Dersim Rebellion
| Dersim Rebellion of 1937/1938 | |||||||
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| Part of Kurdish rebellions | |||||||
 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen (November 17, 1937, in front of the Pertek People's House) |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Republic of Turkey
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Dersim tribes | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk İsmet İnönü Kâzım Orbay Abdullah Alpdoğan Galip Deniz Kemal Ergüden İsmail Hakkı Tekçe Şemsi Erkuş |
Seyid Riza (POW)  Kamer Aga (Yusufan) Cebrail Aga (Demenan) Kamer Aga (Haydaran) Alîşêr † Zarîfe † |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 50,000 | 3,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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Decisive Turkish victory
The Dersim rebellion (Turkish: Dersim İsyanı) was a Zaza uprising against the Turkish government in the Dersim region of eastern Turkey, which includes parts of Tunceli Province, Elazığ Province, and Bingöl Province. The rebellion was led by Seyid Riza, an Alevi chieftain of the Yukarı Abbas Uşağı tribe. As a result of the Turkish military campaign against the rebellion, thousands of Alevi Zazas died and many others were internally displaced due to the conflict.
On 23 November 2011, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave an apology for the Dersim operation, describing it as "one of the most tragic events of our recent history".
During the Ottoman period, before the Tanzimat, most of the empire's eastern regions were administrated by the Ottoman feudal system. Authority in these regions was in the hands of feudal lords, tribal chieftains and aghas (dignitaries).
The situation of Dersim in the Ottoman Empire continued in the early years of the Republic of Turkey. Tribes from Dersim objected to losing authority and refused to pay taxes.
Complaints kept coming from the governors. In an Interior Ministry report in 1926, it was considered necessary to use force against the residents of Dersim.
The Turkification process in Turkey began with the Turkish National Assembly passing the 1934 Law on Resettlement ('İskân Kanunu' Law No.2510, 13 June 1934). Its measures included the forced relocation of people within the country, with the aim of promoting cultural homogeneity. In 1935, the Tunceli Law was passed to apply the Resettlement Law to the newly named region of Tunceli, previously known as Dersim and populated by Kurmanci-speaking and Zaza-speaking Alevis. This area had a reputation for being rebellious, having been the scene of eleven separate periods of armed conflict over the previous 40 years.
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Wikipedia