The Turkish Interior Ministry launched an investigation against the Dersim City Council’s decision to change the city’s name from Tunceli to Dersim officially. Inspectors have been appointed.

“TUNCELI IS THE NAME OF A GENOCIDE”

Dersim’s Forces of Labor and Democracy issued a press statement today in the Seyit Riza Square to defend the City Council’s decision.

HDP Dersim Co-chair Hidir Cicek said, “This name is the joint will and demand of the people of Dersim. This city was renamed Tunceli (“Bronze Hand”), saying the state needed to show its might. This is a battle between Dersim and Tunceli, they say. We do not accept the name ‘Tunceli’. Tunceli is the name of a massacre, a rape, a denial and a genocide.”

“RIGHT WINGERS AND LEFT WINGERS UNITE AGAINST DERSIM”

EMEP Chairperson Ergin Tekin said various circles that call themselves right wing and left wing have united to defend the monist order against the name Dersim and the will of the people of Dersim.

Tekin pointed out that the name Tunceli was given in conjunction with the massacre  and continued: “The attack against the name Dersim is an attack against our societal presence, and all our humane values. Dersim is the historic memory of a people. The name Tunceli on the other hand is the name of legalizing a massacre and erasing the social and historical memory of a people.”