Sheikh Said Rebellion

Part of Kurdish rebellions in Turkey

Date	8 February—March 1925
Location	Elazığ, Bingöl, Diyarbakır and Mardin areas
Result	Decisive Turkish victory, Revolt suppressed

Belligerents

Turkey

Kurdish tribes
(Sunni Zazas and Kurmanj)
Some Alevi Zazas
(Hormekan and Lolan tribes)

Commanders and leaders

Mustafa Kemal Pasha
Kâzım Pasha (Third Army)
Mürsel Pasha (VII Corps)
Naci Pasha (V Corps)

Sheikh Said

Strength

February–March:
25,000 men (fewer than 12,000 are armed troops; the rest are unarmed logistical troops)
April:
52,000 men (25,000 are armed troops)

15,000 men

Casualties and losses

15,000–20,000 or 40,000–250,000 civilians killed

The Sheikh Said Rebellion (Kurdish: Serhildana Seîdê Pîran‎, Turkish: Şeyh Said İsyanı) or Genç Incident (Kurdish: Genç Hâdisesi‎) was a Kurdish rebellion aimed at reviving the Islamic caliphate. It used elements of Kurdish nationalism to recruit. It was led by Sheikh Said and a group of former Ottoman soldiers also known as "Hamidiye". The rebellion was carried out by two Kurdish sub-groups, the Zaza and the Kurmanj.

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 various historias the main reason the revolt took place was that various elements of Turkish society were unhappy with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's abolition of the Islamic Caliphate system. While it can be considered we must understand that Britain was a sworn enemy of both the Islamic Caliphate and the Turks. 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.

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Wikipedia