CHANGING POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN DERSIM/TUNCELI FROM THE EARLY REPUBLICAN ERA TO THE 1970S

Date

2024-5

Author

Özten Mert, Sekine

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This dissertation focuses on the interactions between the residents of Tunceli and the state regarding the political fluctuations of the early 1970s, and the resulting implications for the region. People who participated in socialist left movements emerged as new political figures on the national stage and contributed to shifts and awakenings in local affiliations. The primary aim of this thesis is to investigate how their participation in leftist political organizations during this time shaped their political awareness. It also aims to figure out the degree to which these interactions influenced the fundamental elements of local belonging through the use of three primary sources: in-depth key informant interviews, newspaper clippings, and parliamentary records. The thesis uncovers the impacts of the implementations and investments of state power on a particular community and explores the effects of these practices on local belonging patterns. Charles Tilly's analysis of "trust networks" provides an insightful but limited framework for understanding the interplay between local dynamics and state-society relations during the 1970s. The state's policies towards Dersim/Tunceli, as well as its initiatives and perceptions towards this region, have been revealed with parliamentary minutes, and newspaper clippings of the given period. The National Assembly (Millet Meclisi) Republican Period General Meeting minutes from the decade between the 1960s and 1970s are included in the study's content analysis. State Planning Organization’s First and Second Five-Year Development Plans provide necessary materials to shed light on the public investments towards the region from mid-1960s to mid-970s. In addition to these materials, daily newspapers archives from that era are included to follow the developments and understanding the state-society relations of the time. In-depth interviewing technique is also applied to this dissertation to benefit from the potential of interpreting the social developments through unwritten stories. A total of twelve key informant interviews were conducted in Dersim, İzmir, İstanbul and Ankara with local individuals who primarily traveled to the center for similar purposes and participated in the political organizations during the period in question. The reports, other printed materials and the interviews covered throughout the dissertation are all intended to answer the following questions: What is the historical background of the state's policies towards Dersim? How did the multi-party-political era in Turkey affect politics in Tunceli? In the political climate of the 1970s, what was the significance of being politically active as an individual from Dersim? How did the political upheaval during the 1970s affect the sense of belonging in Dersim? What changes occurred in the trust networks and collective solidarity ties of the region? Can the early 1970s be considered a pivotal moment for the shifts in trust network of Dersim/Tunceli? These questions aim to reach the core of the thesis, investigating the peripheral trust network dynamics of the Dersimi population in this particular era. The study explores how local belongings contribute to the formation of a trust network, which has the potential to encounter pivotal breaking points at specific historical periods. The thesis asserts that the early years of the 1970s must be identified as a breaking point for changes in trust network dynamics due to the political awakening of the region and the developing relations with the state mechanisms.

Subject Keywords

Dersim, Trust Networks, Kurdish Alevi, Political Revival

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/109453

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis