DERSIM 37 | Xo vira meke: Memory, Resistance, Resilience

Dersim was a »perennial question« that the Republic inherited from its Ottoman past. For the Republican political elite, Dersim represented a loosely defined region—geographically inaccessible, administratively noncompliant, and, most importantly, inhabited and dominated by an ethnically Kurdish and religiously Kızılbaş-Alevi population. Repeated ethnographic reports and policy papers submitted to the Ankara government by both officials and non-officials depicted Dersim as an »uncivilized, medieval, and primordially rebellious land and people«. This colonial fantasy culminated in a comprehensive genocidal campaign that led to the annihilation and exile of tens of thousands of Dersim residents, the creation of »forbidden zones« and the implementation of an aggressive »civilizing« program centered on schooling. On the memory day on the 15th November, a lecture by historian Dr. Zeynep Türkyılmaz who has extensively worked on Dersim Question during Ottoman and Republican eras will address the genocidal operation that was carried out between 1937-1938. 


As Part of the 7th Berliner Herbstsalon ЯE:IMAGINE: THE RED HOUSE 

© IMA LI SNIJEGA?, Danica Dakić, 2024, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn