P24 - Is Turkey sleepwalking into trouble?
▻http://www.platform24.org/en/articles/189/is-turkey-sleepwalking-into-trouble
via @cdb_77
There are few things more pastoral - and misleading - than the drive into the town of Dersim in southern Turkey. It is a place where central Anatolia’s dry mountains explode into a fertile fantasy, complete with meandering rivers, flourishing vegetation and batteries of brand-new luxury apartment blocks overlooking the water. First impressions suggest that Tunceli is a prosperous, lively place.
But things are not as they seem. The town, predominantly inhabited by Kurds of the ShiaAlevi faith, a heterodox Muslim sect, was the site of an infamous massacre in the early years of the Turkish state and is ringed by army and police observation posts. The surrounding villages lie half-abandoned, while the province boasts one of the highest rates of unemployment and emigration in Turkey. Tunceli, a place whose rebellious spirit has repeatedly been quashed, through massacres, social engineering and torture, is scarred by tragedy. It is the victim of its history and demographics, where old people are plagued by depression and suicide rates among the young are climbing.
