Zilan massacre

39°12′10″N 43°22′20″E / 39.20278°N 43.37222°E / 39.20278; 43.37222

Zilan massacre
Headline of the daily Cumhuriyet dated July 13, 1930: "Cleaning started, the ones at Zeylân valley were completely annihilated, None of them survived, operation at Ağrı are continuing. Ankara 12 (With telephone) ... According to latest information, the cleaning in districts of Erciş, Mount Süphan and Zeylân was completely finished ..."
Location Turkey
DateJuly 12/13, 1930
TargetKurdish civilians
Attack type
Massacre
Deaths5,000–15,000
PerpetratorsTurkish Armed Forces

The Zilan massacre[3][4] (Kurdish: Komkujiya Zîlanê,[5] Turkish: Zilan Katliamı[6] or Zilan Deresi Katliamı,[7][8] etc.[9]) was the massacre[10][11] of thousands of Kurdish civilians by the Turkish Land Forces in the Zilan Valley of Van Province on 12/13 July 1930, during the Ararat rebellion in Ağrı Province.[citation needed]

The massacre took place to the north of the town of Erciş on Lake Van. It was carried out by the IX Corps of the Third Army under the command of Ferik (Lieutenant General) Salih Omurtak. The number of people killed in the massacre ranges from 4,500 women and elderly[12] to 15,000.[13][14][15]

  1. ^ Martin van Bruinessen, "Zaza, Alevi and Dersimi as Deliberately Embraced Ethnic Identities" in '"Aslını İnkar Eden Haramzadedir!" The Debate on the Ethnic Identity of The Kurdish Alevis' in Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi, Barbara Kellner-Heinkele, Anke Otter-Beaujean, Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East: Collected Papers of the International Symposium "Alevism in Turkey and Comparable Sycretistic Religious Communities in the Near East in the Past and Present" Berlin, 14-17 April 1995, BRILL, 1997, ISBN 9789004108615, p. 13.
  2. ^ Martin van Bruinessen, "Zaza, Alevi and Dersimi as Deliberately Embraced Ethnic Identities" in '"Aslını İnkar Eden Haramzadedir!" The Debate on the Ethnic Identity of The Kurdish Alevis', p. 14.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Houston was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Free was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Dewlet şopên komkujiya Zîlanê ji holê radike!". ANF News (in Kurdish). Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cengiz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference DereKat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Names was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Altan Tan, Kürt sorunu, Timaş Yayınları, 2009, ISBN 978-975-263-884-6, p. 275. (in Turkish)
  11. ^ Pınar Selek, Barışamadık, İthaki Yayınları, 2004, ISBN 978-975-8725-95-3, p. 109. (in Turkish)
  12. ^ "Der Krieg am Ararat" (Telegramm unseres Korrespondenten) Berliner Tageblatt, October 3, 1930, ... die Türken in der Gegend von Zilan 220 Dörfer zerstört und 4500 Frauen und Greise massakriert. (in German)
  13. ^ Yusuf Mazhar, Cumhuriyet, 16 Temmuz 1930, ... Zilan harekatında imha edilenlerin sayısı 15.000 kadardır. Zilan Deresi ağzına kadar ceset dolmuştur... (in Turkish)
  14. ^ Ahmet Kahraman, ibid, p. 211, Karaköse, 14 (Özel muhabirimiz bildiriyor) ... (in Turkish)
  15. ^ Ayşe Hür, "Osmanlı'dan bugüne Kürtler ve Devlet-4" Archived 2011-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, Taraf, October 23, 2008, Retrieved August 16, 2010. (in Turkish)