The Alevi-Kurdish community now mourns the loss of a “tireless fighter for justice” who devoted almost his entire life looking for the grave of his grandfather and his comrades.

Today, Saturday, a funeral ceremony will be held for Rüstem Polat in the Cem Ev of the AKMC in Gustavsburg. Then Polat will be transferred to Dersim. His wish was to be buried in the village of Pîxami in Xozat.

In 1937 the Dersim Rebellion broke out, led by Seyit Riza. He was the most important spiritual and tribal thinker of his time and fought against the Turkish government, against the expulsion and genocide of Kurdish Alevis. In September 1937 he was arrested in an ambush, sentenced to death in an express trial and executed on 15 November 1937 in Elazığ together with his son Resik Ûşen and his five comrades, Wusênê Seydi, Aliye Mirzê Sili, Hesen Ağa, Fındık Ağa and Hesenê Ivraimê.

The exact place where Seyit Riza and his comrades were buried is still unknown. The Turkish government refuses to reveal where the remains are buried.