Brussels - On November 19 Alevi organizations organize a conference on the ‘Dersim genocide of 1937-1938’ and the massacres against Alevis in Turkey. The meeting is hosted by the leftwing EU parliamentary group EUL/NG. The conference comes after the first visit to Dersim by the Turkish president Abdullah Gul.
The goal of the conference is to give more attention to the position of the Alevi in Turkey. The organizers says the rights Alevi, Kurds and Armenians were ignored since the foundation of the Turkish republic. “Alevi’s and Kurds are deprived of democratic constitutional rights”. The organizations want to ‘stop assimilation of Alevi’s’ and the recognition of Alevi rights in Turkey.
According to the organizers between 12.000 and 70.000 people were massacred in the Kurdish Alevi province of Dersim by the Turkish government in 1937-38.
Members of Alevi organizations, EU MPS, academics, journalists will participate in the conference, including witnesses of the ‘Dersim genocide’. Participants are Oral Çalışlar, Derya Sazak, Doğu Ergil, Faik Bulut, Erdoğan Aydın, Ufuk Uras, Şerafettin Halis, Kemaml Bülbül, Aysel Tuğluk, Mehmet Bayrak, Yeter Gültekin and Sema Kaygusuz.
On 5 November President Abdullah Gül visited Tunceli (Dersim) and faced several demands of local NGO's reported Bianet.org, such as to stop the construction of dams, to reform the 'Cem' houses and the Department of Religious Affairs, to release 86-year-old Yusuf Kaplan, to apologize for what happened in 1938 and to disclose the grave of rebel leader Seyit Rıza.
Alevis are an unorthodox, liberal branch of Islam. Mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey is home to at least 15 million Alevis among a population of around 70 million. In a country where most Muslims are Sunni, many Alevis complain they feel like second-class citizens and face discrimination. Last year a similar conference on the ‘Dersim genocide’ was organized in the EU parliament on 13 November (Photo: Rudaw).
© Rudaw
