Two witnesses of Dersim massacre pass away

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Eşliye Çiçe (Fecire Erol) from the Zimek (Çığırlı) village of Hozat, Tunceli  and Necef Duman from Hopik in the same village who had witnessed the Dersim massacre (Tertele) have lost their lives.

94 year old Duman had survived the massacre by staying under the dead body of her mother Besi who was killed by a firing squad, the Mezopotamya Agency reported.

The funeral for Duman and Çiçe who lost their lives yesterday (June 1) was held in the Zimek village.

"We knew our dead by their clothes"

Çiçe, had spoken to the Pir News Agency before about the massacre that she witnessed: 

"They brought everyone together and took them to the trashing field. There was a machine gun. Everyone started to shout, there were some who escaped. They had seperated the men and the women; and taken them up the mountain saying we are going to take a picture of you. They took us to the mountain also, we are small, we are hungry, we want bread, we want water and we cry." 

"My mother placed me behind her legs and my brother to her chest and she laid down on the ground over us, hiding us. One bayonet struck my back, I took it out. They left me for dead. When it got dark a young woman came and she was shouting, 'The soldiers are gone, whoever is alive, stand up.'

They killed us in Hopik (the White Mountain), we knew our dead by their clothes." (NT/PE)