Documentary on Dersim to be aired on state-owned TRT

ISTANBUL

The documentary on Dersim massacre explores the incident from the opinions of various historians.
A new documentary on the Dersim Massacre will be aired Jan. 12 on the Turkish state-owned television channel TRT 6. The documentary, titled “Dersim 1938…Koça Dawi Last Immigration,” will explore the massacre from the opinions of several historians, such as Ayşe Hür, İsmail Beşikçi, Murad Ciwan and Cemil Koçak, daily Radikal reported.

The documentary was made by Muhsin Kızılkaya, Abidin Parıltı and Fırat Ceweri and produced by MAF Production.

Speaking on the documentary, Parıltı said that the idea to make the documentary had emerged one and half years ago when it was a hot political issue.

“When we did research on the issue, we saw that there was not visual material about Dersim,” he said, adding that he set out to fill this information and awareness gap.

“We reveal a sin of the state on a state channel,” Parıltı said, noting the importance of a state channel airing the documentary, and that channel management was positive and supportive, not intervening in the airing of the documentary.

“We have talked with more than 20 witnesses in the region and gathered many documents during the long process,” Parıltı added.

The documentary will be aired on TRT 6 at 10:45 p.m.