Dersim de jure Tunceli (Kurdish: Dêrsim, Zaza: Mamekîye, Armenian: Դերսիմ) is a province located in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The least densely-populated province in Turkey with 83,645 population, Tunceli Province has 8 districts: Çemişgezek, Hozat, Mazgirt, Nazımiye, Ovacık, Pertek, Pülümür, and Tunceli (the capital district).
Before the Armenian genocide, Mamuret-ul-Aziz (Kharput) vilayet (province), was one of the six vilayets which was a part of historical Turkish Armenia (Western Armenia), and Tunceli Province was part of Mamuret-ul-Aziz (Kharput) vilayet. Today, Tunceli Province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan, and has Kurdish Alevi majority.
According to Bruniessen, many of the Dersim Kurds are partly of Armenian descent. Dersim used to have a large Armenian population. Even well before the Armenian massacres (1915), many local Armenians voluntarily assimilated, becoming Alevi Kurds.