Sheikh Said

Sheikh Said was born around 1865 in Hınıs or Palu to a Sunni Kirmanc{{cite news |title=Şêx Seîd û hevalê ey Amed hetê PAKî ra amê yadkerdene Kaynak: Şêx Seîd û hevalê ey Amed hetê PAKî ra amê yadkerdene |url=http://www.rupelanu.com/sex-seid-u-hevale-ey-amed-hete-paki-ra-ame-yadkerdene-5439h.htm |access-date=22 December 2019 |language=ku}}{{cite news |title=شۆڕشی شێخ سه‌عیدی پیران |url=https://knwe.org/?p=10521 |access-date=22 December 2019 |language=ku}} family.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Şeyh Said |encyclopedia=İslâm Ansiklopedisi |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/seyh-said |access-date=27 September 2024 |last=Kurşun |first=Zekeriya |language=tr}}"İngiliz Belgelerinde Türkiye" Erol Ulubelen, Çağdaş Yay., 1982, sf.195; ak. U.Mumcu, "Kürt-İslam Ayaklanması" Tekin Yay., 19. Bas., 1995, sf.24Sevr Anlaşmasına Doğru Osman Olcay, SBF Yay., Ankara-1981, s.121; ak. U. Mumcu, "Kürt-İslam Ayaklanması" Tekin Yay., 19.Bas. 1995, s. 28 His father was named Sheikh Mahmud Fevzi and his mother was Gulê Hanım. After receiving education at several Madrasa in Palu, Elazığ, Diyarbakır and Muş, he became the leader of the Naqshbandi order upon the death of his father. Sheikh Said spoke beside Zazaki, Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic, and Persian fluently.{{Cite web |date=2016-02-16 |title=Şehid Şeyh Said ve Dava Arkadaşları'nı Rahmetle Anıyoruz / Hereketa AZADÎ |url=http://tr.hereketaazadi.org/etkinlikler/view/42 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216041307/http://tr.hereketaazadi.org/etkinlikler/view/42 |archive-date=16 February 2016 |access-date=2025-03-07}} He settled there after his father migrated from Palu to Hınıs. During World War I, he had to move to Pîran due to the advance of the Russian Empire into the Eastern Anatolia Region, and after the war he settled to Hınıs.{{cite book |author=Hakan Ozoglu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cw5V1c1ej_cC&pg=PA147 |title=From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic |date=24 June 2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37957-4 |page=147}}

Sheikh Said married Amine Hanım.Martin van Bruinessen: Agha, Sheikh and State. Berlin 1989, p. 415 Amine Hanım became ill and died when the family migrated from Hınıs to Dicle due to the Russo-Turkish War. After his first wife died, Sheikh Said married Fatma Hanım, the sister of Halid Beg Cibran, one of the leaders of the Kurdish Colonel Hamidiye Regiments.Martin van Bruinessen: Agha, Sheikh and State Berlin 1989, p. 418 Güllü Hanım, who was also Halid Bey's sister, was married to Major Kasım Ataç who betrayed Sheikh Said after the revolt was suppressed.Vgl. Mehmet Şerif Fırat: Doğu İlleri ve Varto Tarihi. Ankara 1970 (Reprint). There is also a letter from Sheikh Said to the Xormek leaders.

Sheikh Said had ten children with Fatma Hanım, five girls and five boys. His grandson Ali Rıza Efendi, entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly as an independent deputy from Erzurum in 1973.{{Cite web |date=2014-07-06 |title=Şeyh Said'in Çocukları ile Said Nursi'nin Görüşmesi |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIfkNTWBsDo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706061246/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIfkNTWBsDo |archive-date=6 July 2014 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=YouTube}}

{{Main|Azadî}}

File:Cibranlı_Halit_Bey.jpg

The Azadî,{{Efn|English: Freedom}} officially Society for Kurdish Freedom, later Society for Kurdish Independence{{Sfn|Olson|1989|page=41}} was a Kurdish secret organization which strived for Kurdish independency in all parts of Kurdistan.{{Sfn|Olson|1989|page=176}} Various statements are made about the founding date of the Azadi, such as 1921, 1922 and 1923.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=42}}

In 1923, Sheikh Said was approached by Yusuf Zia Bey, who wanted him to join the Kurdish secret organization Azadî.{{Cite book |last=Behrendt |first=Günter |title=Nationalismus in Kurdistan: Vorgeschichte, Entstehungsbedingungen und erste Manifestationen bis 1925 |date=1993 |publisher=Deutsches Orient-Institut |isbn=978-3-89173-029-4 |pages=373 |language=de}} He became the leader of the Azadî after Zia Bey and Halid Beg Cibran, the leader of the Azadî, were among 21 other members reportedly tipped off by the Yörük tribe and arrested.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Who's who in Politics in Turkey |url=https://tr.boell.org/sites/default/files/ays-tarihvakfi-18x24-boll-r7-eng.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115005654/https://tr.boell.org/sites/default/files/ays-tarihvakfi-18x24-boll-r7-eng.pdf |archive-date=15 November 2019 |access-date=28 December 2020 |website=Heinrich Böll Stiftung |pages=250}} Sheikh Said became the new leader.

During its first General Congress in 1924, in which several commanders from the Hamidye cavalry and also Sheikh Said took part, it was decided that the Kurds should revolt against the newly established secular Kemalist Turkish Republic.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=47–48}} The Azadi was to become a leading force in the Sheikh Said Rebellion{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=|p=102-103}} which began in February 1925 and starting from in Piran, soon spread as far as the surroundings of Diyarbakır.{{Cite book |last=Özoğlu |first=Hakan |title=From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic |date=2011-06-24 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37957-4 |pages=89 |language=en}}

File:Map_of_Sheikh_Said_rebellion,_1925.jpg

Prior to Sheikh Said's rebellion, the prominent Pashas of the War of Independence worried about the anti-religious and autocratic policy of Atatürk's government and therefore on 17 November 1924, the Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası (TCF), the first opposition party in the history of the Republic was established.{{cite book |author=Hakan Ozoglu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cw5V1c1ej_cC&pg=PA147 |title=From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic |date=24 June 2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37957-4 |page=147}} There was a general consensus that Atatürk's actions were against religion. In the TCF's article which led by Kazım Karabekir it says that "The political party is respectful to the religious beliefs and thoughts". One of the TCF officials, Fethi Bey, said "The members of the TCF are religious. CHF is messing up with the religion, we will save the religion and protect it".Nurşen Mazıcı, Belgelerle Atatürk döneminde Muhalefet (1919-1926), Dilem Yayınları, İstanbul 1984, s. 82.

Two weeks before the Sheikh Said incident, in late January 1925, the TCF Erzurum deputy Ziyaeddin Efendi, with heavy criticism of the actions of the ruling CHF in the chair of the Grand National Assembly, said that 'innovation' had led to the encouragement of "isret" (getting drunk), an increase in prostitution, Muslim women losing their decency and, most important of all, religious customs being dishonored and disregarded by the new regime.Metin Toker, Şeyh Sait ve İsyanı, Akis Yayınları, Ankara 1968, s. 21. The Azadî forces under the lead of Halid Beg Cibran{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=42}} were dominated by the former members of the late Ottoman era Hamidiye regiments, a Kurdish tribal militia established during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II to deal with the Armenians, and sometimes even to keep the Qizilbash under control. According to various historians, the main reason the revolt took place was that various elements of the Turkish society were unhappy with the Turkish Parliament's abolition of the Ottoman Caliphateon 3 March 1924. According to British intelligence reports, the Azadî officers had 11 grievances.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=43–45}} Apart from 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.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=43–45}} The revolt was preceded by the smaller and less successful Beytüssebap revolt in September 1924, led by Cibran{{Cite web |last=Üngör |first=Umut |date=2009 |title=Young Turk social engineering : mass violence and the nation state in eastern Turkey, 1913- 1950 |url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/867135/65687_13.pdf |access-date=9 April 2020 |website=University of Amsterdam |page=231}} and Ihsan Nuri on the orders by the prominent Azadî member Ziya Yusuf Bey.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=48–49}} The revolt was subdued, and its leaders Cibran and Ziya Yusuf Bey were captured and courtmartialed in Bitlis.{{Cite book |last=Chaliand |first=Gérard |title=A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan |date=1993 |publisher=Zed Books |isbn=978-1-85649-194-5 |pages=52–53}}

The Azadi was to become a leading force in the Sheikh Said Rebellion which began in February 1925 and starting from in Piran, soon spread as far as the surroundings of Diyarbakır.{{Cite book |last=Özoğlu |first=Hakan |title=From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic |date=2011-06-24 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37957-4 |pages=89 |language=en}} In 1924, Yusuf Ziya was arrested. Yusuf Ziya Bey, who confessed to the organization were Sheikh Said along with Halid Beg Cibran, Hasananlı Halit and Hacı Musa. Traveling to the tribes in the eastern provinces, Sheikh Said made propaganda saying that the Republic and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were irreligious, that Islam, marriage, chastity and honour, and the Quran would be abolished with the laws passed, and that the lords and Hodjas would be executed or exiled.{{cite book |author=Hakan Ozoglu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cw5V1c1ej_cC&pg=PA147 |title=From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic |date=24 June 2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37957-4 |page=147}}Metin Toker, Şeyh Sait ve İsyanı, Akis Yayınları, Ankara 1968, s. 21.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=42}}

Sheikh Said appealed to all Muslims of Turkey to join in the rebellion being planned. The tribes which actually participated were mostly Kurds. Kurds of the Xormak and Herkî, two Kurdish-Qizilbash tribes were the most active and effective opponents of this rebellion. experience in confronting the Turkish government.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=97–98}} The Azadî, and several officers from the Ottoman empire have supported the rebellion. Robert Olson states that viewing the several sources, a number of 15'000 rebels is about the average of the involved rebels in the revolt.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=102}}

The men of his brother-in-law, Colonel Halit Beg, said that they would inform the League of Nations, that there were no state military forces in the region and that they could easily capture the region.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=42}} He prepared a fatwa of rebellion against the Republic and the revolutions and wrote that the lives and property of those who supported the revolutions were halal. He sent the fatwa to the elders of the tribes. The Hormekî tribe in Varto announced that they would not comply with the uprising because they were pro-state. When Sheikh Said was invited to the Bitlis War Court to testify, he did not go to testify because he was old and sick, and his statement was taken in Hınıs.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=43–45}} After wandering around Diyarbakır, Bingöl, Ergani and Genç regions for about a month, he settled in his brother's house in Dicle on February 13, 1925. The uprising started ahead of schedule due to the conflict that broke out in Piran over the gendarmerie's attempt to arrest 5 criminals.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=42}}{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=43–45}}{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=48–49}}

File:Cumhuriyet_March_30,_1925.jpg

Following the suppression of the Beytüssebap revolt, the Turks attempted to prevent an other rebellion. In February 1925, they moved into the Piran (today called Dicle) area to detain some Kurdish notables,{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=107}} but were prevented by from it by men loyal to Sheikh Said.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=48–49}} The intrusion by the Turkish army provoked Kurds around Sheikh Said, and reportedly they have either killed or arrested all the Turkish officers in the areas under their control.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=48–49}} On 13 February 1925, Sheikh Said addressed the people in his sermon in the Piran mosque and stated:Behçet Cemal, Şeyh Sait İsyanı, Sel Yayınları, İstanbul 1955, p.24.

{{Blockquote|text=The madrasahs were closed. The Ministry of Religion and Foundations was abolished and the schools of religion were connected to the National Education. In the newspapers, a number of irreligious writers dare to insult the Prophet and extend the language of our Prophet. If I can do it today, I will start fighting myself and try to raise religion.|author=Sheikh Said of Pîran}}

Sheikh Said was elected as the next commander of the Kurdish independence movement gathered around Azadî and Darhini was declared the capital of Kurdistan on the 14 February 1925.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=48–49}} Sheikh Said, who had taken the governor and the other officers captive while charging against Darhini (16 February), tried to gather the movement under a single center with a declaration urging the people to rise up in the name of Islam. In this statement, he used his seal which means 'the leader of the fighters for the sake of religion' and called everyone to fight for the sake of religion. Initially, the rebellion was initiated on behalf of the Islamic Sharia, but was later converted to the Kurdish independence movement.Sulhi Dönmezer, [http://www.atam.gov.tr/index.php?Page=DergiIcerik&IcerikNo=657 Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devleti'ne Yönelik Bozguncu Hareketler ve Tehditler], Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi (Sayı 38, Cilt: XIII, Temmuz 1997) The rebellion soon expanded and by 20 February, the town Lice, where the 5th Army corps was headquartered was captured.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=108}} Sheikh Said had invited Kurdish scholar Said Nursi to join the rebellion, although Said Nursi had rejected and criticised it.Turkey, Islamists and Democracy: Transition and Globalization in a Muslim State, Yildiz Atasoy, 2005, pp. 45Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Gülen Movement, 2003, pp. 152 Despite his tensions with Sheikh Said, he was mistaken for Sheikh Said and targeted on many occasions.Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and Risale-i Nur, Extended Special Text Version, Ediz SÖZÜER, pp. 42 Said Nursi opposed Kurdish independence and advocated for the revival of the Ottoman Empire.Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: Author of the Risale-i Nur, Şükran Vahide, 2019, pp. 197-198

After receiving the support of the tribes of Mistan, Botan and Mhallami, he headed to Diyarbakır via Genç and Çapakçur (today known as Bingöl) and captured Maden, Siverek and Ergani. Another uprising, directed by Sheikh Abdullah attempted to capture Muş coming from Hınıs. But the rebels were defeated around Murat bridge and made them to retreat.{{Cite book |last=Chaliand |first=Gérard |title=A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan |date=1993 |publisher=Zed Books |isbn=978-1-85649-194-5 |pages=52–53}} On 21 February, the government declared martial law in the eastern provinces. Army troops sent to the insurgents on 23 February were forced to retreat to Diyarbakir in the Winter Plain against the Sheikh Said forces. The next day, another uprising under the leadership of Sheikh Sharif, who entered Elazığ, kept the city under control for a short time. Elazığ was looted by rebels for several days.János M. Bak, Gerhard Benecke, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iBS8AAAAIAAJ&q=religion+and+rural+revolt+janos Religion and rural revolt"], Manchester University Press ND, 1984, {{ISBN|0719009901}}, pp. 289–290. At the 1 of March, the Kurds managed to assault the Diyarbakır airport and destroy three of the airplanes.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=120}}

In one of the bigger engagements, in the night of 6–7 March, the forces of Sheikh Said laid siege to the city of Diyarbakırwith 5,000–10,000 men.{{cite book |author=Uğur Ümit Üngör |author-link=Uğur Ümit Üngör |title=The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950 |date=1 March 2012 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-965522-9 |page=125}}{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=202}} In Diyarbakır the headquarters of the Seventh Army Corps was located.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=104}} But neither the Kurdish notables nor the Kurdish farmers in the region in and around Diyarbakır refused to support the rebellion.{{sfn|Olson|1989|pp=98–99}} The Muslim Revivalists attacked the city at all four gates simultaneously. All of their attacks were repelled by the numerically inferior Turkish garrison, with the use of machine gun fire and mortar grenades. When the rebels retreated the next morning, the area around the city was full of dead bodies. When a second wave of attacks failed, the siege was finally lifted on 11 March. After a large consignment, a mass attack (26 March), and with a suppress operation the Turkish troops made many of the enemy troops to surrender and squeezed the insurgency leaders while they were preparing to move to the Iran in Boğlan (today known as Sohlan). Sheikh Sharif and some of the tribal leaders were captured in Palu, and Sheikh Said too in Varto was seized at Carpuh Bridge with a close relative's notice (15 April 1925).

File:Sheikh_Said_Efendi_captured.jpg

By the end of March, most of the major battles of the Sheikh Said rebellion were over. The Turkish authorities, according to Martin van Bruinessen, crushed the rebellion with continual aerial bombardments and a massive concentration of forces.{{cite book |author=Maarten Martinus van Bruinessen |title=Agha, Shaikh and State: On the Social and Political Organization of Kurdistan |publisher=University of Utrecht |year=1978 |isbn=1-85649-019-X |location=Utrecht}} (also London: Zed Books, 1992) {{page needed|date=June 2012}} The rebels were unable to penetrate beyond Hınıs, this was one of the two major areas where Sheikh Said was well known and he enjoyed considerable influence there (he had a tekke in Hınıs). This failure excluded the possibility of extending the rebellion.{{sfn|Olson|1989|p=115}}

On the other hand, Hasan Hayri Efendi, who was Dersim Deputy and Alevi Zaza, entered into solidarity with Sheikh Sharif, appointed by Sheikh Said as Commander of the Elaziz Front. A joint letter with Sheikh Sharif in Elaziz was sent to all the tribal leaders of Dersim on 6 March 1925.M. Nuri Dersimi, Kürdistan Tarihinde Dersim, Halep 1952, sayfa 180.

The Turkish army then opposed the rebellion and he was captured in mid-April 1925 after having been surrounded by the Turkish troops.{{Sfn|Olson|1989|page=116}} He was condemned to death by the Independence Tribunal in Diyarbakır on the 28 June 1925 and hanged the next day in Diyarbakır with 47 of his followers.{{Cite web |last=Üngör |first=Umut |title=Young Turk social engineering : mass violence and the nation state in eastern Turkey, 1913- 1950 |url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/867135/65687_13.pdf |access-date=16 April 2020 |website=University of Amsterdam |page=243}} Sheikh Said remains were buried in an anonymous mass grave in order to prevent his memorization by the Kurds.{{Cite web |last=Üngör |first=Umut |title=Young Turk social engineering : mass violence and the nation state in eastern Turkey, 1913- 1950 |url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/867135/65687_13.pdf |access-date=16 April 2020 |website=University of Amsterdam |page=350}}

Sheikh Said was a member of Azadi. He was one of the most outspoken nationalists during the first Azadi congress in 1924.The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880–1925, Robert Olson, pp. 92-101The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880–1925, Robert Olson, pp. 114, 153 The Azadi organisation planned the revolt, and its leaders elected Sheikh Said as the general leader due to his charisma and religious credentials.Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan, Martin van Bruinessen, 1992, pp. 265-66The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity, David Romano, 2006, pp. 34The Kurds and the Politics of Turkey: Agency, Territory and Religion, Deniz Çifçi, 2019, pp. 60-61 The Kurds also preferred sheikhs over army officers, and Azadi settled on Sheikh Said. The rebellion was similar to that of Sheikh Ubeydullah in terms of religion and nationalism.The Last Mufti of Iranian Kurdistan: Ethnic and Religious Implications in the Greater Middle East, Ali Ezzatyar, 2016, pp. 19 Sheikh Said was among the first to link Kurdish nationalism with Islam.Violent Radical Movements in the Arab World: The Ideology and Politics of Non-State Actors, 2019, pp. 184 He believed that Islam could not be removed from Kurdishness.Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 247

Sheikh Said was provoked by both the Turkish character and secularism of the new republic.The New Turkey and Its Discontents, Simon Waldman, Emre Caliskan, 2017, pp. 166 Sheikh Said claimed that since Turks "broke" their unity with Kurds by establishing an ethnostate, Kurds had "to secure their own future."Nation-Building in Turkey and Morocco: Governing Kurdish and Berber Dissent, Senem Aslan, 2015, pp. 44 While the Turkish government knew of the separatist intentions of Sheikh Said, they publicly claimed that the Sheikh Said revolt was a Turkish religious uprising aimed at reinstating the Ottoman dynasty.Political Function of Religion in Nationalistic Confrontations in Greater Kurdistan, Sabah Mofidi, 2022, pp. 34Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 246 The Turkish state later contradicted itself during the trial of Sheikh Said, which condemned him to death as a Kurdish separatist. Historians worldwide later agreed that the Ottomanist motives were a Turkish government fabrication to hide the Kurdish elements, as part of their denial of Kurds.Violent Radical Movements in the Arab World: The Ideology and Politics of Non-State Actors, 2019, pp. 184 The judge during the trial claimed that the revolt was "heading toward one direction: the creation of an independent Kurdistan."Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 245 İsmet İnönü, in his own report, described the revolt as a separatist and "fully-fledged nationalist movement".Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 248 Kurdish historiographers either downplayed the religious element of the revolt, or denied its nationalist element like the Kemalists did.Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 248 During his trial, Sheikh Said stated "we had a national goal and were ready to sacrifice our wealth and our lives to achieve that goal. We are not traitors. We fought to liberate Kurdistan and the Kurdish nation."Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 245-247

The Ottoman Empire had given Kurds autonomy in exchange for allegiance to the Sublime Porte, therefore the majority of Kurds were indeed upset when the Ottoman Empire was replaced with Turkey.The New Turkey and Its Discontents, Simon Waldman, Emre Caliskan, 2017, pp. 166 However, most Shafi'i clerics did not recognise the Ottoman sultans as legitimate caliphs. In a 1924 speech in defence of the abolition of the Caliphate, Seyyid Bey, the minister of justice, stated that "from a religious point of view, the Shafi'i ulama of India, Egypt, Najd, Yemen, and that of Kurdistan, do not recognize our kings as caliphs. Do you believe the ulama in Kurdistan take the debate over the Caliphate seriously? The ulama of those regions have never recognized our kings as caliphs."Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 248

Sheikh Said himself had spoken negatively of the Ottoman Empire, stating that "under the pretext of religion and the Caliphate, the Turks and the Ottomans have for over 400 years been pushing us gradually towards slavery, darkness, ignorance and destruction."Political Function of Religion in Nationalistic Confrontations in Greater Kurdistan, Sabah Mofidi, 2022, pp. 32-33 He also claimed that "we have not made the spirits of our ancestors happy. We have not fulfilled the wishes of Ahmadi Khani. That is why we live in misery and make our enemies glad."Kurdish Nationalism on Stage: Performance, Politics and Resistance in Iraq, Mari R. Rostami, 2019, pp. 63 He described Turks as "migrants" who brought corruption. The Turks who lived near Kurds, who were "just as backwards and as reactionary as their Kurdish neighbors", did not join the Sheikh Said revolt.Turkey, Islamists and Democracy: Transition and Globalization in a Muslim State, Yildiz Atasoy · 2005, pp. 45Under the Banner of Islam: Turks, Kurds, and the Limits of Religious Unity, Gülay Türkmen, 2021, pp. 40 Sheikh Said stated that it was "obvious that the Turks are oppressive and vile towards the Kurds" and that Turks "do not honour their promises", and that the world must be aware of their "hypocrisy, bloodshed and barbarism."The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950, Ugur Ümit Üngör, 2012, pp. 124 He also claimed that Turks practiced a "deceptive" form of Islam.The Last Mufti of Iranian Kurdistan: Ethnic and Religious Implications in the Greater Middle East, Ali Ezzatyar, 2016, pp. 19 The majority of Sheikh Said's soldiers were illiterate and monolingual Kurds, while most commanders were Hamidiye officers, such as Halid Beg Cibran, an in-law of Sheikh Said.The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880–1925, Robert Olson, pp. 47, 94From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic, Hakan Özoglu, 2011, pp. 120

Sheikh Said and the other leaders of the revolt were very conscious of their Kurdish identity and had publicised their separatist motives, regardless of the heavy religious discourse. Sheikh Said's brother, Abdurrahim, and others in the revolt openly declared their aim of establishing of an independent Kurdish state.The Kurdish Question and Turkey: An Example of a Trans-state Ethnic Conflict, Kemal Kirişci, Gareth M. Winrow, 1997, pp. 104 Sheikh Said did plan on restoring the Caliphate, although it would have been in his Kurdish state, and not a revival of the Ottoman Caliphate.Political Function of Religion in Nationalistic Confrontations in Greater Kurdistan, Sabah Mofidi, 2022, pp. 32-33 Sheikh Said claimed that the "caliphate" would safeguard "Kurdish honor and religion", and would not extend beyond the borders of Kurdistan. Sheikh Said's closest friends who assisted him in the revolt, Hasan Serdi and Fehmi Bilal, reportedly were not Muslim.Violent Radical Movements in the Arab World: The Ideology and Politics of Non-State Actors, 2019, pp. 184

During the revolt, Sheikh Said told his followers that killing one Turkish soldier was "better than killing seventy infidels".Şeyh Sait İsyanı ve Şark İstiklal Mahkemesi: Vesikalar, Olaylar, Hatıralar, Ahmet Süreyya Örgeevren, Osman S. Kocahanoğlu, 2002, pp. 225İngiliz ve Fransız Arşiv Belgeleriyle Şeyh Said Hareketi, Salih Cemal - Nûbihar, 2023, pp. 380 There were some aspects of Mahdism in the revolt.Historical Dictionary of the Kurds, Michael M. Gunter, 2010, pp. 205

Sheikh Said and his fighters were known for their strong belief in their ideology and their high morale, and they captured over one third of Turkish Kurdistan, including many major cities and eventually sieging Diyarbakir, with over half of the Turkish army being deployed to suppress the revolt.The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950, Ugur Ümit Üngör, 2011, pp. 124-125From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic, Hakan Özoglu, 2011, pp. 89The New Turkey and Its Discontents, Simon Waldman, Emre Caliskan, 2017, pp. 166 The Turkish army reportedly lost more soldiers during the Sheikh Said rebellion than they did during the Turkish War of Independence.Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire, Caroline Finkel, 2007 pp. 550 Turkey initially wanted to keep all of Greater Kurdistan within its borders.Dersim as an Internal Colony: The Turkish Civilizing Mission (1927–1952), Murat Devres, 2024, pp. 72 However, the Sheikh Said revolt was a major turning point, as Turkey stopped its claim over the Mosul vilayet shortly after. The Turkish government were convinced that much difficulties came with ruling over Kurdish regions.The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East, Robert Olson, 1996, pp. 67 Qajar state documents claimed that in order to win Kurdish support in the Mosul question, Turkey claimed that the Sheikh Said revolt was a British plot and that they only killed the rebels due to their collaboration with the British, however it was ineffective. Qajar authorities feared a possible incursion into Turkey by Iranian Kurds who were ready to support Sheikh Said.Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 253

Sheikh Said attempted to gain the support of Kurdish Alevis.Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926, Kamal Soleimani, 2016, pp. 245 Some individual Alevis, notably Hasan Hayri, joined him.Political Function of Religion in Nationalistic Confrontations in Greater Kurdistan, Sabah Mofidi, 2022, pp. 35 However, Kurdish Alevis refused to join the revolt, claiming that they were better off in a secular Turkey than a Sunni Kurdistan.The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880–1925, Robert Olson, pp. 94 Some Alevi tribes, such as Xurmek and Lewlan, even assisted Turkish forces during the revolt.Political Function of Religion in Nationalistic Confrontations in Greater Kurdistan, Sabah Mofidi, 2022, pp. 35The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880–1925, Robert Olson, pp. 110

File:Şeyh_Said_Vakit.jpg

Seyit Abdülkadir, the leader of the Kurdish Teali Society and several of his friends who were accused of supporting the rebellion, were arrested in Istanbul and taken to Diyarbakır to be tried. As a result of the trial, Seyit Abdulkadir and five of his friends were sentenced to death by the Independence Tribunal in Diyarbakır on 23 May 1925 and executed four days later. A journalist for a Kurdish newspaper in Bitlis, the poet Hizanizâde Kemal Fevzi, was also among the executed.

The Independence Tribunal in Diyarbakir also imposed a death sentence on Sheikh Said and 47 riots rulers on the 28 June 1925. Penalties were carried out the next day, by Sheikh Said coming up first. The President of the Independence Tribunal in Diyarbakır that sentenced the rebels stated on 28 June 1925:

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.

In 2014, the name of "Dağkapı Square" in Diyarbakır was changed to "Sheikh Said Square" by the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Council. The decision was taken with the votes of Democratic Regions Party and Justice and Development Party members.{{Cite web |date=2018-06-22 |title=Dağkapı Meydanı'nın adı Şeyh Sait Meydanı oldu - Son Dakika Haberler |url=https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/dagkapi-meydaninin-adi-seyh-sait-meydani-oldu-26992317 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622123928/https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/dagkapi-meydaninin-adi-seyh-sait-meydani-oldu-26992317 |archive-date=22 June 2018 |access-date=2025-03-07}} A segment of the public reacted to this decision, and applications were made to remove the name Sheikh Said. The attempts did not yield results.{{Cite web |date=2019-12-31 |title=Cadde ve sokaklardaki 'Şeyh Sait' isimleri kaldırılsın! – Veryansın TV |url=https://veryansintv.com/cadde-ve-sokaklardaki-seyh-sait-isimleri-kaldirilsin/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231134827/https://veryansintv.com/cadde-ve-sokaklardaki-seyh-sait-isimleri-kaldirilsin/ |archive-date=31 December 2019 |access-date=2025-02-10}}

His first wife was Amine Hanim, who died during the Russian-Turkish war. His second wife was Fatma Hanim, a sister of Halit Beg Cibran, the leader of the Azadî.

His son Abdülhalik died after his deportation following the Sheikh Said rebellion.{{Cite book |last=Üngör |first=Ugur Ümit |title=The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950 |date=2012-03-01 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-164076-6 |pages=160 |language=en}} His grandson Abdülmelik Fırat became a deputy of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.{{cite news |last=Kilic |first=Ecevit |date=2008-10-27 |title=CHP, dedemin gömüldüğü yere halkevi açtı |url=http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2008/10/27/haber,E0AA8BF4E44048E48494838440225055.html |access-date=2009-01-04 |work=Sabah |language=tr}} Fırat says that his ancestors were not involved in politics until his grandfather, for they had cordial relations with the Ottoman elite.

The actress Belçim Bilgin is his great-grandniece.{{Cite web |last=ÇAPA |first=İzzet |date=11 January 2015 |title=13 yaşında ölümle burun buruna geldim |url=https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/izzet-capa/13-yasinda-olumle-burun-buruna-geldim-27937140 |access-date=2020-04-16 |website=www.hurriyet.com.tr |language=tr}}

{{Main Article|Kurdish Hezbollah}}

File:Kurdish_Hezbollah_flag.svg

At the beginning of the hardening of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, the Kurdish Hezbollah‘s concept of ideology was identical to that of Sheikh Said during his lifetime.{{Cite web |title=Hizbullah, Hizbul Kontra, Hizbul Şeytan, Hizbul Vahşet, Şeyh Said ve Hüda Par – Çetin Yılmaz (jiyan.org) |url=https://sendika.org/2013/11/hizbullah-hizbul-kontra-hizbul-seytan-hizbul-vahset-ve-huda-par-cetin-yilmaz-jiyan-org-148188 |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=sendika.org |language=tr}} Thus, this party is seen as a legacy of Sheikh Said's political aspirations.{{cite journal |last=Çelik |first=Adnan |date=2021-05-09 |title='Keep your mouth shut in the day and your door shut at night.': Intra-Kurdish Violence in the Shadow of the State: The case of Hizbullah and Sheikh's Said's participants in Turkish Kurdistan |url=https://kurdishstudies.net/journal/ks/article/view/563 |journal=Kurdish Studies |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=37–57 |doi=10.33182/ks.v9i1.563 |doi-broken-date=7 March 2025 |issn=2051-4891 |quote=Before that date, the townsfolk had generally regarded the few members of Hizbullah there as sofîk (diminutive of ‘sofu’, meaning ‘bigot’ and denoting a certain contempt with a touch of humour).|url-access=subscription }}

The party chairman of the Free Cause Party in Turkey, Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu, had previously been a supporter of Kurdish Hezbollah and also stated that the cause of Hüda-Par was the continuation of that of Sheikh Said.{{cite book |author1=Mehmet Kurt |title=Kurdish Hizbullah in turkey – Islamism, violence and the State |date=2017 |publisher=PlutoPress |location=London |page=49}}

The catalogue of books, bibliographic and biographical treatise, the original Arabic facsimile and Turkish translation of the annotated books written by Sheikh Said in his own handwriting in Arabic about the books in his library were first prepared, translated and published by Abdulilah Fırat under the name Kütüphane Risalesi in 2021.{{Cite book |last=Efendi |first=Şeyh Said |url=https://www.kitapyurdu.com/kitap/kutuphane-risalesi/607693.html |title=Kütüphane Risalesi |date=2022-03-02 |publisher=Avesta Basın Yayın |isbn=978-625-7253-89-5 |editor-last=Fırat |editor-first=Abdulilah |language=tr}}

Sheikh Said's explanatory fatwas on some social issues, written in Arabic in his own handwriting, the original Arabic facsimile and the Turkish translation were first published in 2022 under the name Fetvalar Mecmûası, prepared and translated by Abdulilah Fırat.{{Cite web |last=Aydınkaya |first=Fırat |date=2022-03-12 |title=Fırat Aydınkaya: Azadî Çınlaması: Şeyh Said’in Fetvaları |url=https://nupel.tv/firat-aydinkaya-azadi-cinlamasi-seyh-saidin-fetvalari/ |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=Nupel |language=tr}}

• Kurdish-Islamic synthesis

== Sources ==

• {{cite journal |last=Olson |first=Robert W. |date=March 2000 |title=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 |journal=Die Welt des Islams |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=67–94 |doi=10.1163/1570060001569893}}

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