Dersim
The Turkish army crushes resistance in the mountainous, largely Alevi Kurdish region of Dersim, killing many thousands and deporting thousands more.
- Genocide in Kurdistan? The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937–38) and the Chemical War against the Iraqi Kurds (1988) — Martin van Bruinessen, University of Pennsylvania Press (in G. Andreopoulos, ed., Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions) (1994)
- A Modern History of the Kurds — David McDowall, I.B. Tauris (2004)
- Erdogan apologises to Kurds for mass killing — Al Jazeera (2011)
Dersim, a remote mountain region in eastern Turkey, was home to Alevi Kurds, many of them speaking Zaza, whom no government had ever firmly controlled. In 1935 Ankara passed a special law for the area, renamed it Tunceli and put it under military administration.
- Genocide in Kurdistan? The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937–38) and the Chemical War against the Iraqi Kurds (1988) — Martin van Bruinessen, University of Pennsylvania Press (in G. Andreopoulos, ed., Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions) (1994)
- A Modern History of the Kurds — David McDowall, I.B. Tauris (2004)
- Genocide in Kurdistan? The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937–38) and the Chemical War against the Iraqi Kurds (1988) — Martin van Bruinessen, University of Pennsylvania Press (in G. Andreopoulos, ed., Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions) (1994)
- A Modern History of the Kurds — David McDowall, I.B. Tauris (2004)
The death toll is disputed. In 2011 Prime Minister Erdoğan read out official documents recording 13,806 people killed and roughly 11,600 deported, and apologised.
- Erdogan apologises to Kurds for mass killing — Al Jazeera (2011)
- Genocide in Kurdistan? The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937–38) and the Chemical War against the Iraqi Kurds (1988) — Martin van Bruinessen, University of Pennsylvania Press (in G. Andreopoulos, ed., Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions) (1994)
A massacre, and for many a genocide, of an Alevi Kurdish community whose real offence was refusing to submit; the true death toll was higher than the state admits.
- Genocide in Kurdistan? The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937–38) and the Chemical War against the Iraqi Kurds (1988) — Martin van Bruinessen, University of Pennsylvania Press (in G. Andreopoulos, ed., Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions) (1994)
- A Modern History of the Kurds — David McDowall, I.B. Tauris (2004)
Long described as a necessary operation to impose law and order on a lawless, rebellious region. In 2011 Prime Minister Erdoğan apologised on behalf of the state and called it one of the most tragic events of recent Turkish history, while blaming the then-ruling CHP.
- Erdogan apologises to Kurds for mass killing — Al Jazeera (2011)
- A Modern History of the Kurds — David McDowall, I.B. Tauris (2004)
Why it matters today
Dersim (renamed Tunceli) is a raw wound, especially for Alevi Kurds and Zazas. The 2011 official apology was a first, but many feel the full story, including where the dead lie, has still not been told.