Tweet
Documentary on Dersim Massacre Screened in Germany
http://www.rudaw.net/english/world/4730.html
13/05/2012 11:47:00 By RESHAT OZKAN
[image: image] Old picture of the Kurdish city of Dersim during the
years of the massacare. Photo haberpan.com
MUNICH, Germany - Survivors of the 1930s massacre in the Dersim area of
Turkey came together for `The Lost Girls of Dersim,' a documentary screened
recently in Munich, Germany. The film focuses on the fate of Kurdish girls
who were exiled from their homes by Turkish authorities after the infamous
military campaign.
Haydar Ishek, a survivor who was four years old at the time of the
massacre, accused the Turkish government of trying to annihilate Kurds in
the area with its heavy-handed military operations between 1937 and 1938.
`Young and old, girls and women, were killed by gas bombs in the mountains
and inside caves,' Ishek said. `They killed parents in front of small
children and made thousands of children orphans in Dersim.'
Mohammed Bayrak, speaking on a panel before the film was screened, said
Turkey's founder Mustafa Kamal Ataturk personally gave the order for the
massacre.
`Ataturk and his friends tried to exterminate Kurds in the area,' Bayrak
said. `First they massacred Armenians and then Kurds.' Bayrak added that
the property of the Kurds in Dersim was given to pro-government groups.
Bayrak referred to a conversation where Ihsan Caglayangil, a former Turkish
foreign minister, acknowledged the massacre in Dersim to Kamal
Kilicdaroglu, the current head of the Republican People's Party (CHP).
Kilicdaroglu is a native of Dersim; the CHP was founded by Ataturk.
Bayrak said Caglayangil told the CHP leader that `thousands of people took
refuge inside caves. Our soldiers gassed them just like mice. Our state
committed genocide; it committed the massacre.'
Ahmed Qahraman, another panelist at the event, pointed the finger at
Ataturk and his government for ordering and carrying out the massacre.
Qahraman said the massacre is acknowledged by the pro-Islamist government
that is currently in charge in Turkey.
In late 2011, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused an uproar
when he apologized for the killing of over 13,000 people in Dersim from
1936 to 1939 by government troops.
From: Baghdasarian
http://www.rudaw.net/english/world/4730.html
13/05/2012 11:47:00 By RESHAT OZKAN
[image: image] Old picture of the Kurdish city of Dersim during the
years of the massacare. Photo haberpan.com
MUNICH, Germany - Survivors of the 1930s massacre in the Dersim area of
Turkey came together for `The Lost Girls of Dersim,' a documentary screened
recently in Munich, Germany. The film focuses on the fate of Kurdish girls
who were exiled from their homes by Turkish authorities after the infamous
military campaign.
Haydar Ishek, a survivor who was four years old at the time of the
massacre, accused the Turkish government of trying to annihilate Kurds in
the area with its heavy-handed military operations between 1937 and 1938.
`Young and old, girls and women, were killed by gas bombs in the mountains
and inside caves,' Ishek said. `They killed parents in front of small
children and made thousands of children orphans in Dersim.'
Mohammed Bayrak, speaking on a panel before the film was screened, said
Turkey's founder Mustafa Kamal Ataturk personally gave the order for the
massacre.
`Ataturk and his friends tried to exterminate Kurds in the area,' Bayrak
said. `First they massacred Armenians and then Kurds.' Bayrak added that
the property of the Kurds in Dersim was given to pro-government groups.
Bayrak referred to a conversation where Ihsan Caglayangil, a former Turkish
foreign minister, acknowledged the massacre in Dersim to Kamal
Kilicdaroglu, the current head of the Republican People's Party (CHP).
Kilicdaroglu is a native of Dersim; the CHP was founded by Ataturk.
Bayrak said Caglayangil told the CHP leader that `thousands of people took
refuge inside caves. Our soldiers gassed them just like mice. Our state
committed genocide; it committed the massacre.'
Ahmed Qahraman, another panelist at the event, pointed the finger at
Ataturk and his government for ordering and carrying out the massacre.
Qahraman said the massacre is acknowledged by the pro-Islamist government
that is currently in charge in Turkey.
In late 2011, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused an uproar
when he apologized for the killing of over 13,000 people in Dersim from
1936 to 1939 by government troops.
From: Baghdasarian