No need to change name, says Tunceli deputy

Changing the name of the southeastern province of Tunceli back to Dersim will only stir up painful memories associated with the old name, the province’s independent deputy has said.

“Why is it that no one seeks to change the name of other places, just Tunceli? To use the name Dersim will remind people of the pain experienced in 1938,” said deputy Kamer Genç.

According to Genç, the name Dersim encompassed not only Tunceli, but also a wider area including Bingöl, Elazığ and parts of Malatya. If a proposed name change covered the wider region, then he would support the move, he said.

The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, has requested that the southeastern province of Tunceli be renamed Dersim. Despite overwhelming support from DTP members, however, the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has not welcomed the idea.

The opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, likewise does not favor the name change.

CHP Vice President Onur Öymen was severely criticized by party members after he cited the 1938 Kurdish rebellion, which was quashed by the Turkish Republic, as an example for dealing with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The event is known as the “Dersim rebellion” because it happened in the province that was then called Dersim.

Renaming districts and towns is one of the six measures listed by Interior Minister Beşir Atalay as part of the government’s mid- and long-range plans in its democratic initiative to address the decades-old Kurdish issue.