Sheikh Said rebellion

Sheikh Said Rebellion
Date February 1925 - March 1925 Location Diyarbakir and Mardin areas Result Decisive Turkish victory. Revolt suppressed; Mosul province is assigned to British Mandate of Mesopotamia
Belligerents
Turkey Alevi tribes (Hormekan and Lolan)	Kurdish tribes
Commanders and leaders
Mustafa Kemal Kiazim Pasha (Third Army) Mürsal Pasha (VII Corps) Naci Pasha (V Corps)	Sheikh Said (POW) and executed afterwards
Strength
52,000 Turkish Gendarmerie[citation needed]	15,000 Kurdish tribal fighters
Casualties and losses
15,000-20,000 or 40,000-250,000 civilians killed

Sheikh Said Rebellion (Kurdish:Serhildana Şêx Seîdê Pîran, Turkish: Şeyh Said İsyanı, contemporary name: Genç Hâdisesi means "Genç Incident") was a rebellion of a Kurdish clergy Sheikh Said and a group of former Kurdish Hamidieh soldiers^{[citation needed]} (Azadî group) in 1925.

Background

The Azadî was dominated by officers from the former Hamidiye, a Kurdish tribal militia established under the Ottoman Empire to deal with the Armenians and sometimes even to keep the Kizilbash under control. According to British intelligence reports, the Azadî officers had eleven grievances. Apart from inevitable Kurdish cultural demands and complaints of Turkish maltreatment, this list also detailed fears of imminent mass deportations of Kurds. They also registered annoyance that the name Kurdistan did not appear on maps, at restrictions on the Kurdish language and on Kurdish education and objections to alleged Turkish economic exploitation of Kurdish areas, at the expense of Kurds.^{[citation needed]}

It was Sheikh Said, reportedly, who convinced Hamidiye commanders to support a fight for Kurdish independence. According to Olson,^{[citation needed]} the Kurdish officers expressed their objectives in November 1924 as being: to deliver the Kurds from Turkish oppression; to give Kurds freedom and opportunity to develop their country.

Certain among you have taken as a pretext for revolt the abuse by the governmental administration, some others have invoked the defence of the Caliphate, but you are all united on one point: to create an independent Kurdistan.

—President of the military tribunal that sentenced the rebels, 28 June 1925

Some claim British assistance was sought realizing that Kurdistan could not stand alone. .

Mosul

As a last resort, Mustafa Kemal was prepared to use military force regarding Mosul, but he believed that the Mosul problem could be solved diplomatically. The Treaty of Lausanne did not solve the problem of Mosul province, and left it to the League of Nations. In September 1925, a council at the League of Nations decided to advise leaving the Mosul to the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. Turkey decided to resist this advice and prevent a final decision (awarding it to Britain). The border between Turkish forces (Turkey) and British forces (British Mandate of Mesopotamia) was based on the Brussels line and, beginning in November 1924, the escalating rebellion was a threat to prove that the Brussels line is not the correct line, which left the Kurds divided.

Events

Sheikh Said appealed to all the Kurdish tribes to join in the rebellion being planned. The tribes which actually participated were mostly Zazas. However the Xormak and Herkî, two Zaza-Qizilbash tribes were the most active and effective opponents of this rebellion. The participation from Kurds (Kurmanchs) was almost non-existent except a handful of Hamidiye leaders. Mindful of the depredations of the Hamidiye against them (especially the Hamidiye commanded by Xalid Beg Cîbran), other Alevi tribes also refused to join the rebellion.

The main part of the uprising was over by the end of March, as the Turkish authorities crushed the rebellion with continual aerial bombardments and a massive concentration of forces. The president of the military tribunal which sentenced the rebels declared, on 28 June 1925:

More than 50,000 Turkish troops were mobilized against the rebellion. The military strength of the Kurds was 15,000.

During this rebellion, the Turkish government used its airplanes for bombing raids in Palu-Bingol area. In the course of this operation, the airfield near Harput road was used.

Result

Sheikh Said was captured around 1925 and executed by a method of hanging as a result. The rebellion diminished the negotiating power of Turkey and the Ottoman province of Musul was assigned to British Mandate of Mesopotamia. The final conclusion of the rebellion from existent powers were the British have the control of Mosul and Turkey were the chance of uniting Mosul Province, Ottoman Empire to Turkey.

In Fall of 1927 Sheikh Abdurrahman (brother of Sheikh Said) began a series of attacks on Turkish garrisons in Palu and Malatya. The brother of Sheikh Said tried to exact revenge on the Turkish government by attacking army bases in a Kurdish region. Nothing permanent was accomplished in those military operations.

References

• Olson, Robert W (1989), The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880-1925, Austin: University of Texas Press, ISBN 0292776195, http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/kurdish/htdocs/his/said.html 
• Olson, Robert W (March 2000), "The Kurdish Rebellions of Sheikh Said (1925), Mt. Ararat (1930), and Dersim (1937-8): Their Impact on the Development of the Turkish Air Force and on Kurdish and Turkish Nationalism", Die Welt des Islams 40 (1): 67–94, doi:10.1163/1570060001569893