Shekak

Shekak (also Shakkak, Shikakan or Shekkāk^[1]) is a Kurdish tribe in West Azerbaijan province, Iran. The tribe lives around the city of Maku and Urmia. Some early twentieth-century sources considered them as 'Muslim Assyrians', based on their tradition of calling the Church of the East patriarch 'uncle' ^[2]

History

Among the clans of the Shekak are the 'Awdoǐ.^[3] According to their oral history they came from Diyarbakır in the 17th Century and settled west of Lake Urmia,^[3] which displaced the Donboli tribe.^[4] The first known chieftain of the 'Awdoǐ was Ismail Agha who died in 1816 and whose tomb is beside the Naslu River.^[4] His grandson Jafar Agha was executed as a bandit in Tabriz in 1905.^[3] Jafar's brother, Simko Shikak, was allegedly responsible for leading the anti-Christian and anti-Alevite^[5] massacres in the area before and during World War I and supposed organized resistance against the cruel regime of Reza Shah.^[6]

Notes

1. ↑ Oberling, Pierre (20 July 2004). "Kurdish Tribes". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York. Retrieved 6 August 2013. 
2. ↑ https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/32925/3/Donabed_Sargon_G_201006_PhD_thesis.pdf
3. 1 2 3 Houtsma, M. Th. et al. (1993 reprint) "Salmas" E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936 Volume 4, E.J. Brill, New York, page 118, ISBN 90-04-09796-1
4. 1 2 Houtsma, M. Th. et al. (1993 reprint) "Shakāk" E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936 Volume 4, E.J. Brill, New York, page 290, ISBN 90-04-09796-1
5. ↑ Izady, Mehrdad (1992). The Kurds: A Concise Handbook. Washington: Crane Russak. p. 58. ISBN 9780844817293. OCLC 25409394. 
6. ↑ O'Leary, Brendan and Ṣāliḥ, Khālid (2005) "The Denial, Resurrection, and Affirmation of Kurdistan" page 7 In O'Leary, Brendan; McGarry, John and Ṣāliḥ, Khālid (eds.) (2005) The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, pp. 3-46, ISBN 0-8122-3870-2