DÊRSIM - Condemning the fact that the grave places of the executed Seyit Rıza and his friends have not been disclosed for 86 years, his granddaughter Zeliha Polat said: "We do not have a grave place to light chandelier."

 

86 years have passed since the execution of Seyit Rıza, one of the pioneers of the Dersim resistance, and his friends Uşenê Seydi, Aliyê Mirzî Silî, Hesenê İvaîmê Qıjî, Hesen Ağa, Fındık Ağa and Resik Uşen. Seyit Rıza, who was invited to Erzingan by the state for a meeting, was detained and arrested on the road on September 5, 1937. Seyit Rıza and his friends, who were executed in Elazığ Buğday Square as a result of an illegal trial held under the supervision of İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil, who was sent from Ankara on a special mission on November 15, 1937, were buried in a place unknown to anyone. The process that led Seyit Rıza and his friends to execution was his attitude towards the mentality that wanted to massacre the Kurds.

 

Seyit Rıza, who supported the Armenians who took refuge in Dersim during the Armenian Massacre in 1915, wrote a letter to the government during the Koçgiri Massacre (1920-1921). Seyit Rıza, who asked for the Koçgiri Massacre to be stopped in his letter, also protected Nuri Dersimi, Alişer, Alişan gentlemen and their supporters, who took refuge from Koçgiri to Dêrsim, under his protection. Although the Ankara government asked Seyid Rıza to hand over Dersimi, Alişer and Alişan Beys, Seyid Rıza did not accept this. Later, while the operation against Dersim was continuing, immediately after the Sheikh Said Rebellion of 1925, Seyid Rıza was invited to Erzingan and was detained and arrested on the road on September 5, 1937.

 

'IT IS A DISGRACE, IT IS CRUELTY, IT IS MURDER'

 

İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil, the Police Chief of the period, included in his book "My Memoirs" how they carried out the execution before Atatürk arrived. Explaining how they established the court and what happened before, Çağlayangil said: "We took Seyit Rıza. He sat between me and Police Chief İbrahim in the car. The jeep stopped in the square next to the gendarmerie station. When Seyit Rıza saw the stands, he understood the situation. He said, 'You will be hanged' and turned to me. 'Did you come from Ankara to hang me?' We looked at each other. This is the first time I have come face to face with a person who will be executed. He laughed at me. The prosecutor asked if he would pray. He did not want to. We asked for his last words, he said, 'I have forty liras and a watch. You can give them to my son.'(...) Seyit Rıza was taken to the square. We went out. The weather was cold and there was no one around. But Seyit Rıza addressed the silence and emptiness as if the square was full of people. He said: 'This is a mistake. It's a disgrace. It is cruelty. It is murder'. I got goose bumps. This old man walked to gallows. He put the rope around his neck. "He kicked the chair with his foot and carried out his execution."

 

THE AGE OF RIZA WAS REDUCED AND WAS HANGED

 

While it was stated in the sources of that period that the death penalty was not executed for those under the age of 18 and those over the age of 65, Seyit Rıza, who was 74 years old, was hanged by reducing his age, and his 16-year-old son Resik Hüseyin was hanged by increasing his age. Seyit Rıza said "Hang me before my son" and despite this, Resik Hüseyin was executed after being hanged in front of Seyit Rıza's eyes.

 

Despite the 86 years that have passed, the location of Seyit Rıza's grave is not disclosed despite all the calls and applications made. Seyit Rıza's granddaughter, Zeliha Polat, said that the grave places of Seyit Rıza and his friends, who were executed for 86 years, were not disclosed, and their own graves were also destroyed by the soldiers.

 

'EVEN OUR DEAD ARE NOT AT COMFORT'

 

Stating that just as the location of their old graves was not told, Polat said: "Our new graves are also in a bad condition. The graves in Ağdat, Seyit Rıza's village in Dêrsim's Pulur (Ovacık) district, were destroyed. Last year, the middle of the graves in their villages were entered with bulldozers and poles were erected in the middle of the cemeteries. The cemeteries should not be touched. This year, a water tank was built in the cemetery to carry water to the military tower. Positions were dug during the operations carried out in the region, but the excavated positions were not filled after the operation. Even our dead are not comfortable."

 

'WE DON'T HAVE A GRAVE TO LIGHT ÇERAĞ'

 

Stating that the grave place of his grandfather Seyit Rıza was not disclosed and the applications were left unanswered, Polat said: "I do not understand why they did not tell the grave place. Every person, every nation has a cemetery. It is a value passed down from ancestors to ancestors. Everyone's grave sites are clear, why not ours? We could have gone and lit at least a candle or our lamp. They say 'No', 'you can't, you can't'. History has proven us right in everything. As family members, it is our right to have a burial place. Our lands have been destroyed, our name is wanted to be erased from there; however, we are peaceful people, we are in favor of justice and law. There is nothing to fear from this. Why don't you tell us the burial place? Now Let them have a burial place."

 

MA / Müjdat Can