, ‘They ordered us to kill and we did,’” he said.

He obtained hundreds of original photos and maps alongside two dossiers of population records from the grandchild – whose name Saltuk withheld – of a high level civil servant from that era. “The invaluable documents and photographs in the dossiers reveal the operation in all its detail. However, it is without doubt that much more striking files are in the archives of the Turkish General Staff.”

‘Taboos will be broken in Turkey’

Touching on the storm of controversy Republican People’s Party, or CHP, deputy leader Onur Öymen has caused with comments on the Dersim Operation, Saltuk said, “Actually, Öymen should be congratulated. He did what the residents of Dersim could not do for years by putting the subject on the public agenda.”

Saltuk said he believes that Turkey has entered an age of great change. “All the taboos of this country will be broken and, in the future, there will not be anything that cannot be spoken about.”

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[Alexandros]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938


Alişan Aslan, a living witness of the Tunceli massacre, known as the Dersim Rebellion, remembers the events of 1937 and a similar campaign against Tunceli residents in 1938. He is one of the many Alevis angered and hurt by CHP Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen’s remarks praising the violent state campaign that suppressed the rebellion.


Dersim survivor to Öymen: Has your 3-year-old sibling been shot?

19 November 2009, Thursday

TODAY’S ZAMAN İSTANBUL

The reaction of Turkey’s Alevi citizens to Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen’s remarks about a 1937 rebellion in the Alevi town of Tunceli depicting a massacre in which 90,000 were killed as an anti-terror campaign has been growing since the statement was first made.

Alişan Aslan, a living witness of the Tunceli massacre, known as the Dersim Rebellion, who remembers the events of 1937 and a similar campaign against Tunceli residents in 1938 like yesterday, is one of the many Alevis angered and hurt by Öymen’s remarks. Aslan, born in 1912, is not only resentful of Öymen’s remarks praising the violent state campaign to suppress the rebellion, but also at CHP officials for protecting the embattled Öymen. “I lived through the pain, Öymen wouldn’t know. Has anybody ever killed his 3- and 4-year-old siblings in a firing squad lineup?” asks.

Unable to hold back tears, Aslan says, “The state wiped out Dersim and then painted over it.” He says thousands of people, including children, were burnt alive. He remembers that not a single person could make it out alive when a village was visited by the military. “In Hozat, they gathered people in schools and burned them. In villages, they were burning people in barns,” Aslan says, recalling that in the Halvari area, people were thrown off of a steep cliff alive. “Planes were bombing villages without thinking about who lived in those villages.”



Alişan Aslan, a living witness of the Tunceli massacre, known as the Dersim Rebellion, remembers the events of 1937 and a similar campaign against Tunceli residents in 1938. He is one of the many Alevis angered and hurt by CHP Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen’s remarks praising the violent state campaign that suppressed the rebellion.


He said a large number of people including himself were able to survive by taking to the nearby mountains and hiding there for months. “Sixteen of us from my family, we escaped to the forest,” he said, adding that they left his two younger siblings and mother in the village, in the mistaken belief that the soldiers would not kill them. “We wandered on the mountain tops for three months so they wouldn’t be able to find us. We didn’t even light fires. When we came back to the village after the incidents settled down, we saw that everything was destroyed. Everything was burnt down to the ground, including the bodies of those killed.”

Aslan’s family was later forcibly deported to Karaova village in Ödemiş. At most, two families from each Tunceli village were sent to these new locations, with the state banning interaction between families who moved from the area.

During a speech in Parliament last Tuesday 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 PKK’s campaign of terrorism.

Dersim, which had historically been a semi-autonomous region, was renamed Tunceli after the rebellion. The rebellion was led by Seyyid Riza, the chief of a Zaza tribe in the region. The Turkish government, led by İsmet İnönü at the time, responded with air strikes against the rebels. Thousands were killed in the campaign.

In later remarks, Öymen did not apologize and referred to the Dersim deaths as “collateral damage.” In addition, the party administration did not punish Öymen in any way, but rebuked CHP deputy Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who called on Öymen to resign.

Alevi groups all around the country have been protesting Öymen’s words since then and have been calling on Alevi members of the CHP to leave the party.

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[Alexandros]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938


Cafer Solgun


Kurdish-Alevi writer Solgun: CHP will lose more votes from outraged Alevis

23 November 2009, Monday

YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN İSTANBUL

Kurdish-Alevi writer Cafer Solgun says the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is set to lose votes following remarks made by its deputy chairman that offended the country's Alevi community.

“We have already seen supporters leave the party. In a village in Gaziantep province, an Alevi community of CHP members left the party. A similar situation took place in Isparta. In Tunceli, CHP members of the city council resigned,” he told Today's Zaman for Monday Talk.

In a Nov. 10 session on the government's move to solve the Kurdish issue, former diplomat and CHP Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen, made a speech in Parliament saying: “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 Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) campaign of terror. His words left Alevis, who give considerable support to CHP, infuriated.

At the same time, Öymen’s remarks brought the 1938 events that took place in Dersim, today known as Tunceli, into the limelight. The issue has long been glossed over. The Kurdish name of Dersim was changed to Tunceli in 1935. The government in 1937 had a restructuring plan for the city to evacuate it and issue permits to grant residency in the province. Members of a group that rebelled against the plan were executed by the state. According to an interview with former Foreign Minister and then-Chief of Police İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil, locals in Dersim were poisoned by the state in caves while the air force bombed the city in response to the uprising. Tunceli now has the lowest population among all of Turkey’s provinces.

Solgun, who is from Tunceli, elaborates on the issue.

Were you watching Onur Öymen live on television when he uttered his infamous remarks?

Yes, I was.

What did you think?

Honestly, I first felt great anger. I didn’t know what to say about his remarks at the time that Turkey was talking about the democratic initiative even though I knew that Öymen’s remarks were an expression of the CHP mindset against Alevis. I was surprised and angry that he was saying it openly at the time of the discussion of the democratic initiative.

What did you do then?

I then contacted Alevi organizations I know and asked them if they had heard Öymen speak on television. The people who did not hear what Öymen said questioned whether I had heard him right. They were surprised he could be so reckless. Protests were then organized, and I participated in them.

You said Öymen’s remarks do indeed reflect the mentality of CHP officials vis-à-vis Alevis. Please elaborate.

First of all, Öymen did not mistakenly make those remarks. Second, Öymen openly voiced the main opposition party’s opinion of Alevis. This is not what I think about the CHP. The CHP calls itself the founding party of the republic, so it has the duty to protect the country’s regime. It doesn’t attribute itself the qualities of a regular party. That means that it also stands behind the practices of the one-party regime. And we have seen this attitude in its recent policies, which come at a time when the country has been discussing its democratic initiative. Öymen, in a way, said Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (the founder of the Republic of Turkey) did not have dialogue with “terrorists” but did what was necessary. His directness surprised some people. This was striking.

Isn’t it also striking that the CHP is a party that appeals most to Alevis? Why do Alevis vote for the CHP?

Contrary to popular belief, the Alevis’ attraction to the CHP is not very old. It is not a widely known fact that the Alevis voted for the Democrat Party (DP) in 1950, when the country’s first free elections were held. This parallels the voting patterns of other groups that were unjustly treated by the one-party regime. In the 1960s, Alevis started to develop an interest in leftist movements. They were interested in parties that stood against the status quo in Turkey. This was also the case in 1970, when the CHP emerged with leftist tendencies under the leadership of Bülent Ecevit. So the ‘70s were the period when Alevis started to vote for the CHP. The ‘80s saw the brutal practices of the military regime and Alevis were disenfranchised, just as they were in the one-party period. Mosques were built in Alevi villages and Alevi dedes (spiritual leaders) faced harsh treatment. Again, Alevis were interested in left of the center parties like the Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP) in that period. These are understandable developments. But what is unusual is that Alevis are still interested in today’s CHP.

‘1990s were critical’

How do you explain this? When did this tendency emerge?

The critical period was the 1990s, when the Kurdish problem entered Turkey’s agenda as a burning issue. There was also the Sivas massacre of July 2, 1993, which resulted in the deaths of 37 Alevi intellectuals, and the Gazi events of March 15, 1995, when 17 were killed in an Alevi neighborhood of İstanbul. Then came a document in the mid-1990s; the National Security Policy Document pointed out that reactionary movements were a threat to the regime. So in addition to the “separatist” movements, there was also the threat of “reactionaryism” as pointed out by the military. They said Shariah rule would come to Turkey if no action was taken. And Turkey saw the so-called postmodern coup in the Feb. 28 [1997] process. At every opportunity, Sunni Muslims were portrayed as “anti-secular” by efforts of the dark forces in this country. It is apparent that some anti-democratic forces aimed to create deep polarization in society in which “secularists” would be pitted against “anti-secularists.” They needed a group of people to do this. At this point, they discovered Alevis because the Alevis had had fears and uneasy feelings about Sunni Muslims.

Can you give an example or two of provocations from this period?

Alevi fears that Sunni Muslims could destroy them were pumped up by provocations such as the Gazi and Sivas killings. These provocations were seen for what they are in the process of investigating Ergenekon. Anti-democratic forces used Alevis to create a group of people who would shout slogans such as “Turkey is secular and will remain secular.” These anti-democratic forces were partially successful. The CHP stood in the middle of these events as it was behind the efforts of the anti-democratic forces. But this regime does not even recognize the status of Alevis and is not interested in Alevi demands even though it expects Alevis to protect the regime!

Only a few CHP deputies are Alevi, is that right?

There have always been few Alevi deputies from the CHP. Alevi votes have not turned into Alevi voices from the CHP in Parliament. The CHP is the party of the official ideology which discriminates against Alevis. Contrary to the belief that Alevis hold important positions in the military, bureaucracy and the CHP administration because they have been voting for the CHP, Alevis do not have important positions to hold onto and to have a voice. This is a myth. Being an Alevi is indeed a big obstacle to holding influential positions.

Do you think Alevi support for the CHP will decrease?

The CHP’s votes decreased in the 2007 general elections. It has been losing votes. It has lost considerable amount of votes in places such as Erzincan and Malatya, where there are Kurdish Alevis. In the next election, the CHP will be even more disappointed.

You were first angry at Öymen, but do you think his words will help Turkey talk about what happened in Dersim?

Exactly. He contributed to a debate that has been going on in Turkey for the last seven to eight years. When Ahmet Kaya said 10 years ago that he would sing a song in Kurdish, he became the victim of a lynch campaign. But the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) now airs Kaya’s songs. There were times that people could not identify the issue as the “Kurdish problem,” but now the debate is about how to solve the Kurdish problem. And the government says the way to solve it is to increase the standards of democracy. So some things are changing in Turkey. At the same time, hotly debated issues are forgotten after a new item enters the agenda. This should not be so. The 1938 Dersim issue requires complete confrontation to avoid similar tragedies.

‘General Staff should open Dersim archives’

What are the requirements for this confrontation?

The General Staff has documents regarding how the whole Dersim issue started and ended. Those documents should be opened to the public so people can know about this horrible event. We should also know where the bodies of Seyit Rıza and his friends are -- they were being executed without trial on the grounds that they were the leaders of the Dersim Rebellion. We should also not forget that the Dersim issue is part of the Kurdish problem. By confrontation, I also suggest that there should be understanding of the sins of the one-party era in Turkey. The 1924 constitution declared that everyone in the country is a Turk and ignored the existence of other ethnic groups. With this understanding, there was a systematic assimilation policy. This policy did not deliver the desired results. Kurds feel Kurdish, people from Dersim still say they are from Dersim. We should realize this. But because of the policy of denial, we still have the Kurdish problem which produces pain and tears.

But isn’t a contribution from the opposition a must for such a confrontation and healing process in the society at a time when even the military supports the process of democratization?

The visible opposition to the process comes from civilians, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the CHP, all of whom have a militaristic outlook. This is not productive opposition; they reject the democratization process. They also refuse to identify the Kurdish problem for what it is and use strong words against the government. This attitude of the opposition has an influence on the government. Even though Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says there is no turning back, there are signs that the government’s desire to continue with the process has waned somewhat. This is mostly because the CHP insists on its position as the party of the status quo and the regime. Even President Abdullah Gül made efforts to include the main opposition in the process by suggesting that there could be arrangements to enable the CHP’s attendance at National Security Council (MGK) meetings. The CHP opposed this idea as well. Despite all that, there is no turning back since the process has already started.

Do you expect a loss of support for the CHP?

We have already seen supporters leave the party. In a village in Gaziantep province, an Alevi community of CHP members left the party. A similar situation took place in Isparta. In Tunceli, CHP members of the city council resigned. Well-known scholar Ali Hıdır Kulu and his wife, both from Tunceli and members of the CHP for 41 years, resigned. There will be more of the same at the grassroots level. However, people who would like to resign from the central bodies of the CHP have been pressured to not do so. Unfortunately, there are no signs of resignation by CHP deputies in Parliament. All eyes are now on Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who has not made a statement since Öymen’s appalling remarks. He was actually among the people who applauded Öymen when he uttered his words. Kılıçdaroğlu was silent. He had to say something as he had to go to Tunceli for his mother’s funeral and saw people’s reactions there. He just said that Öymen “should do what is necessary.” On the other hand, Öymen and his supporters said that they had turned the page. In the coming days, reactions will be focused more on Alevi CHP deputies such as Kılıçdaroğlu. People say if Öymen did not do “what is necessary,” Kılıçdaroğlu should.



Cafer Solgun, A Kurdish-Alevi writer who advocates facing up to history

Cafer Solgun is the chairman of the Confrontation Society, which advocates a re-writing of republican history and a return of honor to the people unjustly convicted of crimes committed by state-related organs. He is also among the founders of the Munzur Intellectuals and Artists Platform (MASAP), established in 2005 to protect the cultural and natural values of Dersim, officially known today as the province of Tunceli. Solgun’s parents were about 6 and 7 years old at the time of the 1937 and 1938 killings in Dersim, where many locals were massacred. Solgun, who was imprisoned for his political views, has two books of short stories. Additionally, his latest book, “Alevilerin Kemalizmle İmtihanı” (Alevis’ Test with Kemalism), questions the relationship between Alevis and Kemalism.

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[Alexandros]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938


DHA photo


300 CHP members resign from party in protest

Monday, November 23, 2009

ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires

Around 300 people, including three district mayors and district heads of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, resigned from the party in protest of remarks by a CHP deputy leader regarding the 1938 Dersim massacre.

Around 1,000 people gathered Monday to listen to the CHP members’ resignation announcement in Tunceli where the 1938 events occurred. The province of Tunceli has a high percentage of Alevis.

“The people of Dersim’s wounds reopened with Onur Öymen’s speech in Parliament on Nov. 10,” said Mustafa Sarıgül, mayor of the Ovacık district and one of the politicians who resigned. “Öymen’s speech shows an understanding of violence rather than of solving the problems.”

“Despite all the oppressions, deaths, famines and exiles, the people of Dersim refused to be assimilated and protected their honor,” he said, according to Doğan news agency.

“It is a shame against humanity to speak in Parliament and assault our ancestors by looking at Dersim and its people, which can be regarded as the origin of Alevism, as an enemy,” said Sarıgül. “It would be shameful for us to be a member of that kind of understanding. We are resigning from the CHP because we cannot be a member of an entity that tries to legitimize the killing of 10,000 innocent women and children in Dersim between 1937 and 1938,” said Sarıgül.

After the press speech, the group gave their resignations to the CHP in the city.

Austrian confrontation

Meanwhile, a group of 60 people stormed into a conference room in Vienna to protest the CHP’s Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and CHP Tunceli deputy Ali Kılıç. The two were there to participate in a panel discussion following an invitation from the Austria Alevi Federation. They have met with similar protests in other foreign towns they have visited.

Two people from the group were injured in the ensuing melee that occurred. Austrian police had to resort to force to remove the protesters from the hall. Kılıçdaroğlu and Kılıç have been attending panel discussions in Austria and Germany following the intense uproar created Öymen’s speech in Parliament.

Öymen has come in for severe criticism by party members and other segments of society after he cited the Dersim Operation in the early years of the Turkish Republic as an example for dealing with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Official historical sources say the 1938 operation was implemented to quash a Kurdish tribal rebellion.

In addition to Sarıgül, former Tunceli deputy Hasan Göyüldar; Mesut Coşkun, mayor of the Pülümür district; Cafer Sarıçiçek, mayor of the Nazimiye district; Hasan Hayri Kesik, district head of Pülümür; and Abdullah Kırmızıdağ, district head, all declared their resignation Monday, according to the Doğan news agency.

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[seruven]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938

I've translated an article written by columnist Yavuz Semerci (Haberturk - 20/21.11.2009). I'm sorry for all the possible mistakes in the translation. But I couldn't find more time to spend on that. I hope that will help you guys to understand Turkish society a little bit better. Links for the original of the article:

http://www.haberturk.com/HTYazi.aspx?ID=5884

http://www.haberturk.com/HTYazi.aspx?ID=5915

LET ME TELL YOU A DERSIM STORY
“The year is the known year.
The year is the year which everybody tries to forget.
The year in which the mothers who would cry were also killed. The year in which there was no crying problem as there was no mother to cry, hence nobody was upset..
Our story passes in a village one kilometer away from the town Hozat, which belongs to the city Tunceli (the city was named as Dersim then). In the village there was a mansion, a house and a barn, all belongs to the landlord. The air is as heavy as lead. The news are grim. Nonetheless, there is still a hope for the ones living in that region.
Because they didn't climb to the mountains (in order to rebel), and didn't fight with the soldiers. They are believing that the state would at most deport them from this region.
In an ordinary day, in the very early hours of a freezing morning, from the muddy road, lots of soldiers come to the town.
They separate the women and the children from the men. The sergeant is polite against the women. The women are even allowed to prepare tea for them.
For some time, the soldiers wait for seeing the order is certain. The order is correct and certain. The commander is warned for not to be repeated again. The soldiers leave their teas, they take their rifles and ask all the women and children to enter the mansion.
They do not ask, but order. The hit to the head of the woman who has just distributed the teas to the soldiers makes everything clear. The men are already absent. For a few hours, no news about them has been heard. The room with the fireplace in the mansion has a capacity of 30, or maybe 40 people. They force 100 women and children to enter this place. Now the children are crying. Everybody in the room is crying and cursing the soldiers who push them inside. The old and wise women are aware of the fact that now it's the time to walk to God.
At that moment, the main character of our story, the son of the landlord, was probably crying in his mom's bosom, just in front of the fireplace. 'Probably', because he has been remembering this part of the story from his dreams and each time in a different and unclear way.
Later, after years, he understands the woman in his dreams, who cries, is his own mother and apologizing from him. First, he doesn't understand why she apologizes. Later, in one of his dreams, he understands that his mother says 'I couldn't protect you. You should protect your own children.'
That day, on that damn day, the people in that room do not know that the men who were made walk until the edge of the village, were executed by shooting just by the brook-side. And of course, they do not know that on that very day, thousands of people will be killed just due to the fact that they are Kurdish-Alevis. And they do not know that in a few minutes, they will share the same end.
***

First, they broke the three windows of the house by the back of their rifles. Then, they became silent. Then, there was only the sound of bullets. Then, the bombs thrown into the room exploded one by one. After a few minutes, a few soldiers entered the house and checked whether there was anybody alive. The sergeant, who probably didn't fire any bullets, but fulfilled the order given to him, shouted: 'Everybody! Out of the room!' Three bullets, which pierced his mother, also hit our hero. However, his wounds were not lethal.

***
3 or 5 boys run away to the mountains 4-5 hours ago while the soldiers were drinking their tea as as an old woman's warned them. As the soldiers left, they return back. One of them is our hero's brother. There are only three survivors from the massacre. They leave a piece of bread and some water to a severely injured old woman. After that, they climb back to the mountains. With the ones, who survived the massacre, they spend a few weeks in the mountains, in the caves, hiding like animals. Our hero is wounded and mostly crying. Some people offer that they should throw him into the brook. They were afraid that due to the crying child, soldiers might locate them.. After some years, his brother tells him that 'Soldiers came very close to the cave. I closed your mouth with my hands so that you can't make any noise. I was about to suffocate you with my bare hands.' For the second time, he was saved from death. Thanks to being son of the landlord and his brother's protection.. He is six years old, but his life will change in the exile where he was sent after the amnesty declared by the state, then he'll learn that he is a Kurd. However, he will have already done his choice.
The amnesty has been declared. The ones, wandering in the mountains, have understood that they won't be executed by shooting. And they surrender. The forced emigration from blood smelling Dersim to Anatolia has started. It is of no importance what the records, or the official and/or unofficial posts say.
In the group that goes to Afyon, there is also these two brothers whose mother was killed in the mansion, and whose father and grandfather were executed by shooting at the edge of the brook in the same day. Sons of Hıdır, who was son of Koç Mustafa Ağa, born by Geyik: Hayri (12 years old) and Ahmet (6 years old by records, 3 in fact)
First shower after very long time was taken in Afyon Orphanage. Hot meal and clothes... Afyon embraces them. Like every child, it was aimed to give them to some families as foster children. As the big brother is old, he has no chance. However, our hero has. Families without children prefer to adopt ones as young as possible so that they can not remember their past.
***
The house of the Crazy Sergeant
Crazy Sergeant.. His name remained like that. Due to his courage during the War in Gallipoli, this title was given to him and it always remained so. As a couple, their biggest problem is not to be able to have children. Afterwards, they say 'We loved you at the very first moment we saw you. When you grasped the cuff of our trousers with your big eyes, with your black and curly hair and with your face with scars, we made our decision. You would be our son...'
15 years spent in a poor Anatolian city, in a family full of love. A young boy, who was being educated, and taken care of. After school, he goes to his father's saddle shop. At the same time, he is learning his father's art and is going to the vocational school. He is growing up by listening to his father's memories belonging to military service. His biggest desire is to be a soldier. His biggest source of proud is to be the son of the Crazy Sergeant.
***
One day, after school, a person with a puny body and a broken Turkish appears on his way.
He tells his story to him, and says that he has come to take him back to home. The young person talking to him is his brother who ran away from the Afyon orphanage years ago and returned back to his hometown. For three days, he doesn't believe. He finds similarities between his nightmares and what the young man has told him. After three days, the idea that his beloved parents are not his real parents becomes unbearable for him. After school, he goes back to home, and asks his mother whether he was adopted..
'I understood the truth when my mother started to cry. She couldn't say a word and only cried. I immediately ran away from the house. I went to my brother who was waiting for me. With the first train we went to Elazığ. And from there, to our village...'

***
However, the young boy, who was raised according to Turkish customs and was a Sunni Muslim, was confused. Everything was strange to him. He tries to adapt. Six months later, he receives the news. His stepmother was taken to the hospital. And one day he sees Crazy Sergeant right before him. His stepfather. 'That day I understood, I have parents who raised me with love and they are both alive..'
He leaves everything behind... He tells his brother that he has given up all his rights on their property. He says goodbye to all his relatives, and this time goes back to Afyon voluntarily.
After years, he tells that day to his sons: 'In the train station of Afyon, my stepmother and my stepfather, who returned Afyon long before me, were waiting for me. My mom didn't say a word. She embraced me and didn't let me go until we arrived home. She cried. That night I told them what I had been doing. After that, we never talked about that again. Neither they asked, nor I told.'
***
Of course you've understood. Bullets were raining onto the hundred people in that small room. One of the three people who survived was my father. The hero of our story.. I learnt his story during my youth, when I started to become interested in politics.
The allergy against Kızılbaş, which you can see in every conservative Turk, was existent in my mother as well. In the last years of her life, I used to tease her by saying 'Why did you marry to a Kızılbaş?'
'My son, how would I know that this has Kurdish roots.. The day I learnt that, I left the house. However his mother came from Afyon. She said that he was her son, a Turk by origin.. She put us together again. Your father was always a Sunni Muslim. I'm happy that we didn't break up..'
In fact, my late mother was also a Circassian immigrant who ran away from Russian oppression. I found out that after the death of my mother. A family, which ran away from Russia to Lebanın, then to Trabzon, Bayburt and at the end, to Erzurum.
That's it... It's only possible in that region to have two brothers one of which is Turkish and the other is Kurdish. One of them is Sunni Muslim and the other is Alevi. In that region, it's also possible to find people who came as Circassions and ended up Turks. Also in that region it's possible to see children of Turkified Circassions and/or Turkified Kurds serving to this homeland. The peak of voluntary or mandatory assimilation is seen in that land.
And I never gave up the feeling of belonging to this land. It's our generation among all who knows best that democracy is the only regime in which we can be proud, not scared, to express our identities in spite of all the agonies and mistakes of the past. At least, I know..."

[Alexandros]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938

Alevis continue to demand justice for ‘Dersim’

Monday, December 14, 2009

ISTANBUL - Radikal

Alevis have gathered in Istanbul once more to protest Republican People’s Party, or CHP, deputy leader Onur Öymen’s statements backing the Dersim massacre of 1938 and demand an apology for the operation, equal rights for the community on a level with Sunnis and the return of the name Dersim for the province of Tunceli

A gaffe by Onur Öymen, a politician accused of supporting the Dersim military operation, continues to cause repercussions throughout society, most recently during a rally held Sunday in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district.

The rally, entitled “Dersim ’38 is a massacre – let the archives be opened, the responsible should answer,” was called by the Tunceli Associations Federation, or TUFED. Tunceli is the present name of Dersim.

During the protests, participants held aloft placards demanding the state “Release the list of the exiled, missing and the ones given for adoption” and chanted, “Dersim is honor, hold onto your honor,” “Dersim will be the grave of fascism” and “Those who resist do not lose.”

Photos of Republican People’s Party, or CHP, deputy leader Onur Öymen dressed as Adolf Hitler were also carried by the crowd.

In addition to TUFED, the rally was attended by the Alevi Bektaşi Federation, or ABF, the Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association, the Labor Party, or EMEP, along with other associations and non-governmental associations.

Police took extensive security precautions for the rally, which proceeded without incident.

‘We want to live as equals’

Speaking at the rally, ABF President Ali Balkız drew links between the Dersim events and other massacres that were committed throughout Turkey’s republican history. “Will we always be subjected to such massacres in this beautiful land?”

Balkız said there are historical moments of which societies can both be proud and others that are difficult to face. “We have said we want equality and freedom. We condemn the closing of the DTP [Democratic Society Party] as much as we condemn the martyrdoms of the seven soldiers due to our culture, faith and the holiness of human life,” he said.

“We want to live as equals in this country. We want to be equals with our Sunni brothers on whatever rights they have,” he said, adding that Kurds deserve the same living standards and rights enjoyed by Turks.

“The country is experiencing hard times. Our people have been paying a price for years,” Balkız said, suggesting that discussion on the Kurdish issue would be more difficult because the pro-Kurdish DTP would no longer be in Parliament.

‘Let’s face the past’

TUFED General President Özkan Tuncer said people gathered to stimulate a discussion of the massacre of their ancestors 72 years ago, adding that people from Dersim were known throughout the country for their honesty, fairness and respect for the law.

“Let us know the extent of shame by its past,” said Tuncer. “Let’s face it so that we can let the feeling of justice reign. Let’s face it; let’s build a Turkey of equality, freedom and brotherhood.”

Tuncer said the General Staff should open its archives and share the records on Dersim with the public. “The republican state should bandage the wounds of Dersim’s people and announce the names and fates of those murdered, exiled, lost and or given away as foster children. This crime against humanity must be accepted and the people of Dersim should receive an apology.”

Tuncer further called for recognition of Alevi identity, the return of the name Dersim and an end to dam construction on the Munzur River.

What did Öymen say?

In a Nov. 10 parliamentary session about the government’s Kurdish initiative, former diplomat Öymen said, “Unfortunately, the mothers of this country cried a lot. We created lots of martyrs. All their mothers cried. … Did mothers not cry in the Dersim uprising? No one stood up and said, ‘Let no mothers cry [so that we] stop this struggle.’”

Öymen also said the Turkish Republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, did not negotiate with those who rose up in Dersim and were killed during the operations of 1937 and 1938.

The state has defended the harsh measures it took as a way to suppress the uprising against the state. Some Alevi and Kurdish groups, however, have claimed it was an intentional massacre of their people.

The groups have also routinely protested Öymen and the CHP since the remarks were first made.

Link

CHP shot them themselves in the foot. I wonder how many votes this will cost CHP in the next elections.

[Armanen]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938

Why haven't the Alevis and Kurds united in order to fight for their rights in turkey?

[Alexandros]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938

Kahraman: Dersim ‘38: From Rebellion to Massacre?

By Contributor • on January 24, 2010

By Kemal Kahraman

Editor’s note: Tens of thousands of men, women, and children were massacred by Turkish troops during the destruction of Kurds and Zazas of Dersim (now Tunceli) in 1937-38. For decades, this genocide was denied and framed as “suppression of an uprising” by the Turkish state. In November 2009, the Turkish Republican People’s Party deputy chairman Onur Oymen said that the destruction of the Kurds in Dersim was an example of the struggle against terrorism, and a heated public debate ensued. Columnists and political figures harshly criticized Oymen’s statement, and even high-ranking Turkish officials called the events of Dersim a “massacre.” Some thought Turkey was finally coming to terms with at least one horrible chapter of its past. As Kemal Kahraman explains in the article below, that is hardly the case.

In the discussions about the Kurdish initiative on Nov. 10, 2009, Onur Oymen, the CHP (Republican People’s Party) deputy chairman, said something that shouldn’t have been said—and the Dersim ’38 issue, which hasn’t been talked about for 70 years, became one of the most important items on the Turkish and European agendas. We are expected to see it like this.

We realized that all columnists, television hosts, documentary producers, historians, sociologists, party chairmen, members of the parliament, heard and unheard of researchers, publishers, music producers, institutions, and, as the prime minister and the president themselves have said, even our state, have been silently coming to terms with this shame of humanity for 70 years, have passed their judgments of conscience, but have waited all this time for Onur Oymen’s gaffe to speak… We are supposed to understand it like this.

The discussion started with superficially dramatic stories or with academic explanations of the trauma that the event caused in the victim, but many times with an ironic thanking to Onur Oymen, followed by lessons teaching the people of Dersim that they had to leave the CHP or had no reason to fear the AKP. The discussion, having been thus used for current political purposes, was finished and laid aside in a month.

In this way, in the eyes of everyone from political organizations to academicians, from journalists to unions, and in fact, according to the institutions that speak for Dersim, even for the people of Dersim, we now have not a Dersim Rebellion, but a Dersim Massacre, understood within the framework prescribed by our state. We are supposed to believe it so.

But is it so? Was Dersim ‘38 put on the state agenda accidentally due to a gaffe? Were all our politicians and intellectuals waiting for Onur Oymen’s gaffe to speak about this? Did a 70-year-long state policy change due to a gaffe? What was put in its place? Did a crime against humanity find its place in history, when it was changed from a rebellion to a massacre? Or was it moved to a new framework for the holy survival of our state?

That is, will our state, which has acknowledged a historical crime by calling it a massacre, also open the way to a confrontation with the ongoing practices and damages caused by that crime? For instance, will it put under state protection, not only Zazaca, a language that makes itself known only as one of the dying languages in the UNESCO 2009 report, but also the Dersim Kizilbash/Alevi oral culture that faces the threat of extinction together with this language? In short, will it lead to an actual change toward repairing the damages caused by the 70-year-long cultural genocide committed by the state itself?

Now that Turkish academicians and intellectuals have expressed their opinions, eased their consciences, joined our state in calling the event by its name, and even given extensive advices to “our dersimites” about what they have to do in the future, will the state provide room for reflecting on the 70-year-long silence and the social trauma that it has brought about?

Or, is all this—done in the name of “facing a historical mistake,” at the very moment that for the first time society is asking the question, “What happened in ‘38?”—really a political operation by the state with the goal of redefining, in a month, the event, its place in history, and its addressee?

Or, does all this, done in the name of facing a historical mistake, not go beyond mundane political agendas like destroying the CHP, winning over Alevis, attacking Kemalism, taking hold of Dersim, and thereby re-victimizing the victims, leaving them once again face to face with their sufferings?

Or, what is worse, does all this, done in the name of facing a historical mistake, mask the new stages of that historical mistake? That is, just when Dersim ’38 is being discussed these days, is it a coincidence that the Munzur Dam Project, which is the last stage of ’38, is quietly being materialized with the Uzuncayir Dam? (*)

It is well-known that in Turkey everything from deep-rooted social problems to small narrative changes becomes possible only according to the needs of the political authorities, i.e. the state mechanism, and hence by the interference of the state authorities.

Today the changes in the narrative of Dersim ’38 become intelligible only seen as a state project, just like the Armenian, Kurdish, Cyprus, Alevi, and Roma initiatives in the last couple of years, and even the Ergenekon operation, and other similar current headlines.

Furthermore, as convincing written sources and documents now show, the 1937-38 Dersim events constitute a state project prepared and executed by the newly founded Turkish state since 1926.

Clearly, with the Dersim Massacre narrative today, a new political concept is being constructed only with respect to the state, and new opportunities are being created for various political forces—and the academic circles under their control—all of which will be functional in the legitimatization and ripening of this concept.

Because the state, which until recently based its argument on “legitimate self-defense against an armed rebellion,” is labeling a state project that has to be described as genocide—according to the well-known definition of Raphael Lemkin and international legal norms—instead as a massacre, and thereby reducing it to a military excessiveness that just happened in 1938, and defining it within a framework that lacks political and legal counterparts, and sanctions.

In any event, Dersim ’38 has been put on the agenda of the Turkish public; even if it is too late, at least it is being discussed now. That in itself is a positive development. However, looking at what has happened in this short time, the only optimistic formulation about the subject is in the form of a question: What is the goal in relation to Dersim ’38? Is it at least a confrontation with the perpetrator, a purification, leading to social trust and security and made permanent by the state’s safe-guarding, that will serve as the foundations for a life together?

Or, is it a way of minimizing the costs of a historical crime committed by the state, by drowning it in conceptual discussions about massacres and ethnic cleansing, etc., discussions without international legal significance, and reshaping the public opinion by producing the academic, legal, and historical documents?

Kemal Kahraman is a distinguished musician from Dersim, Turkey. Together with his brother Metin Kahraman, he formed the Metin-Kemal Kahraman Ensemble and produced nine CDs which are widely distributed in Turkey. They mainly sing in the Zazaki language. Apart from their own compositions, they are engaged in tracing and representing the oral culture of Dersim, which is doomed to vanish given the state’s assimilation policies. For several years now, they have been conducting oral history interviews with the elderly from Dersim to document not only the atrocities that occurred there (which are captured in laments, poems, etc.) but also the larger spectrum of cultural and religious life in Dersim. Kemal Kahraman lives in Berlin, Germany.

(*) Since the 1990’s, the state has started to build 11 dams in Dersim on the Munzur, Karasu, and Pulumur Rivers, two of them are already operating and the others are still being built. The Uzuncayir Dam, the most important of these dams, leaves part of the city center under water, and was put into service just as the Dersim ’38 issues started to be discussed in Novermber 2009. Even though this project is officially based on the energy needs of the country, as the 1934 General Command of Gendarmerie DERSIM “secret” reports (of which only 100 copies have been printed and carefully distributed) show, this idea has been discussed since 1875, with the goal of “leaving the region under water by artificial lakes, erasing it from the map,” and thereby “destroying the source of trouble completely,” and is still a project that is very much alive. (See General Command of Gendarmerie report DERSIM–Kaynak Yayinlari 1998, Istanbul. For a current article on this issue, see “134 yillik surgun plani,” www.gundem-online.net/haber.asp?haberid=79906 ).

Link

[Alexandros]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938

Document indicates complicity in Turkey's Dersim Massacre, lawyer says

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

İSMAİL SAYMAZ

ISTANBUL - Radikal

A 1955 document that declared the relatives of a Tunceli man were “annihilated” following the 1938 Dersim Operation has been submitted to court as proof of crimes against humanity.

The record, which belonged to Ali Akgün, said “the family members were totally annihilated.”

Tunceli Governor’s Office permitted Akgün to return to the eastern Turkish province, which was known as Dersim until the 1930s, from exile in Kütahya on Aug. 27, 1955, based on the document.

The same document, which is now being cited as proof of an official acknowledgment of the massacre, has become the basis for legal action initiated by Ali Akgün’s son, Hüseyin Akgün, to bring those responsible for the deaths of 10 family members to justice.

Hüseyin Akgün, who is also an attorney, filed a complaint on April 22 against the commander and private gendarmes who participated in the operation, claiming they “committed a crime against humanity” by “organizing the killings of 10 women and children for the purposes of the total destruction of a social group based on political, philosophical or religious motives.”

The attorney said that because the killings were crimes against humanity, there could be no statute of limitations.

“This case is a good opportunity to reconcile with Dersim. I hope this case also contributes to Turkey’s efforts at reconciliation with many similar events of the past,” he said.

According to the allegations, gendarmerie troops shot the family of Zeynel Çavuş, Hüseyin Akgün’s grandfather, near Avlosen brook in Çamurek village. Among those murdered were his daughter-in-law Humar and her kids Elif, 20, Mehmet, 14, Hadice, 11, Ahmedi, 6, twins Suzan and Alicemal, 5, Hetip, 3, Emine, 2.

Other members of the family, including Hüseyin, Humar’s husband and Zeynel’s son, along with his brother and Hüseyin Akgün’s father, Ali, succeeded in escaping.

Akgün has also brought another case related to the 1938 Dersim Operation to court on behalf of client Efo xxxkurt, 86, whose father, a War of Independence veteran, mother, sisters, and brothers were allegedly murdered by gendarmerie in the Çaytaşı village of Hozat district.

The early Turkish Republic launched an operation in Dersim in 1938 to pacify the restive province.

Link

[vampire06ank]

Re: The Dersim Genocide 1938

I'm Zaza.Zazas Are Not Kurds you are wrong please rewrite.And Kurds arent Alevi.Kurds hate alevis