Tunceli Province (Turkish: Tunceli ili), formerly Dersim Province (Kurdish: Parêzgeha Dêrsim; Zazaki: Dêsim wilayet; Armenian: Տէրսիմի մարզ), is a province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Its central city is Tunceli. The province has a Kurdish majority. Moreover, it is the only province in Turkey with an Alevi majority. The province has eight municipalities, 366 villages and 1,087 hamlets.
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In this Dossier
Dersim Province in the context of Dersim Rebellion
The Dersim massacre, also known as Dersim genocide, was carried out by the Turkish military over the course of three operations in the Dersim Province (renamed Tunceli) against Kurdish rebels of Alevi faith, and civilians in 1937 and 1938. Although most Kurds in Dersim remained in their home villages, thousands were killed and many others were expelled to other parts of Turkey. Twenty tons of “Chloracetophenon, Iperit and so on” were ordered and used in the massacre. According to Turkish Army general Osman Pamukoğlu, in the 1990s, the Dersim massacre was carried on the operational order of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
On 23 November 2011, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan apologized for the massacre, describing it as "one of the most tragic events of our near history" adding that, whilst some sought to justify it as a legitimate response to events on the ground, it was in reality "an operation which was planned step by step". However, this is viewed with suspicion by some, "who see it as an opportunistic move against the main opposition party, the secular CHP."