Zini Rift Massacre

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Zini Rift Massacre refers to the killing of 95 Alevi-Kurdish civilians on 6 August 1938 in Kılıçkaya village (also called Zini Gedik) in Erzincan Province, Turkey. After the Dersim rebellion, some people from the region were exiled to Balıkesir and Keşan. In 2011, bones from a mass grave resurfaced due to soil erosion, and families of the victims asked the Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor to examine the site. On 28 September 2011, Prosecutor Mehmet Can Mıhçı declined to prosecute, saying the killings were part of the Dersim Massacre, related to public order, could not be labeled genocide, and were already subject to the statute of limitations. It was noted that his decision echoed an earlier ruling about Dersim, and that some lawyers define genocide in different ways.