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“Desim” is the name of a region in north eastern Kurdistan, located in eastern part of present day Turkey. The cultural ecosystem of this region is a rich ancient one. It is located in upper part of Mesopotamia in a mountainous natural ecosystem. The language spoken in Dersim region is ” Kumanji ” as well as “Zazaki“. Majority of the inhabitants follow an archaic version of an ancient religion; presently known as “Alevi”. Dersim has had also a considerable Armenian population, prior to the genocide of 1915. During this happening, Dersim was the only region relatively save for the threaten Armenian people and refugees. This was at least partly due to the fact that within a long period, Dersimis were culturally and ethnically mingled with the Armenians. As it was the case with all cultural ecosystems, Dersimis were mentally so independent, that they dared not to cooperate with the Ottoman in their eastern wars.
Dersim: A Name not to Forget
Their survival strategy and bravery for a very long time helped them to keep the developments of their cultural ecosystem. But their millennia-old autonomy and zealousness to preserve their culture, could in no way be tolerated by the newly installed modernizing nationalistic dictatorship.
One of the strategies of neo-colonialism was the forced and aggressive expansion into places which were relatively untouched until then. For that purpose, groups of imitating “nationalists” were chosen; headed by most brutal military men; in order to achieve their goals. They were supposed under the slogan of creating nation states, within colonial borders. But still the main hidden goal was the expansion of capitalist interests. For that purpose, it was necessary for neo-colonialism to achieve capitalistic interest by creating periphery dependent societies. For that sake, independent cultural ecosystems and subsistence economies had to eliminated.
In Asia Minor and upper Mesopotamia, all ancient cultural ecosystems were among those needed to be eliminated, in order to create a cultural and political nationalist nation under the invented name of “Turkey”. As in other parts of the Orient like “Iran” “nationalist modernists” were supported by colonial powers in all aspects; including financing and equipping the so called “national armies”.
Dersim: A Name not to Forget
Due to the military nature of early capitalist penetration, the level of aggression depended on the level of resistance of native people. At the same time the level of military resistance of the natives, depended on their military capabilities. Such capability was higher in mountainous regions with prevalent half nomadic mode of production. Therefore the level of atrocity in regions like Dersim in Turkey and Loristan in Iran was extremely dramatic.
In 1930 Buzkurt, a prominent theorist of the so-called Kemalism spoke of a war between two races of Kurds and Turks. He considered Mussolini’s fascism nothing other than a version of Kemalism. He even went so-far as to say: “All friends, enemies and the mountains, shall know that the Turk is the master of this country. All those who are not pure Turks have only one right in the Turkish homeland: the right to be servants, the right to be slaves” (on Posta 20 September 1930) But the place which he was calling the homeland of the Turks was as a matter of fact, the homeland of several original native peoples other than the Turks.
Dersim: A Name not to Forget
Among the such natives were the people of Drsimi cultural ecosystem. They became the subject of an unimaginable atrocity by the modern Turkish army in 1937 and 1938. Consequently, once more one of the most shameful massacres in the history of the region took place in Dersim. The army even used poison gas to kill people who hid in caves (NTV tarih December 2009: 61) Many others as mentioned by Kieser in the attached article, were burned alive in their houses or by using fuel on numerous individuals. In the fear of falling in the hands of the army, girls and women jumped into abysses, as had been done earlier by native Armenians. (Dersimi, 1952, 318-320).
It is understood from various sources that in clearing the area occupied by the Kurds, the military authorities have used methods similar to those used against the Armenians during the Great War: thousands of Kurds including children were slain; others, mostly children were thrown into the Euphrates; while thousands of others in less hostile areas, who had first been deprived of their cattle and other belongings, were deported to vilayets in Central Anatolia” (Reported by the British Vice Consul in Trabzon on 27 September1938}. In another place as remembered by one of the soldiers: in one case “in horrific savageness and craziness, (they) gathered the women, girls and children …sprayed kerosene and easily burnt them alive.” (Soldier Halil Çolak, Bulut 1991: 300f.)
For more information, cf. the attached article by Hans-Lukas Kieser: Dersim Massacre, 1937-1938 date 27 July, 2011
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