Sheikh Said rebellion
| Sheikh Said rebellion | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Kurdish rebellions in Turkey | |||||||
Turkish soldiers encircling Palu, Çapakçur (present-day: Bingöl), Genc (present-day: Kaleköy, Solhan), Piran, Hani, Lice, Ergani, Egil and Silvan, Cumhuriyet Newspaper, 30 March 1925. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Turkey |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Mustafa Kemal Pasha Kâzım Pasha (Third Army) Ali Saip Bey (Third Army) Muğlalı Bey (Third Army) Mürsel Pasha (VII Corps) Naci Pasha (V Corps) |
Sheikh Said Abdulkadir Ubeydullah Halid Beg Cibran Alişer Ağa Ibrahim Heski Baytar Nuri | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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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 | |||||||
| Total: 15,000–20,000 killed | |||||||
The Sheikh Said rebellion (Kurdish: Serhildana Şêx Seîd; Turkish: Şeyh Said İsyanı) was a Kurdish nationalist and Islamist rebellion in Southeast Anatolia in 1925 led by Sheikh Said and with support of the Azadî movement and local religious and feudal leaders against the newly-founded secular Turkish Republic. The rebellion was mostly led by Zaza speakers, but also gained support among some of the neighboring Kurmanji-speaking Kurds in the region.
The religious and nationalist background of the Sheikh Said rebellion has been debated by the scholars. The rebellion was described as "the first large-scale nationalist rebellion by the Kurds" by Robert W. Olson.