Bedreddin

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Bedreddin (~1359-1420) was a revolutionary sheikh from Anatolia.

In 1416, he led an attempted revolt against the Ottoman Sultan in the aegean coast of Asia minor (today's coastal regions of Izmir, Turkey). The main uprising theme of Bedrettin and his comrades and companions was to share the land equally among people of Karaburun and not to pay the high taxes demanded by the local representatives of the central Ottoman government. After the revolt was put down with military force, Bedreddin was hanged in public for his leadership. The main idea of Bedrettin and his companions was to share everything "except the lips of the beloved" (as stated in Nazim Hikmet's work) in an art of a commune.

His writings were condemned by a number of Ottoman religious scholars such as Ismail Hakki Bursevi. Others praise them and he is a popular figure amongst Turkey's left with even some such as Cem Karaca and Zulfu Livaneli composing a song based on a long epic poem (Saga of Sheikh Bedrettin - Şeyh Bedrettin Destanı) of Nazim Hikmet (Nazım Hikmet Ran) about him.

Nazim Hikmet was jailed for inciting rebellion after encouraging military cadets to read Bedreddin's work.