Category: Atrocity, from Wikidata’s class “massacre”
Dersim massacre
Part of: Dersim Uprisings Wikidata, Kurdish–Turkish conflict
Wikidata classes on our event-class list: rebellion, massacre (all its classes: Wikidata item)
The Dersim massacre, also known as the 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 November 23, 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", and specifically against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, an Alevi with roots in the region.
Text retrieved 2026-10-10 from Wikipedia.
Cite this
The link is the Wikipedia revision of October 6, 2026 (revision 1378826390), whose lead is exactly the text shown here.
APA 7
Dersim massacre. (2026, October 6). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dersim_massacre&oldid=1378826390
MLA 9
“Dersim massacre.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Oct. 2026, en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dersim_massacre&oldid=1378826390.
Chicago (note)
Wikipedia, “Dersim massacre,” last modified October 6, 2026, 09:47 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dersim_massacre&oldid=1378826390.
Chicago (shortened note)
Wikipedia, “Dersim massacre.”
Chicago cites well-known reference works such as Wikipedia in notes only, not in the bibliography.
This event on Middle East, 1900–present: https://middleeast.events/event/dersim-massacre
If you use the map’s borders: CShapes 2.0 - historical country borders. Schvitz, G., et al. (2022). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. https://icr.ethz.ch/data/cshapes/ (modified by middleeast.events); West Bank Areas A/B/C: UN OCHA / HDX "Oslo Agreement" Areas A/B/C (West Bank). Distributed under the legacy HumanitarianResponse.info terms: non-commercial use with credit to UN OCHA. https://data.humdata.org/dataset/state-of-palestine-other-0-0-0-0-0; some corrected border points: GeoNames - CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://www.geonames.org/
No map location: Wikipedia and Wikidata give no coordinates for this event, so it has no marker on the map.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by Wikipedia contributors, from the article Dersim massacre. Classes are Wikidata’s labels (CC0). “Part of” is Wikidata’s statement, in its labels (CC0).