Fourth Inspectorate-General (Turkey)

The Fourth Inspectorate-General (Umumi Müfettişlik, UM) was based on the Law 1164 from September 1927,[2] which was passed in order to Turkefy the non-Turkish population.[1] Before, there were established three other Inspectorates-General in other areas. The first in Kurdish provinces in the southeast of Anatolia, the second in Thracia in the northwestern part of Turkey,[3] and another one in the northeastern part of Turkey.[4] Following the Tunceli Law of December 1935,[5] which demanded a more powerful government in the region,[6] and also classified the Dersim district from the Elaziğ province into a province named Tunceli,[5] the fourth Inspectorate-General was created in January 1936.[7] The fourth UM span over the provinces of Elaziğ, Erzincan, Bingöl and Tunceli.[1] The focus of the UM was on Tunceli but its seat was in Elaziğ.[8] It was governed by a Governor-Commander in a state of emergency.[5] Most of the employees in the municipality were to be filled with military personnel and the Governor-Commander had the authority to evacuate whole villages and resettle them in other parts of the country.[1] Also the juridical guarantees did not comply with the law valid in other parts of Turkey. The trials were at most 5 days long and sentences could not be appealed. For a release, the Governor Commander had to give his consent. The application of the death penalty was under the authority of the Governor-Commander, while normally it would be the authority of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to approve such a punishment.[1] The first Governor-Commander was Abdullah Alpdoğan, the nephew of Nurettin Pasha who suppressed the Koçgiri rebellion in 1921.[5] Following its establishment, to gain more control over the region, military quarters, police stations, schools and also a railway track to Elaziğ were built. Seyid Riza, a local tribal chief from Dersim, demanded the Tunceli Law to be revoked[5] and tribesmen loyal to him attacked a police station in March 1937 which sparked a strong response from the Turkish Government.[5] The Dersim rebellion was suppressed with utmost determination, massacres of the local population were executed and its leaders were hanged.[5][6] Abdullah Alpdoğan supported the idea, the Kurdish identity would be toppled by telling the Kurds just enough that they were Turks,[9] and stayed in the post of the Governor-Commander until 1943.[10]