It has been 87 years since Seyit Rıza and his friends were executed on November 15, 1937. In 1915, Seyit Rıza, who took refuge in Dêrsim during the Armenian Massacre, wrote a letter to the government during the Koçgiri Massacre (1920-1921). In the letter, Seyit Rıza asked the government to stop the Koçgiri Massacre and took Nuri Dêrsimî, Alişêr, Alişan beys and their followers who had taken refuge in Dêrsim from Koçgiri under his protection. The Ankara government asked Seyit Rıza to hand over Dêrsimî, Alişêr and Alişan beys, but he refused. Later, during the campaign against Dêrsim, which was launched immediately after the 1925 Sheikh Said resistance, Seyid Rıza was invited to Erzincan by the government and on September 5, 1937, he was detained and arrested on the way. 

 

Seyit Rıza was executed on November 15, 1937, 87 years ago on November 15, 1937, together with his friends Uşenê Seydi, Aliyê Mirzî Silî, Hesenê İvaîmê Qıjî, Hesen Ağa, Fındık Ağa, Resik Uşen in Xarpêt Wheat Square as a result of an illegal trial held under the supervision of İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil, who was sent on a special mission from Ankara. Seyit Rıza and his friends were buried in an unknown place. What led Seyit Rıza and his friends to execution was his stance against the understanding that wanted to massacre Kurds. 

 

In his book “My Memoirs”, İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil, the Chief of Police at the time, describes how they set up the court and what preceded it as follows: “We picked Seyit Rıza up and he sat in the car between me and police chief İbrahim. The jeep stopped in the square next to the gendarmerie station. When Seyit Rıza saw the tripods, he understood the situation. 'You will hang me,' he said and turned to me. 'Did you come from Ankara to hang me?' he asked, and we looked at each other. It was the first time I was face to face with a person to be executed. He laughed at me. The prosecutor asked if he would pray. He didn't want to. We asked his last words, 'I have forty liras and a watch. You can give it to my son."(...) We took Seyit Rıza to the square. It was cold and there was no one around. But Seyit Rıza addressed the silence and emptiness as if the square was full of people. 'It is shameful. It is cruelty. It is murder'. My hairs stood on end. This old man walked. He pushed the gypsy. He put the rope around his neck. He kicked the chair with his foot and executed him.” 

 

HANGED AFTER BEING OVER-AGE

 

According to the sources of the time, death sentences were not carried out for those under the age of 18 and over the age of 65. Seyit Rıza, who was 74 years old, was executed by minimizing his age, while his 16-year-old son Resik Hüseyin was executed by maximizing his age. Despite Seyit Rıza's request, “Hang me before my son,” Resik Hüseyin was hanged in front of his eyes. 

 

Zeliha Polat, Seyit Rıza's granddaughter, and Zeynel Kete, Co-Chair of the Democratic Alevi Associations (DAD), evaluated the execution of Seyit Rıza, the failure to locate his grave and the fact that he was once again targeted. 

 

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE GRAVE SITE

 

Zeliha Polat stated that the family has been struggling for 87 years for the disclosure of the grave sites of Seyit Rıza and his friends and said that Seyit Rıza's aim was to defend the rights of the Kurdish people. “Unfortunately, new wars are starting. This is a shame for humanity. The location of our graves is still unknown. We have said this thousands of times, but they still won't tell us,” she said. 

 

Polat stated that a road was dug to take water to the military tower in Pilvank where the graves of her grandfather were located and this damaged the graves. Polat also demanded that the grave sites of her grandfather be revealed. 

 

Zeynel Kete stated that the Dêrsim incident is a legacy that the Republican modernity inherited from the Ottoman Empire. Reminding that Dêrsim was chosen as a pilot region in the ethno-religious purification and Turkish-Islamization project, Kete said that there were similar practices in the Ottoman period, but never as comprehensive as in the Republican era. 

 

Reminding that until the 1921 Constitutional process, mutual protocols were signed, Kete said that in the Sêwaz Congress, mainly Alevi leaders and in the Erzirom Congress, meetings were held with Sunni leaders. Stating that there were also promises in the letters sent by Atarürk to the tribal lords to establish the Republic together, Kete said that the process that started with Koçgirî after 1924 continued with the massacres of Şêx Sêîd Efendi, the Eastern Reform Plan, the Takrir-i Sükün Law, Zîlan and Agirî, and reached today. 

 

Stating that both the Kurdish people and the people of Dêrsim live as a people on the brink of genocide, Kete reminded that autonomy was accepted with the secret session held on February 10, 1922. 

 

PREPARATIONS FOR MASSACRE

 

Stating that there was a Dêrsim reality that did not fit the founding codes of Republican modernity, Kete said that according to them, “Dêrsim was a boil and had to be eliminated”. He reminded that Fevzi Çakmak, İsmet İnönü's reports for Dêrsim, Mahmut Esat Bozkurt's statements, missionary reports, and the bridges, roads and infrastructure preparations were initiated before the 1938 Dêrsim massacre. “It was clear from these infrastructure preparations that the massacre would take place,” Kete said. 

 

'BANS ARE STILL IN EFFECT'

 

Kete said that the road map of the Dêrsim Massacre was established in 1934 with the settlement law numbered 2510, Dêrsim was declared a forbidden zone under the name of region number four and the forbidden zones are still continuing, “Bans still continue in Dêrsim and many Kurdish geographies. Nothing has changed.” 

 

Stating that the Demenan and Haydaran tribes were subjected to shooting harassment during the construction of police stations in their regions, Kete said that the process leading to the 1937 massacre was the first formation of the process, that on the night of March 21-22, 1937, the Demenan and Haydaran tribes demolished the bridge between the Pax sub-districts, and that a fighter squadron with 6 planes came to Dêrsim on that date. Stating that on April 24, 1937, the area where Seyit Rıza's house was located was bombed and the arm of his young son Şah Hüseyin's son was severed, “The fact that his arm is bandaged in the photograph of him being executed in Wheat Square comes from this,” she said. 

 

THE PROCESS LEADING TO EXECUTION 

 

Emphasizing that the Council of Ministers issued a special decree called “Dêrsim Tenkil Decisions” on May 4, 1937, Kete said: “On May 8, 1937, the General Staff notified the 4th General Inspectorate of the decision. Villages were evacuated. People took refuge in caves. Village burnings, oppression, persecution, pursuits, traders, etc. On June 8, İnönü goes to Dêrsim with a special ceremony. He examines the movement on the spot. When he returns, he informs the Parliament. The process that began in this way leads to Seyit Rıza's arrest in Erzingan on September 10, 1937. The trial begins. A fake court is set up. The trial starts on this date and continues from October 17-22 to November 6. The same logic still continues. The right to self-defense is destroyed. 11 people are sentenced to death. 33 people are sentenced to heavy imprisonment. 14 people are acquitted. Since 4 of those sentenced to death were too old, their sentences were commuted to 30 years. The others are sent into exile. İhsan Çağlayangil, who was the Chief of Police in Meletî, was assigned to carry out Seyit Rıza's execution. He later told Kılıçdaroğlu in his memoirs that 'the army used poison gas'. We poisoned them like rats inside the doors of the caves. He used chemicals in the Dêrsim massacre. The state's own mouthpiece, who was the Malatya Police Chief at the time, said this. Using chemicals means a planned, programmed massacre.” 

 

'THE GRAVE IS THE IDENTITY OF THE COMMUNITY' 

 

Reminding that Seyit Rıza and his friends were executed on the night of November 15-16, Kete stated that many of the graves of Seyit Rıza and others like him who marched for truth and freedom were prevented from being reached. “Having a grave means having a culture. A grave is the identity of a society. It is not an ordinary thing to say that we do not give graves randomly. When you have a grave, you also have a memory, an identity, a history. They are not given graves. Because whoever comes to that grave will have a memory, a culture, a resistance. To have a grave is to be one with history. Not being told where the graves are does not comply with any law. It is not something that can be accepted,” she said. 

 

'THE GENOCIDE DYNAMIC CONTINUES'  

 

On the recent targeting of Seyit Rıza following the remarks of Co-Chair of the DEM Party Tuncer Bakırhan, Kete said: “The same mentality continues. But the process is not the old process. Kurds are no longer scattered like before. There is a reality of a people who know each other very well, who demand equal citizenship in a common homeland, and who are in spiritual and physical understanding with each other. At the moment, the genocide and massacre dynamic is still continuing. The greatest legacy against the recent promise that 'we will bring what happened to Şêx Sêid and Seyit Rıza to you again' is the last words of Seyit Rıza on the gallows when he knew the gallows as a miracle. We will now deal with your lies and deceit. I say this will be a problem for you.” 

 

MA / Müjdat Can