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TURKISH FILMMAKERS TO INVESTIGATE PARALLELS BETWEEN DERSIM, ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net
March 28, 2012 - 13:38 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - A couple who produced the documentary "Two Strands
of Hair: The Lost Girls of Dersim" is preparing to shoot a sequel
to the film, which chronicled victims' accounts of the bloody Dersim
operation of 1938 Hurriyet Daily News reports.
"When we were shooting the first documentary, we thought the subject
matter would spur debate, but it had not occurred to us even remotely
that a taboo would be shattered in such a way, and that even the
Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic would define the events as a
'massacre,'" the documentary's researcher and scriptwriter, Kazım
Gundogan told the HDN.
Whereas the first documentary featured the testimonies of female
children who were forcibly taken away from their families, the sequel,
in turn, will include the accounts of the families of the troops who
took them away. Documentary filmmakers Kazım and Nezahat Gundogan
will also investigate the parallels between the massacre in Dersim
- which is now the eastern province of Tunceli - and the Armenian
Genocide of 1915.
"Soldiers' children who said their fathers and grandfathers had
brought female children from Dersim called us after the first
documentary. They opened up their archives and related the [incidents]
they witnessed. The personal archives and notes of troops and civil
servants who participated in that process bear great significance,"
Kazım Gundogan said.
"The families in question gave their archives away to old book
collectors to unload their burden in connection with the bloody
military operation that was launched against Alevi clans in Dersim,"
he said. "The archives of Turkey's black boxes are now [lying] in
old book collector shops."
Kazım Gundogan also added they had received much criticism from
historians.
"We believe in the power of human stories. ... They ask us which
documents [illustrate] that the events in Dersim constituted not a
rebellion but a massacre, and we present to them the testimonies of the
people who experienced all the pain first hand. Which one [represents]
the truth of history? The report prepared by the troops who personally
participated in the massacre, or the eyewitnesses?" he said.
PanARMENIAN.Net
March 28, 2012 - 13:38 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - A couple who produced the documentary "Two Strands
of Hair: The Lost Girls of Dersim" is preparing to shoot a sequel
to the film, which chronicled victims' accounts of the bloody Dersim
operation of 1938 Hurriyet Daily News reports.
"When we were shooting the first documentary, we thought the subject
matter would spur debate, but it had not occurred to us even remotely
that a taboo would be shattered in such a way, and that even the
Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic would define the events as a
'massacre,'" the documentary's researcher and scriptwriter, Kazım
Gundogan told the HDN.
Whereas the first documentary featured the testimonies of female
children who were forcibly taken away from their families, the sequel,
in turn, will include the accounts of the families of the troops who
took them away. Documentary filmmakers Kazım and Nezahat Gundogan
will also investigate the parallels between the massacre in Dersim
- which is now the eastern province of Tunceli - and the Armenian
Genocide of 1915.
"Soldiers' children who said their fathers and grandfathers had
brought female children from Dersim called us after the first
documentary. They opened up their archives and related the [incidents]
they witnessed. The personal archives and notes of troops and civil
servants who participated in that process bear great significance,"
Kazım Gundogan said.
"The families in question gave their archives away to old book
collectors to unload their burden in connection with the bloody
military operation that was launched against Alevi clans in Dersim,"
he said. "The archives of Turkey's black boxes are now [lying] in
old book collector shops."
Kazım Gundogan also added they had received much criticism from
historians.
"We believe in the power of human stories. ... They ask us which
documents [illustrate] that the events in Dersim constituted not a
rebellion but a massacre, and we present to them the testimonies of the
people who experienced all the pain first hand. Which one [represents]
the truth of history? The report prepared by the troops who personally
participated in the massacre, or the eyewitnesses?" he said.