Dear Ladies and Gentlemen;

“Tunceli Cemevi”, located at our holy place “Gole Çeto” in Dersim, was built with the joint efforts and contributions of followers of the Alevi “way” in Europe and Turkey.

But unfortunately, the person named “Ali Ekber Yurt” took over the elections in 2011 through various intrigues, state violence and court decisions, practically theft of work, through membership letters with forged signatures.

Since that day, Ali Ekber Yurt has ceased to register as members, has silenced all those who spoke the word of truth or had them excluded from membership, has turned his face to the state power, has become the director of a state institution and has turned his back on his lodge, his creed, his faith, his creed, closed the door of the Cemevi to the Alevis and made it open to all.

Although the land and therefore the building property belong to the municipality, for some reason the new and outgoing mayors have not taken any initiative to save our Cem house from this occupation …

The recent General Assembly was sabotaged by police intervention and our place of faith dergah was brought back to the court gates with an attitude that does not suit our path.

We, as servants of the “road” in Europe, “Ocak Pirs” and veterans of the construction of “Tunceli Cemevi”, with a proposed solution suitable for our “street”, register as members under the supervision of an assembly consisting of “With the consent” of all Ocak Pirs. We hope and demand that the process will again be carried out carefully and fairly, and that the services in the Cemevi will be under the supervision, control and authority of this hearth council to be established.

“Tunceli Cemevi” does not belong to Ali Ekber, the state or the Directorate of Religious Affairs, but to the Alevis and the people of Dersim…

Please keep your hands off our faith and our dervish lodges!

We will protect our faith, our confession and our dervish lodge!
We will not leave our work to usurpers and our community house to intruders!

“You thieves ruined Dersim’s charm, my son, but we all pay the price together.”
(FIRIK DEDE)

European Federation of Dersim Associations (FDG)
Confederation of European Alevis Trade Unions (AABK)
Democratic Alevi Federation (FEDA)
14 February 2024

A concert event was organized by the Berlin Alevi Community (BAT) Cemevi and the Berlin Dersim Community in solidarity with the Dersim Association for the Physically Disabled.

The concert event, organized under the title “Being disabled is not a defect”, began with the opening speech of Ela Atlas, who moderated on behalf of the organization in the Cemevi Main Hall. At the event, which was attended by representatives of sister associations and many people, Murtaza Görer on behalf of the BAT board and Müslüm Karadaş on behalf of the Berlin Dersim community gave greetings. Görer and Karadaş pointed out that such solidarity and solidarity organizations continue to be supported by the parties and thanked all those who have contributed to it.
After the speeches, the musicians Halil Yalçıner, Pınar Yeşilbaş, Eren Aslan and the famous Ozan Şah Turna took the stage and sang their folk songs.
After Ozan Şah Turna, Ali Arslan, President of the Dersim Association for the Physically Disabled, took the stage. Arslan, who gave a short speech in front of the others, gave a short informative speech about the history, activities and urgent needs of the association, thanking the institutions and individuals who contributed to this solidarity concert. After the speech, the event ended with Kırmançki-Zazaki and Turkish folk songs sung by Arslan.

News and Video: Press Office of BAT-Cemevi / Ulaş Yunus Tosun

The Unrecognized Genocide: “Tertele” by Dersim 1937/38
Aims and Procedure of the Conference:
On the occasion of the 87th anniversary of the Dersim Genocide, we would like to begin by addressing the causes and consequences of state policy in the Ottoman Empire and Republican Turkey, which led to various genocides, and to communicate them to the local public. Afterwards, we would like to deal explicitly with the genocide in Dersim, about which very little is known, as well as an analysis of the state policy of Turkization and Islamization in the founding phase of the Turkish Republic. In this way, we would like to contribute to further research into the politics of violence and extermination against ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey. Furthermore, the Dersim Protocol will be assessed as an unrecognized/unknown genocide from the perspective of international law and genocide research. This part of the conference is also intended to show possibilities for coming to terms with the past in the light of international experience. Finally, the importance of raising awareness of the trauma experienced by societies that have been subjected to genocide will be highlighted. In particular, the transgenerational transmission of a collectively experienced trauma between the different generations and the methods for coping with it will be shown. The conference is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the historical and social traumas of the affected migrant community in local society. To this end, however, the aim is also to shed light on the influence that racism and religious fundamentalism still have within the affected population groups today.
However, it also aims to promote a critical debate within migrant
communities about the causes and consequences of the various genocides and the policies that led to them. Through this critical engagement with this topic, we hope to strengthen democratic and humanistic values within the affected migrant societies as well.
Furthermore, the awareness of migration as a migration of an individual’s mental world from one place to another in the local society is also to be strengthened. Because every person brings their own history, culture, faith and traumas with them, which have their roots in the regions of origin. We believe that a better understanding of the migrant communities with their peculiarities described above will have a positive influence on social interaction here.
Date: Saturday, May 4, 2024
Hours: 15:00 – 22:00
Location: Alte Feuerwache , Melchiorstraße 3, 50670 Cologne Cologne
Admission: 15:00 – 15:30
Start: 15:30
Admission: 7-10 Euro
Opening speeches, Tüday etc.
Section 1: 16:00- 18:00
Program:
Nation-Building and Violence: The Turkification of Anatolia at the End of the Ottoman Empire
Prof. Dr. Hans Lukas Kieser
The Founding Ideology of the Turkish Republic and the “Tertele” of Dersim
Kazim Gündogan (non-fiction author, writer)
Dersim’s “Tertele” in International Law and Genocide Studies
Dr. Hüseyin Celik
Genocide – Trauma – Reappraisal and Healing Processes
Prof. Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan
Moderation: Ayse Kalmaz (author, director)
Language: German-Turkish simultaneous translation
Discussion and Q&A session between the panel and the audience
2 . Part
Musical program: Melodies of the peoples affected by the genocide
Beser Sahin
Djancate, Janet & Aykut
Asli Zelal
Organizer:
TÜDAY (Human Rights Association Turkey/Germany),
AABF (Federation of Alevi Associations in Germany),
FDG (Federation of Dersim Communities in Europe)
Supporters: Kurdish Community in Germany, Federation of Yazidi Associations,
Dersim Soykirim Karsiti Dernegi 1938 e.V., KulturForum TurkeyGermany, Dersim Foundation
Academic Exchange, Melanchthon Academy, NAVEND (Center for Kurdish Studies e.V.), Cerkesya Hareketi-Cologne, The Alevi Youth in NRW e.V. (BDAJ-NRW),
Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Initiative “Remembering Genocide”, Voices of Solidarity, Multicultural Forum e.V., Agadeka,