The Koçgiri rebellion (
Kurdish: Serhildana Qoçgiriyê;
Turkish: Koçgiri İsyanı) was a
Kurdish uprising, that began in the overwhelmingly militant
Koçgiri region in present-day eastern
Sivas Province in February 1921. The rebellion was initially
Alevi, but it succeeded in gathering support from nearby
Sunni tribes.[1][13] The tribal leaders had a close relationship with the
Society for the Rise of Kurdistan (SAK).[14][15] The rebellion was defeated in June 1921.
Background
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,[16] 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.[17]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.[17]
Negotiations
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.[18][19]
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.[20][19] 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.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21] 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.[21]
The Revolt
Following this response, Mustafa Kemal ordered the arrest of Nuri Dersimi and on the 20 December he was detained and brought to prison.[21]
The commander of the
Central ArmyNureddin Pasha sent a force of some 3,000 cavalrymen and irregulars including
Topal Osman's battalions.[9] 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 on[22] and the rebels were crushed by June 17, 1921.[23]
Before repressing the rebels, Nureddin Pasha said (according to some sources, this statement belongs to
Topal Osman[24]):
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.[25][26]
— Turkish original, Türkiye'de (Memlekette) "zo" diyenleri (Ermenileri) temizledik, "lo" diyenlerin (Kürtlerin) köklerini de ben temizleyeceğim.[24]
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.[9]
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".[27]
References
^
abcdeGüneş, Ergin (2014). Boztuğ, Onursal (ed.). Koçgiri İsyanı Ekseninde Dersim Direnişi. Sempozyumu’nda Sunulan Bildiriler , 20-22 Eylül 2013 (in Turkish).
Tunceli University. p. 244.
^
abTurkish state (2014). Aşiretler Raporu (in Turkish) (3 ed.). Kaynak Yayınları. p. 279.
ISBN978-975-343-220-7.
^Hülya Küçük, The Role of the Bektashis in Turkey's National Struggle, BRILL, 2002,
ISBN9004124438, page 217.
^
abcdefHüseyin Rahmi Apak, Türk İstiklâl Harbi – İç ayaklanmalar: 1919-1921, 1964, C.VI, Genelkurmay Basımevi, pages 163-165
^Martin van Bruinessen, "Zaza, Alevi and Dersimi as Deliberately Embraced Ethnic Identities" in '"Aslını İnkar Eden Haramzadedir!" The Debate on the Ethnic Identity of The Kurdish Alevis' in Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi, Barbara Kellner-Heinkele, Anke Otter-Beaujean, Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East: Collected Papers of the International Symposium "Alevism in Turkey and Comparable Sycretistic Religious Communities in the Near East in the Past and Present" Berlin, 14-17 April 1995, BRILL, 1997,
ISBN9789004108615,
p. 13.
^Martin van Bruinessen, "Zaza, Alevi and Dersimi as Deliberately Embraced Ethnic Identities" in '"Aslını İnkar Eden Haramzadedir!" The Debate on the Ethnic Identity of The Kurdish Alevis',
p. 14.
^Olson, Robert W. (1989). The emergence of Kurdish nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880-1925. University of Texas Press. p. 35.
ISBN978-0-292-77619-7.
^Olson, Robert W. (1989). The emergence of Kurdish nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880-1925. University of Texas Press. p. 28.
ISBN978-0-292-77619-7.
^Özoĝlu, Hakan (2004-02-12). Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries. SUNY Press. pp. 88–91.
ISBN978-0-7914-5993-5.
^
abOlson, Robert W. (1989). The emergence of Kurdish nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880-1925. University of Texas Press. pp. 28–29.
ISBN978-0-292-77619-7.
^Meiselas, Susan (1997). Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History. New York: Random House. p. 120.
ISBN978-0-226-51928-9.
^Ergün Aybars, İstiklâl Mahkemeleri, Bilgi Yayınevi, 1975,
p. 34.(in Turkish)
^
abHalim Demir, Milli Mücadele: Kuvayı Milliye : İttihatçılar ve Muhalifler, Ozan Yayıncılık, 2008,
p. 176.
^Hans-Lukas Kieser, Iskalanmış barış: Doğu Vilayetleri'nde misyonerlik, etnik kimlik ve devlet 1839-1938, İletişim Yayınları, 2005,
ISBN978-975-05-0300-9,
p. 570.(in Turkish) (original: Der verpasste Friede: Mission, Ethnie und Staat in den Ostprovinzen der Türkei 1839-1938, Chronos, 2000,
ISBN3-905313-49-9) (in German)