Expert: Dersim massacre tantamount to Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - 1937-1938 events in Dersim (historical Armenian province of Tsopk) may be regarded as continuation of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, an expert said.

As turkologist Ruben Melkonyan told a press conference, archival data revealed a refuge of around 30,000 Dersim Armenians following the 1915 Genocide. During an attack on the local Armenian population, Turkish commanders inspired their soldiers by saying that “they attack not Kurds but Armenian traitors.”

According to the Armenian expert, Erdogan subconsciously apologized for the Armenian massacres while international media and Turkish opposition linked the Dersim killings with the Armenian Genocide.

Melkonyan advised the Turkish PM to continue studying Turkish archives to further apologize for the Armenian Genocide.

Erdoğan apologized last week for the killings of 13,806 people in the southeastern town of Dersim in 1937, stating that “Dersim is among the most tragic events in our recent history. It is a disaster that should now be questioned with courage.”

It was the first time the Turkish state has offered a public apology to redress the events of its past.

According to different sources, thousands of 1915 Genocide survivors were slaughtered in Dersim.