Ali Saip Ursavaş: The Kurdish-Born Warrior of Urfa
- Jamal Latif
- May 25
- 7 min read
Who Was Ali Saip Ursavaş?
Ali Saip Ursavaş (1885–1939), also known as Ali Saib Bey, was an Ottoman and Turkish military officer of Kurdish origin and one of the early leading members of the Republican People's Party (CHP). Born in the Kurdish town of Rowanduz, he rose to fame as a hero of the defence of Urfa during the Turkish War of Independence — an achievement that earned him the surname “Ursavaş”, meaning “the Warrior of Urfa”, from Mustafa Kemal himself.
Yet he remains one of the most ambivalent figures in Kurdish history: a Kurd who served the new Turkish state so faithfully that, as a prosecutor at the Independence Tribunal of Diyarbakır, he helped condemn the Kurdish religious leader Sheikh Said to death.
Key Takeaways
• He was a Kurdish-born officer who served in both the Ottoman and Turkish armies between roughly 1908 and 1926.
• He earned the surname “Ursavaş” (“Warrior of Urfa”) for his role in the resistance against French forces at Urfa.
• He was a member of the First Grand National Assembly for Urfa and an early member of the CHP.
• As a prosecutor at the 1925 Independence Tribunal of Diyarbakır, he took part in sentencing Sheikh Said and other Kurdish rebels to death.
• His name was later linked to an alleged 1935 plot against Atatürk, after which he fell from favour and died in obscurity in 1939.
Quick Facts
Full Name: Ali Saip Ursavaş
Also Known As: Ali Saib Bey
Born: 1885, Rowanduz (Revandiz), Ottoman Empire (now in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq)
Died: 25 September 1939, Adana, Turkey
Background: Kurdish
Occupation / Role: Military officer and politician
Era: Late Ottoman Empire and early Turkish Republic
Known For: Defence of Urfa; prosecutor at the Sheikh Said tribunal
Allegiance: Ottoman Empire, then the Republic of Turkey
Highest Rank: Captain (Ottoman); Lieutenant Colonel (Turkey)
Historical Importance: A Kurdish-origin figure who became an instrument of the early Republic's suppression of Kurdish revolt
Table of Contents
Early Life and Origins
Ali Saip was born in 1885 in Rowanduz (Revandiz), a predominantly Kurdish town in the mountainous Soran region of the Ottoman Empire, in what is today the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. He came of age in the final decades of the empire, when ambitious young men from the provinces — including many Kurds — could rise through the Ottoman military system.
He entered the Ottoman Military Academy and was commissioned as an officer around 1908, the year of the Young Turk Revolution. His Kurdish origin is not disputed by historians, though like many Ottoman officers of his generation, his career bound him to the imperial and later the Turkish national project rather than to any specifically Kurdish cause.
Historical Context
Ursavaş's life spanned one of the most turbulent transitions in Middle Eastern history: the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Republic of Turkey. As a young officer he fought in the Italo-Turkish War, the Balkan Wars, and the First World War — the chain of catastrophes that dismembered the empire.
When the war ended in defeat and foreign occupation, Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk) launched the national resistance that became the Turkish War of Independence, and hardened officers like Ursavaş formed its backbone. The Republic that emerged in 1923, however, defined itself in strictly Turkish national terms — a definition that left no room for Kurdish identity and set the stage for the revolts that would define the rest of his career.
Military Career
Ursavaş built his reputation as a fighting officer across nearly two decades of continuous war, serving the Ottoman state and then the Turkish national movement.
The Defence of Urfa
His most celebrated achievement came during the Franco-Turkish War, when French forces occupied parts of southern Anatolia after the First World War. He helped organise and command the local Kuva-yi Milliye (national forces) in the Urfa region, contributing to the resistance that forced the French to withdraw from the city in 1920. In recognition, Mustafa Kemal awarded him the surname “Ursavaş” — “the Warrior of Urfa” — and he received the Medal of Independence. It was the high point of his reputation.
The Path into Politics
With the founding of the Republic, Ursavaş moved into politics as many of his fellow officers did. He was elected to the First Grand National Assembly as a deputy for Urfa and became an early member of Mustafa Kemal's Republican People's Party (CHP). He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring from active service in 1926. His loyalty to the Kemalist project would soon place him at the centre of one of the era's most consequential episodes.
The Independence Tribunals and the Sheikh Said Trial
In February 1925, the Sheikh Said rebellion — the first great Kurdish uprising against the new Republic — erupted across the Kurdish provinces of eastern Turkey. The government responded with martial law and revived the Independence Tribunals (İstiklâl Mahkemeleri), extraordinary courts with sweeping powers to try and execute those accused of threatening the state.
Ali Saip Ursavaş was appointed as a prosecutor at the Independence Tribunal of Diyarbakır, the court established specifically to crush the rebellion. The tribunal sentenced Sheikh Said and dozens of his followers to death; they were hanged in Diyarbakır in 1925. Ursavaş was also connected with the Independence Tribunal of Konya.
For Kurdish national memory this is the defining and most painful fact of his life: a man of Kurdish origin acting as an agent of the state in the execution of one of the most revered figures of the modern Kurdish struggle.
Timeline and Key Events
1885 — Born in Rowanduz (Revandiz), Ottoman Empire
c. 1908 — Commissioned as an officer from the Ottoman Military Academy
1911–1913 — Serves in the Italo-Turkish War and the Balkan Wars
1914–1918 — Serves in the First World War
1919–1920 — Commands national forces in the defence of Urfa against the French
1920 — Elected to the First Grand National Assembly for Urfa; receives the surname “Ursavaş”
1925 — Serves as prosecutor at the Diyarbakır Independence Tribunal during the Sheikh Said rebellion
1926 — Retires from the army as a lieutenant colonel
1935 — His name is linked to an alleged plot against Atatürk
1939 — Dies on 25 September in Adana
Debates and Controversies
A Kurd in the service of the Turkish state. The central controversy of Ursavaş's life is the contradiction between his Kurdish origin and his role in suppressing Kurdish revolt. To Turkish nationalist history he is a war hero; to many Kurds he is remembered, if at all, as a figure who turned against his own people. Historians treat him as an example of how the late Ottoman and early Republican officer class could absorb men of Kurdish background into a Turkish national identity.
The 1935 assassination plot. Several accounts state that his name was raised in connection with an alleged 1935 conspiracy against Mustafa Kemal. He was never convicted and the episode remains murky, but it appears to have ended his political influence; according to some accounts he spent his final years embittered and in financial hardship.
Disputed details. As with many figures of this period, some dates and the precise extent of his role in the tribunals vary between sources and should be treated with appropriate caution.
Legacy
Ali Saip Ursavaş is remembered very differently depending on who is telling the story. In Turkish accounts of the War of Independence he holds an honoured place as the “Warrior of Urfa”, a decorated officer who helped liberate a city. In Kurdish history his legacy is far darker, defined by his participation in the tribunal that sent Sheikh Said to the gallows.
His life illustrates one of the recurring tragedies of modern Kurdish history: the way the surrounding states drew talented Kurds into their own service, sometimes turning them against the very communities they came from. He left no political movement, no body of writing, and no institution bearing his name — only a contested memory.
Related People, Places, and Topics
Sheikh Said — the Kurdish religious leader whose 1925 rebellion Ursavaş's tribunal crushed
The Sheikh Said, Ararat, and Dersim Rebellions — the wider arc of interwar Kurdish revolts in Turkey
Halid Beg Cibran — the Kurdish officer and Azadî leader executed in the same crackdown
Ihsan Nuri — the Kurdish officer who led the later Ararat rebellion
Simko Shikak — a contemporary Kurdish military leader across the border in Iran
Related topics: the Independence Tribunals; the Franco-Turkish War; the Hamidiye regiments; the Republican People's Party (CHP).
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Ali Saip Ursavaş?
Ali Saip Ursavaş (1885–1939) was an Ottoman and Turkish military officer of Kurdish origin, a hero of the defence of Urfa, and a prosecutor at the Independence Tribunal that sentenced Sheikh Said to death in 1925.
Why is he called the “Warrior of Urfa”?
Mustafa Kemal gave him the surname “Ursavaş”, meaning “Warrior of Urfa”, in recognition of his role commanding national resistance forces during the defence of Urfa against French occupation in 1920.
Was Ali Saip Ursavaş Kurdish?
Yes. He was born in the Kurdish town of Rowanduz and is described in historical sources as being of Kurdish origin, although he spent his career in the service of the Ottoman and then the Turkish state.
Why is he controversial in Kurdish history?
Because, despite his Kurdish origins, he served as a prosecutor at the 1925 Diyarbakır Independence Tribunal that condemned the Kurdish leader Sheikh Said and his followers to death, making him a symbol of Kurds who served the states that suppressed Kurdish movements.
How did Ali Saip Ursavaş die?
He died on 25 September 1939 in Adana. His later years were marked by a fall from political favour after his name was linked to an alleged 1935 plot against Atatürk.
References
Robert Olson, The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880–1925, University of Texas Press, 1989.
Wadie Jwaideh, The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development, Syracuse University Press, 2006.
A. İlyas, “Milli Mücadelede Önemli Bir Şahsiyet: Ali Saip Ursavaş”, Turkish Studies, 10(9), 2015.
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