Dersim rebellion
Dersim rebellion | |||||||
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Part of the Kurdish rebellions | |||||||
Turkish soldiers with civilians who official documents say were internally exiled; Salman Yeşildağ said they included his sister and were executed after the photo was taken.[1] | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Turkey | Kurds of Dersim | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
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13,160 civilians massacred (official figure)[7] 11,818 forced into migration (official figure)[7] Other sources claim 30,000[8] to 40,000 civilian deaths,[9] while some Kurdish sources even claim 60,000 to 70,000 deaths.[10] |
The Dersim rebellion (Turkish: Dersim İsyanı, Kurdish: Serhildana Dêrsimê) was a Kurdish[2][11][12][13][14] uprising against the central government in the Dersim region of eastern Turkey, which includes parts of Tunceli Province, Elazığ Province, and Bingöl Province.[15] The rebellion was led by Seyid Riza, a chieftain of the Abasan tribe.[16] In 1937 and 1938, the Turkish Armed Forces carried out three Dersim operations against the rebellion, including the Dersim massacre (Kurdish: Tertelê),[17][18] (sometimes called the Dersim genocide)[19][20][21][22] of civilians: thousands of Kurds were killed and many others were internally displaced.[14]
On 23 November 2011, Turkish prime minister
Background
Ottoman period
Kurdish tribes, which were feudal (manorial) communities led by chieftains (agha) during the Ottoman period, enjoyed a certain degree of freedom within the boundaries of the manors owned by the aghas. Local authority in these small manorial communities was in the hands of feudal lords, tribal chieftains and other dignitaries, who owned the land and ruled over the serfs who lived and worked on their estates.[26] However, the general political authority in the provinces, such as Dersim, was in the hands of the Ottoman government.
Early republican era
Following the establishment of the
Dersim had been a particularly difficult province for the Ottoman government to control, with 11 different armed rebellions between 1876 and 1923.
Resettlement Law
The Turkification process began with the 1934 Turkish Resettlement Law.[36] Its measures included the forced relocation of people within Turkey, 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 Kurdish Alevis.[37] This area had a reputation for being rebellious, having been the scene of eleven separate periods of armed conflict over the previous 40 years.[3][32]
"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[38] on January 4, 1936.[39]
Fourth General Inspectorate
In order to consolidate its authority in the process of Turkification of
On 1 November 1936, during a speech in the
The rebellion
After the "Tunceli" Law, the
Meeting at Halbori cells
Seyid Riza, the chieftain of Yukarı Abbas Uşağı, sent his followers to the Haydaran, Demenan, Yusufan, and Kureyşan tribes to make an alliance.[51]
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 3rd 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.[51]
Turkish military operations
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, were hanged. However, remnants of the rebel forces continued to resist and the number of troops in the region was doubled. The area was also bombed from the air.[3] The rebels continued to resist until they ran out of ammunition, in late 1938, by which time the region was devastated.[52]
According to Osman Pamukoğlu, a general in Turkish Army in the 1990s, Atatürk had given the operational order himself.[53]
1937
First Dersim Operation
On September 10–12, 1937, Seyid Riza came to the government building of the Erzincan Province for peace talks and was arrested.[54] 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[55] Ihsan Sabri Çağlayangil, who would later become foreign minister,[56] arranged the trials and hanging of the leaders of the rebellion and some of their sons.[57]
They 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.[58][59] In his journey to Elazığ the same month, he was accompanied by the Minister of the Interior Şükrü Kaya and Sabiha Gökçen.[60]
1938
Second Dersim Operation
The prime minister,
Third Dersim Operation
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (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.[62]
Aerial operations
Turkish planes flew numerous sorties against the rebels during the rebellion. Among the pilots was
Muhsin Batur, engaged in operations for about two months over Dersim, stated in his memoirs that he wanted to avoid talking about this part of his life.
Massacres
According to an official report of the Fourth General Inspectorate, 13,160 civilians were killed by the Turkish Army and 11,818 people were taken into exile, depopulating the province.
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 who didn't take part in the rebellion, and the families of the rebels, were also tortured."[68]
Numbers killed
The contemporary British estimate of the number of deaths was 40,000, although this number could be exaggerated.[3] It has been suggested that the total number of deaths may be 7,594,[37] over 10,000,[69] or over 13,000.[23]
Deportations
Ethnocide
The policy of population resettlement under the 1934 Law on Resettlement was a key component of the Turkification process that began to be implemented first with the Armenian genocide in 1915 as Turkey transitioned from a pluralistic, multi-ethnic society to a "unidimensional Turkish nation-state". İsmail Beşikçi has argued that the Turkish government actions in Dersim was genocide.[71] Martin van Bruinessen has argued that the actions of the government were not genocide, under international law, because they were not aimed at the extermination of a people, but at resettlement and suppression.[72] Van Bruinessen has instead talked of an ethnocide directed against the local language and identity.[73] According to Van Bruinessen, the 1934 law created "the legal framework for a policy of ethnocide." Dersim was one of the first territories where this policy was applied.[74]
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.[75]
Aftermath
Early Turkish interpretation
Turkish state's reaction to the uprising was publicly justified as "disciplining and punishment" (tedip ve tenkil). It contributed to a Kemalist perception of Dersim and its populace, which characterises the province as unruly and defends violent state intervention. This narrative is encountered in Naşit Hakkı Uluğ's book The Feudal Lord and Dersim (Derebeyi ve Dersim), which depicts Dersim as a security threat to the Turkish Republic.[76] It was not until 2009 that the massacre was publicly acknowledged, and in recent years, oral history has been used as a method to study anti-civilian violence excluded from the official history of the event.[77]
Turkish government apology
On November 23, 2011,
See also
References
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- ^ ISBN 975-8424-00-9, s. 12.
- ^ a b c d e f McDowall, David (2007). A Modern History of the Kurds. London: Tauris & Co.
- ^ Devletin Dersim Arşivi ,Serap Yeşiltuna , Istanbul , pp;28–31 (2012)
- ^ Özgür Erdem, Dersim Yalanları ve Gerçekler p;97
- ^ Sinan Meydan , El Cevap , İnkilap Yayınları p;418
- ^ a b c NTV Tarih, Aralık 2009, sayfa 59.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-88078-7.
But by far the bloodiest violence targeted Kurds during the Dersim uprising of 1937–38, when Turkish troops massacred about 30,000 people.
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- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
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- ^ a b Birinci Genel Müfettişlik Bölgesi, Güney Doğu, İstanbul, p. 66, 194. (in Turkish)
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- ^ a b c "Turkey PM Erdogan apologises for 1930s Kurdish killings". BBC News. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
- ISBN 9789004108615, p. 13.
- ^ Martin van Bruinessen, "Zaza, Alevi and Dersimi as Deliberately Embraced Ethnic Identities" in '"Aslını İnkar Eden Haramzadedir!" The Debate on the Ethnic Identity of The Kurdish Alevis', p. 14.
- ^ Faik Bulut, Devletin Gözüyle Türkiye'de Kürt İsyanlar (Kurdish rebellions in Turkey, from the government point of view), Yön Yayınclık, 1991, 214–215. (in Turkish)
- ^ Ashly, Jaclynn (13 January 2021). "The Massacre in Dersim Still Haunts Kurds in Turkey". Fondation-Institut kurde de Paris. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- ^ Kardaş, Ümit (30 May 2019). "A short history of Turkification: From Dersim to Tunceli". Ahval. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- ^ Hans-Lukas, Kieser (27 July 2011). "Dersim massacre 1937–38". SciencesPo. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
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- ^ a b NTV Tarih, Issue: 11, "Dersim 1937–1938"
- ^ Ziflioğlu, Vercihan (18 November 2009). "Military documents to shine light on 'Dersim massacre'". Hurriyet Daily News. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
- ^ Beşikçi, Ismail. (1990) Tunceli Kanunu (1935) ve Dersim Jenosidi (The 1935 law concerning Tunceli and the genocide of Dersim), Bonn, p.29. (in Turkish)
- ^ Hasretyan, M. A. (1995) Türkiye'de Kürt Sorunu (1918–1940), Berlin, Wêşanên, ënstîtuya Kurdî: I., p. 262
- ^ Çağaptay, Soner (2002). "Reconfiguring the Turkish nation in the 1930s". Harvard. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
- ^ a b c Lundgren, Asa (2007). The unwelcome neighbour: Turkey's Kurdish policy. London: Tauris & Co. p. 44.
- ^ New perspectives on Turkey, Issues 1–4, Simon's Rock of Bard College, 1999 p. 15.
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- ^ Birinci Genel Müfettişlik Bölgesi, p. 66.
- ^ Cumhuriyet, August 26, 1935.
- ^ Erdal Aydoğan, "Üçüncü Umumi Müfettişliği'nin Kurulması ve III. Umumî Müfettiş Tahsin Uzer'in Bazı Önemli Faaliyetleri", Atatürk Yolu, Ankara Üniversitesi Türk İnkılâp Tarihi Enstitüsü, Vol. 33–34, pp. 1–14.
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- ^ Jwaideh, Wadie (2006). The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development. Syracuse University Press. p. 215.
- ^ a b Faik Bulut, ibid, p. 221. (in Turkish)
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- ^ Van Bruinessen, Martin (1994). Andreopoulos, George J. (ed.). Conceptual and historical dimensions of genocide. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 141–170.
- ^ 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. (in Turkish)
- ^ "Atatürk Pertek'te" Archived 2010-07-27 at the Wayback Machine, The government of Pertek District. (in Turkish)
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- ^ "1937–1938’de Dersim’de neler oldu?" Archived 2010-05-22 at the Wayback Machine, Taraf, November 16, 2008. (in Turkish)
- ^ Faik Bulut, ibid, p. 277. (in Turkish)
- ^ Reşat Hallı, Türkiye Cumhuriyetinde Ayaklanmalar (1924–1938), T. C. Genelkurmay Baskanlığı Harp Tarihi Dairesi, 1972, p. 382. (in Turkish)
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- ISBN 978-975-9051-75-4, p. .[citation needed]
- ^ Hans-Lukas Kieser: Some Remarks on Alevi Responses to the Missionaries in Eastern Anatolia (19th–20th cc.). Archived 12 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine In: Altruism and Imperialism. The Western Religious and Cultural Missionary Enterprise in the Middle East. Middle East Institute Conference: Bellagio Italien, August 2000
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- ^ Martin van Bruinessen: Genocide in Kurdistan? 1994, S. 141–170.
- ^ The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937–38) Archived 2016-01-08 at the Wayback Machine 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.
- ^ George J Andreopoulos, Genocide, page 11.
- ^ Saymaz, Ismail (14 March 2011). "Turkish prosecutor refuses to hear Dersim 'genocide' claim". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
- ^ Astourian, Stephan; Kévorkian, Raymond (eds.). "Physical and Epistemic Violence against Alevis in Modern Turkey". Collective and State Violence in Turkey: Construction of a National Identity from Empire to Nation-State. Berghahn Books.
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- ^ SELCAN HACAOGLU November 23, 2011 10:15 AM (23 November 2011). "Turkish PM apologizes over 1930s killings of Kurds". News.yahoo.com. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Arin, Kubilay Yado, Turkey and the Kurds – From War to Reconciliation? UC Berkeley Center for Right Wing Studies Working Paper Series, March 26, 2015.https://www.academia.edu/11674094/Turkey_and_the_Kurds_From_War_to_Reconciliation
- ^ "Turkey apologises for 1930s killing of thousands of Kurds". The Telegraph. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
Further reading
- Ashly, Jaclynn (12 January 2021). "The Massacre in Dersim Still Haunts Kurds in Turkey". Jacobin. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- Boztas, Özgür Inan. "Did a Genocide Take Place in the Dersim Region of Turkey in 1938?." Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (2015): 1–20.
Sources
- Ayata, Bilgin; Hakyemez, Serra (2013). "The AKP's engagement with Turkey's past crimes: an analysis of PM Erdoğan's "Dersim apology"". Dialectical Anthropology. 37 (1): 131–143. S2CID 144503079.
- Deniz, Dilşa (2020). "Re-assessing the Genocide of Kurdish Alevis in Dersim, 1937-38". Genocide Studies and Prevention. 14 (2): 20–43. ISSN 1911-0359.
- Ilengiz, Çiçek (2019). "Erecting a Statue in the Land of the Fallen: Gendered Dynamics of the Making of Tunceli and Commemorating Seyyid Rıza in Dersim". L'Homme. 30 (2): 75–92. S2CID 213908434.
- Erbal, Ayda (2015). "The Armenian Genocide, AKA the Elephant in the Room". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 47 (4): 783–790. S2CID 162834123.
External links
- Dersim Massacre, 1937-1938, Hans-Lukas Kieser