Posters with names of Seyit Riza and comrades-in-arms removed in Dersim

On November 15, 1937, the spiritual and tribal leader of the resistance in the Alevi Kurdish region of Dersim, Seyit Riza, his son Resik Ûşen and his five comrades-in-arms Wusênê Seydi, Aliye Mirzê Sili, Hesen Ağa, Fındık Ağa and Hesenê Ivraimê were executed by the Turkish state in Elazığ province. The search for their graves has remained fruitless to this day – because in Turkey, the gravesites of executed people are considered a state secret. Yet the collective demand of Alevi-Kurdish society for the burial place of Seyit Riza, also known as Pîr Sey Rizo or Seyîd Riza in Kurmancî, to be revealed is omnipresent. Especially in Dersim, where a genocide was perpetrated in 1937 and 1938 that claimed the lives of over 70,000 people.

The Dersim-based Platform for Labor and Democracy took the approaching anniversary of the execution of Seyit Riza and his comrades-in-arms as an opportunity to bring the wish for the announcement of the burial place of their bones into public space with an action. For this purpose, posters were attached to various billboards on which, in addition to the names of those executed, the sentence “Announce the burial places!” could be read. This legitimate concern apparently set alarm bells ringing among the Turkish security authorities. Because the prosecutor’s office had the posters immediately removed by the police. No reason was given.

Among the population, the official action was met with incomprehension and caused reactions. The Platform for Labor and Democracy was also appalled and condemned the removal of the posters. The action was legally legitimate, there was nothing wrong with the action. Thus, there was also no legal basis for the removal, it said in an initial statement. The initiative reserves the right to take legal action against the public prosecutor’s office.