This article discusses the human rights situation of Kurds in Turkey. Kurds have had a long history of discrimination and massacres perpetrated against them by the Turkish government. Massacres have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Among the most significant is the Dersim massacre where 13,160 civilians were killed by the Turkish Army and 11,818 people were taken into exile. According to McDowall, 40,000 people were killed. The Zilan massacre of 1930, was a massacre of the Kurdish residents of Turkey during the Ararat rebellion, in which 5,000 to 47,000 were killed.