Dersim rebellion

Kurdish and Zaza 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 peasants who lived and worked in their real estate.[17] However, the general political authority in the provinces, such as Dersim, was in the hands of the Ottoman government.

Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, some Kurdish and Zaza tribes became unhappy about certain aspects of Atatürk's Reforms for modernising Turkey, such as secularism[18] and land reform,[19] and staged armed revolts that were put down by the Turkish military.

Dersim had been a particularly difficult province for the Ottoman government to control, with 11 different armed rebellions between 1876 and 1923.[20][21] The rebellious stance of the aghas in Dersim continued during the early years of the Republic of Turkey. Aghas in Dersim objected to losing authority in their manorial affairs and refused to pay taxes; and complaints from the provincial governors in Dersim were sent to the central government in Ankara,[22] which favoured land reform and direct control over the country's farmlands, as well as state planning for agricultural production.[19] In an Interior Ministry report in 1926, it was considered necessary to use force against the aghas of Dersim.[23] On November 1, 1936, during a speech in parliament, Atatürk described Dersim as Turkey's most important interior problem.[24]

The Turkification process began with the 1934 Turkish Resettlement Law.[25] 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 and Zaza Alevis.[26] This area had a reputation for being rebellious, having been the scene of eleven separate periods of armed conflict over the previous 40 years.[20][21]

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[27] on January 4, 1936.[28]

In order to consolidate its authority in the process of Turkification of religious and ethnic minorities,[29][30] the Turkish Grand National Assembly passed Law No. 1164 on 25 June 1927[31] which allowed the state to establish Inspectorates-General.[32] Following the First Inspectorate-General (1 January 1928, Diyarbakır Province),[33] the Second Inspectorate-General (19 February 1934, Edirne Province)[11] and the Third Inspectorate-General (25 August 1935, Erzurum Province),[34][35] the Fourth Inspectorate-General (Dördüncü Umumi Müfettişlik) was established in January 1936, in the traditional Dersim region, which includes Tunceli Province, Elazığ Province and Bingöl Province.[36] The Fourth Inspectorate-General was governed by a "Governor Commander" within a military authority. He was given wide-ranging authority in juridical, military and civilian matters. He also had the power to resettle or exile people who lived in the city.[32]

On 1 November 1936, during a speech in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Atatürk described the situation in Dersim as Turkey's most important internal problem.[37]

Seyid Riza, the chieftain of Yukarı Abbas Uşağı, sent his followers to the Haydaran, Demenan, Yusufan, and Kureyşan tribes to make an alliance.[39]

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.[39]

On September 10–12, 1937, Seyit Rıza came to the government building of the Erzincan Province for peace talks and was arrested.[43] 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[44] Ihsan Sabri Çağlayangil, who would later become foreign minister,[45] arranged the trials and hanging of the leaders of the rebellion and some of their sons.[46]

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.[47][48]

The prime minister, Celal Bayar (in office: October 25, 1937 – January 25, 1939) had agreed to an attack on the Dersim rebels.[49] The operation started on January 2, 1938 and finished on August 7, 1938.

The Third Tunceli Operation was carried out between August 10–17, 1938.

Sweep operations that started on September 6, were continued for 17 days.[50]

Turkish planes flew numerous sorties against the rebels during the rebellion. Among the pilots was Kemal Atatürk's adopted daughter, Sabiha Gökçen, the first Turkish female fighter pilot. A report of the General Staff mentioned the "serious damage" that had been caused by her 50 kg bomb, upon a group of fleeing bandits.[51]

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.[52] Nuri Dersimi claimed that the Turkish air force bombed the district with poisonous gas in 1938.[53]

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.[54] According to a claim by Nuri Dersimi, many tribesmen were shot dead after surrendering, and women and children were locked into haysheds which were then set on fire.[55] According to McDowall, 40,000 people were killed.[2]

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."[56]

The contemporary British estimate of the number of deaths was 40,000, although this number could be exaggerated.[20] It has been suggested that the total number of deaths may be 7,594,[26] over 10,000,[57] or over 13,000.[14] Around 3,000 people were forcibly deported from Dersim.[26]

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". Scholar İsmail Beşikçi has argued that the Turkish government actions in Dersim were genocide.[58] 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.[59] Van Bruinessen has instead talked of an ethnocide directed against the local language and identity.[60] 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.[61]

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.[62]

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.[63] His remarks were widely commented on both inside and outside Turkey.[64] His comments were pointedly directed at opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (who in fact is from Dersim). 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.[14] 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".[65]