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#REDIRECT ] {{R from merge}}
{{POV|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict= Dersim Rebellion of 1937/1938
|partof=]
|casus= The residents of Dersim did not pay taxes
|image= ]
|caption=] and ] (November 17, 1937, in front of the ] ])
|date=20 March 1937 - November, 1937,<br />2 January 1938 - December, 1938
|place=Dersim region
|result=Decisive Turkish victory. Revolt suppressed. Turkish control of Dersim region.
|combatant1={{flagicon|Turkey}} ]
|combatant2= Dersim tribes
|commander1={{flagicon|Turkey}} ]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} ]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} ]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} ]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} ]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} ]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} ]<br />{{flagicon|Turkey}} Şemsi Erkuş<br />]<br />Zeynel Top
|commander2= ]{{POW}} {{Executed}}<br />Kamer Aga (Yusufan)<br />Cebrail Aga (Demenan)<br />Kamer Aga (Haydaran)<br />]{{KIA}}<br />Zarîfe{{KIA}}
|strength1= 50,000<ref name="McDowall209"/>
|strength2= 3,000<ref>], ''Unutulanlar dışında yeni bir şey yok: Hakkari ve Kuzey Irak dağlarındaki askerler'', Harmoni Yayıncılık, 2003, ISBN 975-6340-00-2, p. 16. {{tr icon}}</ref>
|casualties1= 199 killed
354 wounded
|casualties2=10,000 killed<ref>''Turkey's Alevi enigma: a comprehensive overview'', Paul J. White, Joost Jongerden, 2003, page 198</ref> or <br />
13,160 civilians<ref name="Radikal"/>-70,000 people<ref name="pen-kurd.org">http://www.pen-kurd.org/almani/haydar/Dersim-PresseerklC3A4rungEnglish.pdf</ref> killed<br/>11,818 into forced migration.<ref name="Radikal"/>
|casualties3=
|}}
The '''Dersim rebellion''' was a ]<ref>{{cite web|author=Réseau Voltaire |url=http://www.voltairenet.org/article171949.html |title=Erdoğan présente les excuses de la Turquie pour le massacre de Dersim |publisher=Voltairenet.org |date=2011-11-23 |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.fr/books?id=PUSgS0Y-pRsC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=seyid+riza+kurdistan&source=bl&ots=W7vFphA_KX&sig=Cvo58WNIrFDR8sgEs2-c9At2Vw4&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=0Fp8UNPDLYTNhAfkv4CABA&ved=0CGoQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=seyid%20riza%20kurdistan&f=false |title=Etre Kurde, un dщlit?: portrait d'un peuple niщ - Jacqueline Sammali - Google Livres |publisher=Books.google.fr |date= |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.fr/books?id=MxKFhFCzeLcC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=seyid+riza+kurdistan&source=bl&ots=m8Z_MP0mK_&sig=Y8v7bBxlM5mhwHcXwslcVVbuGT8&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=0Fp8UNPDLYTNhAfkv4CABA&ved=0CG0Q6AEwDw#v=onepage&q=seyid%20riza%20kurdistan&f=false |title=Les Kurdes et leur histoire - Sabri Cigerli - Google Livres |publisher=Books.google.fr |date= |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklyzaman.com/en/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=4970 |title=Can Kurds rely on the Turkish state? |publisher=Weeklyzaman.com |date=2011-10-14 |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/middle-eastnorth-africapersian-gulf-region/turkeykurds-1922-present/ |title=16. Turkey/Kurds (1922-present) |publisher=Uca.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref> uprising against the ] in the ] region of eastern Turkey, which includes parts of ], ], and ].<ref name="GD">Birinci Genel Müfettişlik Bölgesi, ''Güney Doğu'', İstanbul, p. 66, 194. {{tr icon}}</ref> The rebellion was led by ], an ] chieftain of the Yukarı Abbas Uşağı tribe.<ref>http://www.massviolence.org/IMG/article_PDF/Dersim-Massacre-1937-1938.pdf</ref> As a result of the Turkish military campaign against the rebellion, thousands of ] ] and ]<ref>http://www.massviolence.org/Dersim-Massacre-1937-1938 (According to the organisation encyclopedia of mass violence, Dersim is a Kurdish alevi province, and the massacre of turks were towards zaza speaking alevi kurds)</ref> died and many others were internally displaced due to the conflict.

On 23 November 2011, Turkish prime minister ] gave an apology for the Dersim operation, describing it as "one of the most tragic events of our recent history".<ref name=BBC/>
{{Campaignbox Kurdish–Turkish conflict}}
{{Campaignbox Kurdish Rebellions in Turkey}}

== Background ==

===Ottoman period===
During the ] period, before the ], most of the empire's eastern regions were administrated by the Ottoman feudal system. Authority in these regions was in the hands of feudal lords, tribal chieftains and ''aghas'' (dignitaries).<ref name="Bulut">Faik Bulut, ''Devletin Gözüyle Türkiye'de Kürt İsyanlar (Kurdish rebellions in Turkey, from the government point of view)'', Yön Yayınclık, 1991, 214-215. {{tr icon}}</ref>

===Early republican era===
The situation of Dersim in the Ottoman Empire continued in the early years of the ]. Tribes from Dersim objected to losing authority and refused to pay taxes.<ref>{{cite web
|title= Military documents to shine light on 'Dersim massacre'
|publisher= Hurriyet Daily News
|last=Ziflioğlu|first=Vercihan|date=November 18, 2009
|url= http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=military-documents-to-shine-a-light-on-the-8220dersim-massacre8221-2009-11-18
|accessdate=2010-09-22}}</ref>

Complaints{{Clarify|date=May 2012}} kept coming from the governors.{{Which|date=May 2012}} In an Interior Ministry report in 1926, it was considered necessary to use force against the residents of Dersim.<ref>Beşikçi, Ismail. (1990) ''Tunceli Kanunu (1935) ve Dersim Jenosidi'' (The 1935 law concerning Tunceli and the genocide of Dersim), Bonn, p.29. {{tr icon}}</ref>

====Law on Resettlement====
The ] process in Turkey began with the Turkish National Assembly passing the ] ('İskân Kanunu' Law No.2510, 13 June 1934).<ref>{{cite web
|title= Reconfiguring the Turkish nation in the 1930s
|publisher= Harvard
|last=Çağaptay
|first=Soner
|year=2002
|url= http://www.hks.harvard.edu/kokkalis/GSW4/CagaptayPAPER.PDF
|accessdate=2010-08-02}}</ref> Its measures included the forced relocation of people within the country, with the aim of promoting cultural homogeneity. In 1935, the Tunceli Law was passed to apply the ] to the newly named region of ], previously known as Dersim and populated by ] and ] ].<ref name=unwelcome>{{cite book|last=Lundgren|first=Asa|page=44|title=The unwelcome neighbour: Turkey's Kurdish policy|year=2007|publisher=Tauris & Co|location=London}}</ref> This area had a reputation for being rebellious, having been the scene of eleven separate periods of armed conflict over the previous 40 years.<ref name=McDowall>{{cite book|last=McDowall|first=David|title=A Modern History of the Kurds|year=2007|publisher=Tauris & Co|location=London|pages=207–208}}</ref>

===="Tunceli" law====
The Dersim region included the ] 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<ref>''New perspectives on Turkey'', Issues 1-4, Simon's Rock of Bard College, 1999 </ref> on January 4, 1936.<ref>Paul J. White, ''Primitive rebels or revolutionary modernizers?: the Kurdish national movement in Turkey'', Zed Books, 2000, ISBN 978-1-85649-822-7, </ref>

====Fourth General Inspectorate====
{{main|Inspectorates-General (Turkey)}}

In order to consolidate its authority in the process of ] of religious and ethnic minorities,<ref>Cemil Koçak, ''Umumi müfettişlikler (1927-1952)'', İletişim Yayınları, 2003, ISBN 978-975-05-0129-6, p. 144.</ref> the ] passed the law, numbered 1164 and dated June 25, 1927. Following the First Inspectorate-General (January 1, 1928, Diyarbakır),<ref>Birinci Genel Müfettişlik Bölgesi, p. 66.</ref>

]{{Clarify|date=May 2012}}],
the Second Inspectorate-General (February 19, 1934, Edirne)<ref name="GD"/> and the Third Inspectorate-General (August 25, 1935, Erzurum),<ref>''Cumhuriyet'', August 26, 1935.</ref><ref>Erdal Aydoğan, , ''Atatürk Yolu'', Ankara Üniversitesi Türk İnklâp Tarihi Enstitüsü, Vol. 33-34, pp. 1-14.</ref> the Fourth General Inspectorate (''Dördüncü Umumi Müffetişlik'') was established on June 6, 1936, in the traditional Dersim region, which includes ], ] and ].<ref name="GD"/>

On 1 November 1936, during a speech in the ] ] acknowledged the situation in Dersim as Turkey's most important internal problem.<ref>Hasretyan, M. A. (1995) ''Türkiye'de Kürt Sorunu (1918-1940)'', Berlin, Wêşanên, ënstîtuya Kurdî: I., p. 262. {{tr icon}}</ref> Firstly, military stations were built in the strategical zones.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} Then the Inspector of the Fourth General Inspectorate, Lieutenant General Abdullah Alpdoğan was given the authority to sign court orders, providing security,{{Clarify|date=May 2012}} to exile people that lived in the city when necessary. {{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}

== The Rebellion ==
]

After the "Tunceli" Law, the Turkish government built military observation posts in the centers of districts such as Kahmut, Sin, Karaoğlan, Amutka, Danzik, and Haydaran.

Following public meetings in January 1937, a letter of protest against the law was written to be sent to the local governor. According to Kurdish sources, the emissaries of the letter were arrested and executed. In May, a group of local people ambushed a police convoy in response, the first act of a localised conflict.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jwaideh|first=Wadie|title=The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development|year=2006|publisher=Syracuse University Press|page=215}}</ref>

===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.<ref name="Faik221">Faik Bulut, ''ibid'', p. 221. {{tr icon}}</ref>

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 3th{{Clarify|date=July 2013|reason=Should this be '3rd', '13th' or something else?}} 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.<ref name="Faik221"/>

== Turkish military operations ==
] holding a bomb before the bombardment operation over Dersim with her ]]]
] and ] at Tunceli region in 1937.]]
] and her colleagues in front of Breguet 19, 1937-38]]
]
]

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 ], were hanged. However, remnants of the rebel forces continued to resist and the number of troops in the region was doubled. The methods used by the army were brutal, including the mass killing of civilians, the razing of homes and the deportation of people from less hostile areas. The area was also bombed from the air.<ref name=McDowall/> The rebels continued to resist until the region was pacified in October 1938.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chaliand|first=Gerard|title=A People without a country: the Kurds and Kurdistan|year=1993|publisher=Olive Branch Press|location=London|pages=58}}</ref>

According to ], a general in Turkish Army in the 1990s, Atatürk had given the operational order himself.<ref>, '']'', August 19, 2010. {{tr icon}}</ref>

===1937===

====First Tunceli Operation====
On September 10–12, 1937, ] came to the government building of the Erzincan Province for peace talks and was arrested.<ref>Ahmet Kahraman, pp. 286-287. {{tr icon}}</ref> 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<ref>Ahmet Kahraman, pp. 292-293. {{tr icon}}</ref> 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.<ref>''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. {{tr icon}}</ref><ref>, The government of Pertek District. {{tr icon}}</ref>

===1938===

====Second Tunceli Operation====
The prime minister, ] (in office: October 25, 1937 – January 25, 1939) had agreed to an attack on the Dersim rebels.<ref>, '']'', November 16, 2008. {{tr icon}}</ref> The operation started on January 2, 1938 and finished on August 7, 1938.

====Third Tunceli Operation====
{{Expand section|date=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.<ref>Faik Bulut, ''ibid'', p. 277. {{tr icon}}</ref>

====Aerial operations====
Turkish planes flew numerous sorties against the rebels during the rebellion. Among the pilots was ]'s adopted daughter, ], the first Turkish female fighter pilot. A report of the General Staff mentioned the "serious damage" that had been caused by her 50&nbsp;kg bomb, upon a group of 50 fleeing ''bandits''.<ref>Reşat Hallı, ''Türkiye Cumhuriyetinde Ayaklanmalar (1924–1938)'', T. C. Genelkurmay Baskanlığı Harp Tarihi Dairesi, 1972, p. 382. {{tr icon}}</ref>

], engaged in operations for about two months over Dersim, but he stated in his memoirs that he wanted to avoid explaining this part of his life.<ref>Muhsin Batur, ''Anılar, Görüşler, Üç Dönemin Perde Arsası'', Milliyet Yayınları, 1985, p. 25. {{tr icon}}</ref> ] claimed that the Turkish air force bombed the district with ] in 1938.<ref>Martin van Bruinessen, ''Kurdish ethno-nationalism versus nation-building states: collected articles'', Isis Press, 2000, ISBN 978-975-428-177-4, p. 116.</ref>

===Consequences===
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.<ref name="Radikal">, '']'', November 19, 2009. {{tr icon}}</ref> According to the Dersimi, many tribesmen were shot dead after surrendering, and women and children were locked into haysheds which were then set on fire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.let.uu.nl/~Martin.vanBruinessen/personal/publications/Dersim_rebellion.pdf |title=The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) Page 4 |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref> According to McDowall, 40,000 people were killed.<ref name="McDowall209">David McDowall, ''A modern history of the Kurds'', I.B.Tauris, 2002, ISBN 978-1-85043-416-0, p. 209.</ref> According to Kurdish Diaspora sources, over 70,000 people were killed.<ref name="pen-kurd.org"/>

A key component of the ] process was the policy of massive population resettlement - a result of the 1934 law on resettlement. This policy targeted the region of Dersim as one of its first test cases, and it had disastrous consequences for the local population.<ref>George J Andreopoulos, ''Genocide'', page 11.</ref>

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."<ref>Hüseyin Aygün, ''Dersim 1938 ve zorunlu iskân: telgraflar, dilekçeler, mektuplar'', Dipnot Yayınları, 2009, ISBN 978-975-9051-75-4, p. .{{Citation needed|date=September 2010|language=tr}}</ref>

==Numbers killed==
The contemporary British estimate of the number of deaths was 40,000, although historians suggest that this figure may be exaggerated.<ref name=McDowall/> It has been suggested that the total number of deaths may be 7,594,<ref name=unwelcome/> over 10,000,<ref name=Kieser>Hans-Lukas Kieser: In: ''Altruism and Imperialism. The Western Religious and Cultural Missionary Enterprise in the Middle East.'' Middle East Institute Conference: Bellagio Italien, August 2000</ref> or over 13,000.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news|title=Turkey PM Erdogan apologises for 1930s Kurdish killings|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15857429|accessdate=24 November 2011|newspaper=BBC News |date=23 November 2011}}</ref> Around 3,000 people were forcibly deported from Dersim.<ref name=unwelcome/>

A 2008 conference organised by ] reached the conclusion that Turkey was guilty of ], estimating that 50,000–80,000 were killed in the aftermath of the Dersim rebellion.<ref name="Dersim 38 Conference"></ref>

==Genocide controversy==
Many Kurds and some ethnic Turks consider the events that took place in Dersim to constitute ]. A prominent proponent of this view is the academic ].<ref>İsmail Besikçi, ''Tunceli Kanunu (1935) ve Dersim Jenosidi'', Belge Yayınları, 1990.</ref> Under international laws, it has been argued, the actions of the Turkish authorities were not genocide, because they were not aimed at the extermination of a people, but at resettlement and suppression.<ref>Martin van Bruinessen: Genocide in Kurdistan? 1994, S. 141–170.</ref> Scholars, such as ], have instead talked of an ] directed against the local language and identity.<ref> 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.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news|last=Saymaz|first=Ismail|title=Turkish prosecutor refuses to hear Dersim 'genocide' claim|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkish-prosecutor-refuses-to-hear-dersim-8216genocide8217-claims-2011-03-15|accessdate=24 November 2011|newspaper=] |date=14 March 2011}}</ref>

== Recent developments ==
On November 23, 2011, ] ] apologized "on behalf of the state" over the killing of over 13,000 people during the rebellion.<ref>{{cite web|author=SELCAN HACAOGLU November 23, 2011 10:15 AM |url=http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-pm-apologizes-over-1930s-killings-kurds-115137515.html |title=Turkish PM apologizes over 1930s killings of Kurds |publisher=News.yahoo.com |date=2011-11-23 |accessdate=2013-12-24}}</ref> His remarks were widely commented on both inside and outside Turkey. His comments were pointedly directed at opposition leader ]. Erdogan reminded his audience that Kılıçdaroğlu's party, the ], had been in power at the time of the massacre, then the only political party in Turkey.<ref name=BBC/> 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".<ref>{{cite news|title=Turkey apologises for 1930s killing of thousands of Kurds|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/8910369/Turkey-apologises-for-1930s-killing-of-thousands-of-Kurds.html|accessdate=24 November 2011|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=24 November 2011}}</ref>

== See also ==
*]
*]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Links==
{{commons category|Dersim rebellion}}
*Hans-Lukas Kieser,
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{{Middle East conflicts}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dersim Rebellion}}
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