A delegation from the Dersim Construction Congress held a meeting with Swiss Socialist Party (SP) officials in the Swiss Federal Parliament on the occasion of the 86th anniversary of the Dersim massacre.

The delegation consisting of Demir Çelik, Hüseyin Berkan Alpar and Songül Çelik was welcomed by SP Foreign Affairs Commission chair, Jon Pult and Federal deputy Mustafa Aıcı. The delegation presented a file previously submitted to the Council of Europe and the European Parliament on the physical, social, cultural, religious, women and nature massacres since the 1937 Dersim massacre.

The delegation stated that tens of thousands of Kurdish Alevis were massacred in Dersim, regardless of whether they were women or children, and added that tens of thousands of people were forced into exile while many children and young girls were kidnapped.

The delegation underlined the need to talk about the Dersim genocide and to recognize it at international level. It added that there was a need to open the archives and disclose the location of the graves of Seyit Rıza and his comrades.

The delegation also underlined the strategic importance of the 14 May elections in order to prevent new genocides from happening and asked for observers to be sent to the region.