DERSİM - Director Devrim Tekinoğlu stated that the execution of Seyit Rıza and his friends is an incurable wound for the people of Dersim, and said that this wound will not heal until Dersim Massacre is called out.

 

84 years have passed since the execution of Seyit Rıza, the leader of the Dersim resistance, and his friends Uşenê Seydi, Aliyê Mirzî Silî, Hesenê İvaîmê Qıjî, Hesen Ağa, Fındık Ağa and Resik Uşen. Seyit Rıza and his friends, who were executed in Elazığ Square as a result of an illegal court held under the supervision of İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil, who was sent on a special mission from Ankara on November 15, 1937, were buried in an unknown place. Despite all the efforts of his relatives for 84 years, the burial places of Seyit Rıza and his friends were not disclosed by the state.

 

After the execution of Seyit Rıza, the days of exile began for the people of Dersim. However, according to historical researchers and many sources, around 70,000 people, including thousands of children, old people and women, were killed in the massacre. Again, tens of thousands of people were exiled, and the girls taken from their families were given to the soldiers as wives.

 

We talked to Devrim Tekinoğlu, the director of the documentary "Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Four", which focuses on the events of 1994, which he sees as a continuation of the 1938 Massacre, and the execution of Seyit Rıza.

 

EXECUTIONS INDICATED THE MASSACRE WAS COMING

 

Stating that the Dersim Massacre should be processed in line with the course of history, director Devrim Tekinoğlu said that the 1937-38 massacre dates back to Yavuz Selim. Tekinoğlu said that roots of the massacre dated back to the 1921 Koçgiri Massacre with the conquest policies of the Ottoman Empire, and that the state launched a plan for Dersim after the Koçgiri Massacre. Tekinoğlu noted social engineering implemented in this process was very important and that Seyit Rıza and leading figures were executed on November 15, 1937, within the scope of these plans. Tekinoğlu said that nearly 70 people were imprisoned after those who were executed and murdered, but that no information could be obtained about those who were imprisoned until today.

 

FESTERING SORE

 

Saying that the Dersim Massacre is still a festering wound that does not heal, Tekinoğlu said, “We have to come to terms with our wound in order for it to heal. Dersim Massacre needs to be confronted with. Those who committed these murders must be held to account and losses must be compensated. The way of life, the language, culture and belief of the people in Dersim were lost. We have to revive these things and remove the obstacles in front of them."

 

 

MA / Cengiz Özbasar