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The Sheikh Said, Ararat, and Dersim Rebellions: Interwar Kurdish Revolts in Turkey

Between 1925 and 1938, three major Kurdish revolts erupted in the newly founded Republic of Turkey. Each was crushed with escalating brutality. The Sheikh Said Rebellion of 1925 was the first major Kurdish uprising of the republican era. The Ararat Revolt of 1927–1930 attempted to establish a Kurdish republic on Mount Ararat. And the Dersim Rebellion of 1937–1938 ended with the devastation of an entire Kurdish-Alevi region.

 

These three rebellions defined the interwar Kurdish experience in Turkey. They demonstrated both the persistence of Kurdish resistance and the overwhelming military superiority of the Turkish state. The suppression of these revolts shaped Turkish military doctrine, contributed to the development of the Turkish Air Force, and established the pattern of state violence against Kurdish communities that would persist for the rest of the twentieth century.

 

Contents

 

 

The Post-Ottoman Context

 

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 transformed the Kurdish question from an internal Ottoman problem into an existential crisis. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920) had included provisions for Kurdish autonomy in Articles 62–64, but the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) — which replaced it — made no mention of the Kurds at all. Kurdistan was partitioned between Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, and in each state the Kurdish population found itself a minority without recognised political rights.

 

In Turkey, the Kemalist regime pursued aggressive centralisation, secularisation, and Turkish nationalist ideology. The abolition of the Caliphate in 1924 alienated conservative Kurdish religious leaders. The denial of Kurdish identity — Kurds were officially classified as Mountain Turks — provoked nationalist resistance. And the suppression of Kurdish language, education, and cultural expression created a groundswell of resentment. By early 1925, armed rebellion was inevitable.

 

The Sheikh Said Rebellion (1925)

 

The Sheikh Said Rebellion erupted on 11 February 1925, led by Sheikh Said of Piran, a Naqshbandi religious leader, and organised in part by Azadî (the Kurdish Independence Society), a clandestine organisation dominated by former Hamidiye cavalry officers. The revolt drew support primarily from the Zaza Kurdish population and neighbouring Kurmanji-speaking tribes.

 

The rebellion began in the village of Piran and spread rapidly through the provinces of Diyarbakır, Bingöl, and Elazığ. Sheikh Said's forces captured several towns and briefly threatened Diyarbakır, the largest city in Turkish Kurdistan. The rebels' motivations were mixed: opposition to the abolition of the Caliphate, rejection of Kemalist secularism, and Kurdish nationalist aspirations all played roles.

 

The Turkish state responded with massive military force. Tens of thousands of regular troops, supported by artillery and the nascent Turkish Air Force, were deployed to suppress the revolt. The rebellion was crushed within months. Sheikh Said and 48 other leaders were captured, tried by an Independence Tribunal, and executed on 29 June 1925 at Amed (Diyarbakır). Before his execution, Sheikh Said reportedly told his comrades that their people would not perish with their deaths.

 

The aftermath was devastating. Martial law was imposed across southeastern Turkey. The Turkish government used the rebellion as justification for a sweeping crackdown on Kurdish political, cultural, and religious organisations. Mass deportations and village destructions followed. The suppression of the Sheikh Said Rebellion dealt the first major blow to Kurdish nationalism in the republican era and emboldened the Kemalist state to pursue even harsher assimilationist policies.

 

The Ararat Revolt and the Republic of Ararat (1927–1930)

 

In 1927, Kurdish nationalists launched a new revolt in the Mount Ararat region of eastern Turkey, led by General Ihsan Nuri Pasha, a former Ottoman military officer with professional military training. Unlike Sheikh Said's religiously motivated uprising, the Ararat Revolt was explicitly nationalist and secular in character. The Khoybun (Independence) organisation, founded by Kurdish intellectuals in exile, provided the political framework.

 

The rebels declared the Republic of Ararat, making it one of the few Kurdish attempts to establish a formally declared state. Ihsan Nuri Pasha organised guerrilla forces in the mountainous terrain around Greater Ararat (Ağrı Dağı), using the peak's natural defences to resist Turkish military operations. The revolt persisted for three years, tying down significant Turkish military resources.

 

In 1930, the Turkish state launched a massive military operation to crush the revolt. The campaign involved ground forces, artillery, and air power, with reports of French and British logistical cooperation. The Zilan Valley massacre of July 1930 was one of the most brutal episodes of the suppression: Turkish forces killed thousands of Kurdish civilians in the Zilan Valley near ErciÅŸ. Estimates of the death toll vary widely, but contemporary sources suggest thousands of men, women, and children were killed.

 

The Ararat Republic was destroyed by September 1930. Ihsan Nuri Pasha and surviving fighters escaped across the border into Iran. The Republic of Ararat had lasted approximately three years — one of the longest sustained Kurdish armed campaigns against the Turkish state until the PKK insurgency of the 1980s.

 

The Dersim Rebellion (1937–1938)

 

The Dersim Rebellion of 1937–1938 was the last and most devastating of the interwar Kurdish revolts. Dersim (now Tunceli) was a remote mountainous region in east-central Turkey inhabited primarily by Kurdish Alevis — a religious minority distinct from the Sunni Muslim majority. The region had resisted Ottoman authority for centuries and had remained largely autonomous.

 

In 1935, the Turkish government passed the Tunceli Law, which placed the region under military governance and mandated forced resettlement of its population. When resistance emerged under the leadership of Seyid Riza, a local tribal and religious leader, the Turkish military launched a full-scale campaign in 1937. The operation involved tens of thousands of troops, artillery bombardment, and extensive aerial bombing — one of the earliest systematic uses of air power against a civilian population in the Middle East.

 

Seyid Riza was captured through deception — lured to negotiations and then arrested. He was tried and executed in November 1937 at the age of approximately seventy. His reported final words have become iconic in Kurdish collective memory.

 

The military campaign continued into 1938 with operations targeting civilian populations. Entire villages were destroyed. Thousands of Dersim residents were killed and tens of thousands were forcibly deported to western Turkey. The scale of the violence has led many historians and Kurdish organisations to describe the Dersim campaign as a genocide or a massacre. The Turkish state long classified the events as a counter-insurgency operation, though in 2011 the then-Prime Minister publicly acknowledged the scale of the violence and expressed regret.

 

Military Legacy and Strategic Consequences

 

The three interwar rebellions had lasting military and political consequences. They drove the development of the Turkish Air Force, which was used as a primary instrument of Kurdish suppression. They established the Turkish state's approach to the Kurdish question as fundamentally military rather than political. And they devastated Kurdish society in Turkey, destroying leadership structures, scattering populations, and driving Kurdish political organisation underground for decades.

 

The suppression also had regional consequences. The crushing of the Sheikh Said Rebellion emboldened Reza Shah in Iran and the British in Iraq to take harder lines against their own Kurdish populations. Kurdish nationalism in all four parts of Kurdistan was set back by decades. It would not re-emerge as a major military force in Turkey until the founding of the PKK in 1978 and the start of its armed campaign in 1984.

 

Timeline

 

1920 — Treaty of Sèvres includes provisions for Kurdish autonomy (Articles 62–64).

1923 — Treaty of Lausanne replaces Sèvres. No Kurdish provisions. Republic of Turkey founded.

1924 — Abolition of the Islamic Caliphate. Beytussebap rebellion.

11 February 1925 — Sheikh Said Rebellion begins in Piran village. Spreads to Diyarbakır, Bingöl, Elazığ.

29 June 1925 — Sheikh Said and 48 leaders executed at Amed (Diyarbakır).

1927 — Ararat Revolt begins under General Ihsan Nuri Pasha. Republic of Ararat declared.

July 1930 — Zilan Valley massacre. Thousands of Kurdish civilians killed.

September 1930 — Republic of Ararat destroyed. Ihsan Nuri Pasha escapes to Iran.

1935 — Tunceli Law places Dersim under military governance.

1937 — Dersim Rebellion begins under Seyid Riza. Turkish military launches full-scale campaign.

November 1937 — Seyid Riza captured and executed.

1938 — Dersim campaign continues. Thousands killed, tens of thousands deported.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What was the Sheikh Said Rebellion?

 

The Sheikh Said Rebellion was the first major Kurdish uprising in the Republic of Turkey, erupting in February 1925. Led by Sheikh Said of Piran, a Naqshbandi religious leader, it combined Kurdish nationalist and Islamic motivations. The revolt spread across several provinces before being crushed by the Turkish military. Sheikh Said and 48 leaders were executed in June 1925.

 

What was the Republic of Ararat?

 

The Republic of Ararat was a Kurdish state declared during the Ararat Revolt of 1927–1930 in eastern Turkey. Led by General Ihsan Nuri Pasha, it was based in the mountainous region around Mount Ararat. It represented one of the few Kurdish attempts to establish a formally declared independent state. The republic was destroyed by a major Turkish military campaign in 1930.

 

What happened at Dersim?

 

The Dersim Rebellion of 1937–1938 was the last major Kurdish revolt of the interwar period, centred in the Kurdish-Alevi region of Dersim (now Tunceli) in east-central Turkey. The Turkish military launched a devastating campaign involving ground forces, artillery, and aerial bombing. The local leader Seyid Riza was captured and executed. Thousands of civilians were killed and tens of thousands were forcibly deported. Many historians describe the campaign as a massacre or genocide.

 

What was the Zilan Valley massacre?

 

The Zilan Valley massacre occurred in July 1930 during the suppression of the Ararat Revolt. Turkish military forces killed thousands of Kurdish civilians in the Zilan Valley near ErciÅŸ in Van Province. The massacre was part of the broader military campaign to destroy the Republic of Ararat and suppress Kurdish resistance in the region. It remains one of the most documented instances of mass violence against Kurdish civilians in the early republican period.

 

Why did all three rebellions fail?

 

All three rebellions failed primarily because of the overwhelming military superiority of the Turkish state, which deployed regular army units, artillery, and air power against lightly armed Kurdish fighters. The Kurdish movements also suffered from internal divisions, lack of foreign support, and the inability to coordinate resistance across different regions and tribal groups. The Turkish state systematically exploited these weaknesses, using a combination of military force, mass deportations, and political suppression to destroy Kurdish resistance.

 

What was the long-term impact of the interwar rebellions?

 

The interwar rebellions established the framework for the Turkish state's approach to the Kurdish question as fundamentally military. They drove the development of the Turkish Air Force as a counterinsurgency instrument. They devastated Kurdish society, destroying leadership structures and scattering populations. And they drove Kurdish political organisation underground for decades, until the emergence of the PKK in the late 1970s reopened the armed dimension of the Kurdish question in Turkey.

 

References

 

Olson, Robert W., The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880–1925, University of Texas Press, 1989.

Olson, Robert, The Kurdish Rebellions of Sheikh Said (1925), Mt. Ararat (1930), and Dersim (1937–8), Welt des Islams, Vol. 40, No. 1, 2000.

McDowall, David, A Modern History of the Kurds, I.B. Tauris, 2004.

Jwaideh, Wadie, The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development, Syracuse University Press, 2006.

Bruinessen, Martin van, Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan, Zed Books, 1992.

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