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Turkish gov’t to restore Tunceli’s Kurdish
name, find missing graves of rebellion leaders
3.12.2009 |
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December 3, 2009
TUNCELI, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, — As part of its democratization
initiative, the Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) government is preparing to restore the
Kurdish name of the eastern province of Tunceli and
find the missing graves of rebellion leaders in the
region and inform their families.
Since Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy
Chairman Onur Öymen last month defended the violent
suppression of a rebellion in 1937 in the Alevi-dominated
province of Tunceli, the Dersim Rebellion has
occupied the agenda of the country, with many
questioning the background of the rebellion and the
violent way it was suppressed.
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Photo: Internet |
During a speech in
Parliament on Nov. 10 criticizing the government’s
Kurdish initiative, which seeks to expand the rights
of Kurds in Turkey to alleviate and ultimately end
the separatist of the Turkey Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK),www.ekurd.netÖymen
said: “Didn’t mothers also cry at the time of the
Sheikh Said Rebellion? Didn’t mothers also cry at
the time of the Dersim Rebellion?” in response to
the government’s use of the phrase “Let no more
mothers cry” as part of its efforts to end the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) fighting
for a self-rule in Turkey Kurdistan.
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey
(Turkey-Kurdistan) which has claimed around 45,000
lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas. A large Turkey's Kurdish community
openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas,www.ekurd.net
the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
Öymen’s remarks led to an outcry among the Alevis
Visiting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the
Prime Ministry on Tuesday, a delegation from Tunceli
headed by Tunceli Education and Health Foundation
President Kazım Arık made two requests to Erdoğan.
One of their requests was for the restoration of the
name Dersim in place of Tunceli and the other was
for the missing graves of the rebellion leaders
Seyit Rıza and Sheikh Sait to be found.
During the meeting, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay,
AK Party deputy leaders Hüseyin Çelik and Salih
Kapusuz and AK Party deputies Reha Çamuroğlu and
İbrahim Yiğit of Alevi origin were also in
attendance. Taking notes of the Alevi requests,
Erdoğan told the delegation that the government
would hold two more Alevi workshops in addition to
the five already held so far and added: “A
declaration will be prepared after these workshops.
I think your requests will be included in this
declaration. We will make short, medium and
long-term studies regarding the Alevis’ problems. In
time, you will see your problems being solved one by
one.”
Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Kapusuz said the Alevi
delegation’s requests were just and right. “It is
possible to meet these demands. But the prime
minister did not say these demands will be
immediately fulfilled but he said he will take a
close interest in the issue.”
Following the meeting, Erdoğan asked Atalay whether
it was possible to change Tunceli’s name to Dersim.
Atalay said it could be done through a law and no
referendum was needed for a change. Upon this,
Erdoğan ordered the preparation of a draft law that
will make the name change possible.
Copyright,
respective author or news agency, todayszaman
com | Agencies
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