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A documentary about the Armenians who survived the Genocide and then went through another cycle of violence during the 1937-1938 bloody military campaign initiated by the Turkish state in Dersim region (currently Tunceli) has been produced in Turkey.

Ermenihaber.am reports, that the film “Children of the Monastery” (Vank’ın Çocukları) is directed by Kazım Gündoğan who originates from Dersim and attempts to raise the untold stories of the massacre survivors. 

The announced trailer says the film crew had numerous meetings in Dersim, Konya, Istanbul, and Izmir with people who were forcefully converted to Islam. Dozens of accounts and facts collected during the interviews spread a light on the fate of hundreds of Christian children who survived the Dersim massacre, were subjected to Turkification and grew up in Turkish or Kurdish families without their families knowing anything about it.

The film reflects on the story of the only Armenian St. Karapet monastery that operated in the area and whose clergy was arrested and killed along with Alevi and Armenian population of the village in the course of the massacres. The church was completely destroyed by the state in 1938.

The premiere of “Children of the Monastery” is scheduled on February 9 in Istanbul.