The Reconstruction of Dersim Society and the Association Against the Dersim Genocide of 37-38 have issued a statement on the 78th anniversary of the "Dersim Repression Decrees”. The statement said: "4 May 1937 was a dark day for Dersim and a shameful day for humanity.” The two organisations drew attention to the link between the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the state targeting Dersim in 1937, when on 4 May the cabinet in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) issued a special decree, the “Dersim Repression Decrees”.

Official document of genocide

The Dersim organisations described this decree as ‘the official document of the Dersim Genocide’, noting that with this decree the government in Ankara officially declared war on Dersim. The statement said: "On the orders of leading administrators of the Turkish Republic and CHP, such as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and İsmet İnönü, the 'DERSIM GENOCIDE was officially launched.”

The statement continued, drawing attention to recent statements by the President and the AKP government to the effect that “there is no Kurdish question” and “there is no such thing as a Dersim Genocide.”

The organisers said: "Today is 4 May and we are both in mourning and angry. "4 May 1937 was a dark day for Dersim and a shameful day for humanity. 4 May was the date the decision was taken that would lead to the slaughter of tens of thousands of people and the forcing into exile of tens of thousands of others. Families were broken up and children were forcibly adopted.”

The state, CHP and AKP must apologise

The organisations called on the CHP and the AKP to apologise, saying: "There must be a reckoning with the past, with first and foremost the CHP apologising to the people of Dersim for the genocide. President R. Tayyip Erdoğan, who wants to be a dictator, should apologise on behalf of the reactionary-racist and anti-democratic state and confront the past. He should apologise for the Armenian genocide and to the Kurds and Alevis for all the massacres that have been perpetrated.”

Dersim is still under threat

The statement issued by the two organisations pointed to continuing policies of assimilation and environmental destruction in Dersim, adding: “dams, hydroelectric plants and military posts continue to be constructed in Dersim, with protests against these projects being violently suppressed.”

"Dersim is still under siege and the threat of genocide”, the statement said, adding that on 7 June they believed the people would teach those responsible for the genocide a lesson at the ballot box.