The Zilan massacre of 1930 , was a massacre of the Kurdish residents of Turkey during the Ararat rebellion , in which 800 – 1500 armed men participated . According to the daily '' Cumhuriyet '' dated July 16 , 1930 , about 15,000 people were killed and Zilan River was filled with dead bodies as far as its mouth . On August 31 , 1930 , the daily '' Milliyet '' published the declaration of the Turkish prime minister İsmet İnönü : " Only the Turkish nation has the right to demand ethnic and racial rights in this country . Any other element does not have such a right . They are Eastern Turkish who were deceived by unfounded propaganda and eventually lost their way . " In an attempt to deny their existence , the Turkish government categorized Kurds as " Mountain Turks " until 1991 . Since then , the Kurdish population of Turkey has long sought to have Kurdish included as a language of instruction in public schools as well as a subject . Several attempts at opening Kurdish instruction centers were stopped on technical grounds , such as wrong dimensions of doors . Turkish sources claimed that running Kurdish-language schools was wound up in 2004 because of ' an apparent lack of interest ' . Even though Kurdish language schools have started to operate , many of them have been forced to shut down due to over-regulation by the state . Kurdish language institutes have been monitored under strict surveillance and bureaucratic pressure . Using Kurdish language as main education language is illegal in Turkey . It is accepted only as subject courses
Zilan massacre
Zilan massacre
Racism in Turkey