Keri, a native of Erznka, was very much loved and respected among the Kurds of Dersim. The seeds of friendship and harmony he had sown may have germinated during the 1915 deportations and massacres of the Armenians of Erzinjan. Kurds in Dersim gave refuge to and saved the lives of many deportees.
Still later, when the Russian army occupied Erzinjan and approached Dersim in 1916, the local Kurds collaborated with Kay tsak Arakel, Keri’s comrade in arms, who was sent to that region by partisan commander Sebastatsi Murad to rescue Armenian survivors sequestered in Muslim households or forcibly converted to Islam.
After Keri’s arrest and incarceration, the Dashnaktsutiun continued to negotiate with the Kurds, especially in Taron/Mush and Van, trying to work with their notables to curb the Kurdish penchant for killing and plunder.
Taken from: Mano Chil
