Dersim (; ; ) is a mountainous historical region in the Armenian Highlands, which is in Eastern Turkey today.
The region included all parts of Tunceli Province (Çemişgezek, Hozat, Pertek, Tunceli, Ovacık, Pülümür, Nazımiye, Pertek) Tercan, Erzincan, Kemah and Kemaliye in Erzincan Province, Keban in Elâzığ Province, Kiğı in Bingöl Province and Arapkir in Malatya Province.
History
This region was known as Ishuwa in the 2000s BC. As a result of the struggle of the Ishuva Kingdom, which was established by the Hurrians in the region, with the Hittites, this place passed under the rule of the Hittites towards the 1600s BC. Then it came under the domination of the Urartians and formed the westernmost part of the country of Urartu. After that, it was ruled by Medes and the Persian Achaemenid Empire, next it passed into the hands of the Alexander the Great, king of Macedon. During the reign of Tigranes the Great, the king of Armenia of the Artaxiad dynasty, Dersim was annexed to the kingdom of Armenia, even after the fall of the Artaxiad dynasty, Dersim remained loyal to them and did not submit to the Romans.
Medieval
After the acceptance of Christianity as the official religion in Armenia, as in many territories subject to Armenia, Dersim, the people resisted the influence of the new religion and adhered to their old religious traditions. After the Byzantine Empire occupied the western parts of Armenian state, they deported as many of the Dersimites as they could capture to Thrace and made these refugees serve as soldiers against the Bulgarian invasion. Despite all Byzantine "tricks", the people of Dersim were able to prevent the establishment of Byzantine influence in their neighbourhood. Also the Seljuks defeated Byzantine Empire in 1093 but the people of Dersim did not submit to the Seljuks. At the time of the establishment of the Safavid Empire, Shi'ism, the official sect of the Safavid Empire, had been able to spread to Dersim in a favourable manner. The Kurds of Dersim showed favour towards Shāh Ismā'īl I and agreed to cede the fortress of Kemah to Ismā'īl as a military base to facilitate the military movements of the Safavids, on condition that their sovereignty and independence would be respected by Ismā'īl.
Ottoman Empire rule
Although the Ottoman presence began to be felt in the region after Mehmed II the Conqueror defeated the Aq Qoyunlu in 1473, its incorporation into the Ottoman lands took place after the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514 during the reign of Selim the Grim. However, the harsh and rugged geographical structure of this place caused it to be in the hands of local administrators from time to time, away from state control. They displayed a rebellious situation during the weak periods of the central administrations. The southwestern parts was ruled by the Emirate of Çemişgezek, a hereditary and autonomous Kurdish emirate that existed from the 13th century until 1663, centred on Çemişgezek, which included Mazgirt, Pertek and Sağman. The emirate was inhabited by both Muslims and non-Muslims, and also had a significant Kurdish Alevi population, which flourished and expanded thanks to the self-government secured under Ottoman rule despite Ottoman hostility towards the minority.
In 1848, the Dersim Sanjak was formed within the Erzurum Vilayet. In 1880, the Dersim or Hozat vilayet was formed with Hozat as its center, although by 1888 it was made a sanjak/mutasarrifate of the Mamuret-ul-Aziz vilayet (now Elazığ). Even in 1895 between 1897, many Armenian fedayis took refuge in Dersim and benefited from the baht (of asylum) of the Dersimites and were able to protect themselves against the bathtubs of the Ottoman administration. Various rebellions took place in the region in the 1877, 1885, 1892, 1907, 1911, 1914 and 1916.