Dudan Massacre Site, Diyarbakir Province

Dudan Massacre Site, Diyarbakir Province –

Today we commemorated the Armenian Genocide at Dudan, a seemingly endless chasm in the earth’s surface, where over 10,000 Armenians were thrown in July 1915. One can only imagine the terror in the hearts of the victims, and their screams and cries, as they were led to the edge. They reportedly had their throats slit, before being hurled into the chasm. Somepreferred to jump. The victims were mostly women, children and elderly. The Dudan massacre was organised by the governor of Diyarbakir, Reshid Bey, and his henchmen.

This commemorative event was organised by IHD (Diyarbakir), Diyarbakir Bar Association, and Gomidas Institute (London). The main speaker was Nursel Aydogan, a HDP member of the Turkish Parliament, who expressed her deepest condolences to Armenians, and reiterated her party’s commitment to a formal Turkish recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Today’s event once more demonstrated the importance of Diyarbakir as a key platform to engage the Armenian Genocide in Turkey.

Ara Sarafian