 Narrator: I know you don't like this word very much, but officially today the region's name is Tunceli.

 Woman: Never use the T-word.

 Narrator: T-word, okay. That's a new one. Can you elaborate?

 Woman: So, I always want to emphasize the reason why we don't use the T-word for several reasons. One of the main reasons is actually the genocide that was conducted in Dersim. I always try to explain that genocides are not conducted with the first mass killing, right? So it is a preparation that's been done 10 years beforehand.

 Narrator: It's a huge logistical undertaking.

 Woman: Exactly. Even in the 1920s, right after the Turkish Republic was established, they first established roads into Dersim. They had to build bridges because it was so mountainous. All this infrastructural preparation was also automatically a preparation for the genocide that was conducted years later. So, the Tunceli Kanunu, so it was a law that was adopted in 1935, right?

 Narrator: Why Tunceli though?

 Woman: Tunc, like when you look into the Turkish meaning of Tunceli, it means Tunc comes from the word bronze and Eli means hand. So, I think all of us grew up with this saying by our parents, that the government oppressed the people with a bronze hand or a bronze fist.

 Narrator: Iron fist.

 Woman: Exactly. That's how my dad always explained it to me. And when the Tunceli Kanunu was adopted in 1935, they first changed the name of the region Dersim and with that law, the government declared the region of Dersim as a state of emergency.

The name Tunceli literally translates to "Bronze Hand" ("Tunc" meaning bronze and "Eli" meaning hand), symbolizing the government's "iron fist" or oppression over the people of Dersim.