ANKARA – DEM Party parliamentary group chairs have submitted a motion to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM), demanding an official investigation into the Dersim Massacre, which was initiated by a Cabinet decision during the early Republican era.
In their proposal, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit and Temelli emphasized that the Republic was founded on a monolithic ideology, marginalizing diverse identities, cultures, and beliefs, aiming to construct a chauvinist society. The justification highlighted the 1925 "Report for Reform in the East" targeting Kurds and described Dersim—a center of Kurdish Alevism—as a major obstacle to the homogenization policies of the state, referencing reports by state officials like General Staff Chief Fevzi Çakmak and secret documents from the Gendarmerie Command in the early 1930s advocating military intervention.
OVER 70 THOUSAND KURDS WERE MASSACRED
The motion stated that the massacre began on May 4, 1937, with a Cabinet decision. One of the most tragic events in Turkish history unfolded, culminating in the execution of Pir Seyit Rıza, his son Resik Hüseyin, and others on November 15, 1937, following a military tribunal in Elazığ. Seyit Rıza’s final words, condemning the injustice and cruelty of the state, remain etched in collective memory. Over 70,000 people were killed, thousands were forcibly displaced, and many were severed from their cultural, linguistic, and spiritual heritage.
ERDOĞAN ISSUED A STATE APOLOGY
The motion also recalls that in 2011, then-Prime Minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly apologized on behalf of the state, acknowledging the massacre as a deep wound in the nation's history. Despite this gesture, no concrete follow-up actions were taken, leaving a sense of unresolved grief among the people of Dersim and beyond.
CALL FOR INVESTIGATION
Stressing that true social peace requires confronting historical injustices, the DEM Party urged the establishment of a parliamentary commission to investigate the massacre. The proposal includes demands such as restoring the name “Dersim,” opening state archives, forming a truth commission, locating mass graves, disclosing the fate of missing children, revealing the burial sites of Seyit Rıza and his companions, and holding those responsible accountable in the historical record.