Read Part 6 of this article here

The beginning of the massacre in the three valleys

According to Ahmad Hassan Avdali, the massacre of Kurds in the Zilan Valley began as follows:

“Although I am not a generation of the genocide, many people who went through it, and some of them survived the killing have always told me their experiences as stories. That is why the massacre has become a daily life for our generation. According to experts, the preparations for the massacre in the Zilan Valley were due to a meeting held in 1924 at the house of Kor Hussein Pasha Haidari."

Hussein Pasha had 16 sons. (But according to Kamal Bag, he had nine sons). State troops attacked Hussein Pasha and killed 14 of his sons and many of his cousins. However, his sons Nader Bag and Mame Bag escaped death.

Hussein Pasha Haidari

The two brothers then went to Mount Agri, contacted the Kurds, and prepared for war against the Republic of Turkey. Nader Bag and Mame Bag, with the help of Sayid Rasul, went to the Zilan Valley and went into the people and organized them. In the Zilan Valley region, Nader Bag and Mame Bag, each with their warriors, were divided into two groups. Each attacked state military bases on one side.

The fighters led by Nadir Bag attacked the "Chagrba Karakolu" gendarmerie headquarters and killed several gendarmerie officers. When a group of soldiers came to the help of the gendarmes, they were taken hostage. After that, they distributed the prisoners to the houses of the villagers and settled them, but they did not harm the soldiers. Then they attacked the city of Ardish (Ardasher) and fought a heavy battle with the state.

But from the day Nader Bag and Mame Bag went to the mountains, the government prepared for a heavy battle with the Kurds. Even when they attacked Ardish, the state went into a major effort and prepared for a long war with the Kurds.

At that time, few Kurds in Kurdistan knew Turkish. It was summer and it was July 15th. Many soldiers went to the Zilan Valley. Several people knowing Turkish who were with the soldiers from the city went to the villages of the Zilan Valley and told the villagers:

"Everyone leaves their homes and keeps their doors open. The state has nothing to do with you, the soldiers are only looking for those who fight against the state. The soldiers will take you to Ardish, then return to your homes."

Attacks and violence by Turkish forces on the people

After the villagers left their homes and doors open, the soldiers took them and gathered them with the people of several villages in the Zilan Valley. A man named Nuri was the chief of the Zilan region and spoke Turkish. The soldiers always told Nuri to tell the villagers, "Don't be afraid, no one will be harmed," the villagers waited silently and fearlessly for good news, and they did anything the soldiers said. On that day, the state soldiers gathered the people of many villages, such as Sorkbir, Hasan Avdal, Dwans, Sorbozan, Yakmal, Akhs, Zorava, and Tandurak, etc.. They took the people of the villages to the area called Ada Khaibe. The area is near the Zilan Valley River, near the village of Hassan Avdal (Ada Khaibe, a flat place on the banks of the river). There they shot all the villagers.

My father-in-law was in the group. All his relatives were killed, only he and his sister escaped.”

Reference:

Part of the book "Ten Massacres in Three Tribes of Zilan", Zainal Abedin Zinar, Kurmanji Kurdish, Farhangi Kurdi Publishing House, Sweden/ Stockholm, 2023

To be continued...