Koçgiri rebellion

After the Treaty of Sèvres was signed the Kurds began to feel more trustful that they were able to reach at least some sort of an autonomous government for themselves. Abdulkadir Ubeydullah, the son of Sheikh Ubeydullah and the president of the SAK,{{Cite book|last=Özoĝlu|first=Hakan|title=Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries|date=2004|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-5993-5|pages=88–91|language=en}} supported the idea of a Kurdish autonomy within Turkey. But Nuri Dersimi and Alisher Efendi wanted more than autonomy, they wanted to establish an independent Kurdistan according to article 64 of the treaty.{{Cite book|last=Olson|first=Robert W.|title=The emergence of Kurdish nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880–1925|date=1989|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-77619-7|pages=28–29}} Mustafa Kemal followed up on the events in the Dersim area and as it came to his knowledge that some of the Kurds were pursuing autonomy in line with the fourteen points announced by US president Woodrow Wilson, he answered that the plan of Wilson was worthless for the peoples in the eastern provinces and they should rather follow his Turkish nationalist movement.

The Kurds around Dersim began to prepare for an eventual showdown with the Turkish nationalists and they also raided several Turkish weapon depots. By October 1920 they captured enough to feel themselves in a position of strength and Alisan Bey, the leader of Refahiye prepared the tribes for independence. Finally, on the 15 November 1920, they delivered a declaration to the Kemalists which stated the following.{{Cite book|last=Meiselas|first=Susan|title=Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History|date=1997|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-226-51928-9|location=New York|pages=120|language=en}}Olson, Robert; Rumbold, Horace (1989) p. 43

• The Government in Ankara should abide by the agreement the Kurds had with the Sultan in Istanbul and accept the Kurdish autonomy
• The Government in Ankara should also inform the people who wrote the declaration concerning their approach towards an autonomous Kurdistan.
• All the Kurdish prisoners in the prisons of Erzincan, Malatya, Elaziz (today Elazıĝ) and Sivas shall be released.
• The Turkish administration in the areas with a Kurdish majority must leave
• And the Turkish military which was dispatched to the Kurdish areas, should withdraw

They requested an answer by 24 November 1920.Robert Olson, (1989) p. 30 On the 25 December, the Kurds again demanded more political rights to be given to them in the Provinces of Diyarbakir, Bitlis, Van and Elaziz as agreed on in the Treaty of Sèvres. The Kemalists at first listened to their demands for more political freedom, but at the same time moved significant troops to the region in order to quell the rebellion. Nevertheless, the Turkish Government tried to deceive the kurds as they sent the Governor of Elaziz to Pertek in order to assure them that Mustafa Kemal agreed to the requests. Mustafa Kemal even nominated additional members of parliament from the region.Robert Olson, (1989) p. 31 The Turkish Government also offered to assign a Kurdish Mütessarif to the region, but the revolutionaries represented by Seyit Riza and Alişan Bey (official from the Refahiye) refused the offer, and repeated their demand that they want an independent Kurdish government and not one imposed by Ankara.

Following this response, Mustafa Kemal ordered the arrest of Nuri Dersimi and on the 20 December he was detained and brought to prison.

The commander of the Central Army Nureddin Pasha sent a force of some 3,000 cavalrymen and irregulars including Topal Osman's battalions. By February fighting between parties began and the Turks demanded the unconditional surrender of the Kurdish revolutionaries. A first major encounter between the factions ended victorious for the Kurds, but fighting went onRobert Olson, (1989) p. 32 and the rebels were crushed by June 17, 1921.Ergün Aybars, İstiklâl Mahkemeleri, Bilgi Yayınevi, 1975, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cCQKAQAAIAAJ&q=17+Haziran+1921+Ko%C3%A7giri p. 34.] {{in lang|tr}}

Before repressing the rebels, Nureddin Pasha said (according to some sources, this statement belongs to Topal Osman):

{{Blockquote|In homeland (Turkey), we cleaned up people who say "zo" (Armenians), I'm going to clean up people who say "lo" (Kurdish) by their roots.Hans-Lukas Kieser, Iskalanmış barış: Doğu Vilayetleri'nde misyonerlik, etnik kimlik ve devlet 1839–1938, İletişim Yayınları, 2005, {{ISBN|978-975-05-0300-9}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=U3YKAQAAMAAJ&q=zo+diyenleri+yok+ettik+lo p. 570.] {{in lang|tr}} (original: Der verpasste Friede: Mission, Ethnie und Staat in den Ostprovinzen der Türkei 1839–1938, Chronos, 2000, {{ISBN|3-905313-49-9}}) {{in lang|de}}Martin van Bruinessen, Mullas, Sufis and Heretics: The Role of Religion in Kurdish Society: Collected Articles, ISIS Press, 2000, {{ISBN|978-975-428-162-0}}, p. 183.|Turkish original|Türkiye'de (Memlekette) "zo" diyenleri (Ermenileri) temizledik, "lo" diyenlerin (Kürtlerin) köklerini de ben temizleyeceğim.Halim Demir, Milli Mücadele: Kuvayı Milliye : İttihatçılar ve Muhalifler, Ozan Yayıncılık, 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1bJJAQAAIAAJ&q=T%C3%BCrkiye'de+Zo+ben+temizleyece%C4%9Fim p. 176.]|source=}}

The brutality of the repression made the Grand National Assembly decide to put Nureddin Pasha on trial. Although Nureddin Pasha was dismissed on November 3, 1921 and recalled to Ankara, Mustafa Kemal Pasha intervened and prevented a trial.Andrew Mango, Atatürk, John Murray, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-7195-6592-2}}, p. 330.

The brutality of the actions of the Turkish forces shocked even some members of the Ankara's national assembly. One of the representatives said: "African barbarians would not even accept such excesses".{{cite book |last1=Gingeras |first1=Ryan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0ASDAAAQBAJ |title=Fall of the Sultanate: The Great War and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1908–1922 |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199676071 |pages=284}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/repression-koa-giri-rebellion-1920-1921 The Repression of the Koçgiri Rebellion, 1920–1921]

{{Turkish War of Independence}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kockiri Rebellion}}

Category:Conflicts in 1921

Category:Uprisings of the Turkish War of Independence

Category:Kurdish–Turkish conflict

Category:Alevi rebellions

Category:1921 in the Ottoman Empire

Category:Sivas vilayet

Category:Mamuret-ul-Aziz vilayet

Category:Erzurum vilayet

Category:Massacres committed by Turkey

Koçgri