TWO LOCKS OF HAIR – THE MISSING GIRLS OF DERSIM

Director: Nezahat Gündoğan

North Kurdistan (Turkey) / 2010 / 58mins / Turkish with English subtitles / 18

Under the pretext of “bringing civilization”, the Turkish state launched a series of violent military operations against the city of Dersim in Kurdistan between 1937-38. Thousands of people were killed and thousands more exiled. During the massacre and banishment, hundreds of girls were given to the families of high-ranking soldiers in order to be “Turkified”. Told through the story of those missing girls, this film exposes that destructive practice, only recently acknowledged.