DERSIM DEMANDS

As the people of Dersim and Alevis, we would like to contribute to the demands asked by the

resisters at the Gezi Park.

1 The current movement, emanating from Taksim, began as an environmentalist resistance. Thus, the construction of hydroelectric centrals (HES) and dams, thermal and nuclear centrals by the government at the expense of uprooting not tens of thousands but millions of trees and of drying out the rivers, the vessels of natural life, must stop.

2 As a first step towards putting an end to such constructions, the Law No. 6486, which was accepted by the Turkish Parliament on 21/05/2013 and became official upon publication in the Turkish Official Gazette, must be called off immediately. (This law states that all the public investment programmes dating before 23/06/1997 are left off the scope of the Environmental Impact Assessment.)

What this law implies for Munzur (a nearby valley): Munzur dams, about which Environmental Impact Assessment was asked to be carried out in accordance with the decree by the Administrative Law Divisions of the Council of State (Danıştay İdari Dava Daireleri Kurulu) following the lawsuits filed by Barış Yıldırım and other lawyers, are now removed from the scope of Environmental Impact Assessment. The article added to the respective Law on Environment: “Provisional Article 3 (Added: 05/21/2013 6486/12. article.) 

Projects that have been admitted to the public investment programs before the date of 23/06/1997, for which planning stage has passed and tender has been issued or production or management has begun as of the date this article comes into effect; and constructions and facilities required for the realization of those projects are outside the scope of the Environmental Impact Assessment.“

3 Startingwith Uzunçayır Dam which flooded Gola Çetu ziyaretgah a place of pilgrimage with utmost importance to the people in the centre of Dersim, dams built on Munzur river, Peri suyu, Karasu, Pülümür Çayı, and the rivers of Murat, Euphrates and Tigris must be demolished. Their environmental damage should be remedied diligently.

4 Prospecting licenses which effectively allow the parcel and the sale of our mountains in Dersim and result in severe deformations in the landscape must be cancelled. These mountains with their endemic flora and richness for natural habitat must be preserved. As was formerly the case, agriculture and livestock suitable for the natural habitat in the region should be promoted.

5 The construction of 22 kalekarekols high security police stations in Dersim hurried up by taking advantage of the ongoing peace process must stop. Starting with the kalekarekol built at the Sinan Kalesi which is a sacred ziyaretgah for the people of the region, all of the completed kalekarakols must be demolished, and the damage must be remedied diligently.

6 Our belief of Raa Heqi (Kızılbaş alevilik) cannot be described by the state, government or decisions by any person or institution acting on their behalf. What we are, how we worship, and where we please to worship do not by any means concern the primer minister, other ministers, an official institution such as the Presidency of Religious Affairs or for that matter any religious authority other than Alevis themselves. The government must put an end to sectarian approaches that alienate Alevis. In this respect, as a concrete step, the decision to name the planned third Bosphorus bridge as Yavuz Sultan Selim must be declared off. Moreover, as a sign of good will, the bridge should be named Pir Sultan Abdal. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the issue of replacing original names of the villages, towns, cities and regions everywhere must be revised, and original names in Zazaki, Kurdish, Armenian, Greek, Laz, Assyrian, Arabic etc. must be restored.

7 Having been recognized as an endangered language by the UNESCO report in 2008, Zazaki language should be facilitated and promoted to be language of education at schools in Dersim. We respectfully submit these demands to the people of Dersim and the Taksim Resistance Representative Committee. Metin Kahraman (musician, oral culture researcher) Kemal Kahraman (musician, oral culture researcher) Mavis Güneser (musician, StokholmSendromuMagdurlariPlatformu CoChairman) Dr.Bilgin Ayata (faculty member at Frei Universitat Berlin, StokholmSendromuMagdurlariPlatformu consultant)

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