Simko Shikak revolt (1918–22)

Simko Shikak Revolt
Part of 1921 Persian coup d'état, Kurdish separatism in Iran and Assyrian genocide

Simko (center)
Date1919 to 1922
LocationNorth-Western Iran
Result

Revolt suppressed:

  • New Iranian leadership led by Reza Khan suppresses the revolt in 1922
  • Another attempt by Simko in 1926
Belligerents

Rebels

  • Irregular Kurdish militias
  • Ottoman soldiers and mercenaries

Iran

Commanders and leaders

Simko Shikak

Seyyed Taha Shamzini

Amir Ershad

Reza Khan Mirpanj
Strength
1,000 (early stage) – 5,000 (later stage)[1]
Several hundred Ottoman soldiers and Turkish mercenaries[2]
[3]		 10,000
Casualties and losses
2,500 killed, captured and wounded[1] 200 killed, captured and wounded[1]
Total: 5,000 killed

The Simko Shikak revolt refers to an armed Ottoman-backed[2][4] tribal Kurdish uprising against the Qajar dynasty of Iran from 1918 to 1922, led by Kurdish chieftain Simko Shikak from the Shekak tribe.[1] The revolt is often referred as the first modern conflict involving Iranian Kurds with separatist ambitions.

After Brigadier-General Reza Khan deposed the Qajars in an 1921 coup, he defeated Simko Shikak as well as several prominent rebel commanders such as Kuchik Khan and Colonel Pessian during the Iranian events of 1921. The Shikak rebellion resulted in some 5,000 killed, including many Assyrian civilians, who were massacred by Simko's forces.[5]

History

Early insurrection and the massacre of Assyrians

In March 1918, under the pretext of meeting for the purpose of cooperation, Simko arranged the assassination of the Assyrian Nestorian patriarch, Mar Shamon, ambushing him and his 150 guards, as Mar Shimon was entering his carriage. The patriarchal ring was stolen at this time and the body of the patriarch was only recovered hours later, according to the eye-witness account of Daniel d-Malik Ismael.[6][7][8]

After the murder of Mar Shimun, the Hakkari Christians took revenge on the Muslim population of Salmas and most of the villages of Salmas County, while Simko and his men massacred Assyrians in Khoy. Christian brigades terrorized Christians as well as Muslims. A missionary described this period as a reign of terror for Muslims hard to imagine.[9] Simko also instigated the massacre of 1,000 Christians in Salmas.[10]

Revolt

By summer 1918, Simko had established his authority over the regions west of Lake Urmia.[11] In 1919, Simko organized an army of 20,000 Kurds and managed to secure a self-governed area in northwestern Iran, centered in the city of Urmia. Simko's forces had been reinforced with several hundred soldiers and mercenaries from the Ottoman Empire, including Kurdish deserters and nationalists.[2] After taking over Urmia, Simko appointed Teymur Agha Shikak as the governor of the city. Later, he organized his forces to fight the Iranian army in the region and managed to expand the area under his control to the nearby towns and cities such as Mahabad, Khoy, Miandoab, Maku and Piranshahr in a series of battles.

In the battle of Gulmakhana, Kurdish forces under the command of Simko Shikak took control over Gulmakhana and the Urmia-Tabriz road from Iranian forces. In the battle of Shekar Yazi, the commander of the Iranian Army, General Amir Ershad, was killed. In the battle of Miandoab, Reza Shah, dispatched Khaloo Qurban to counter Kurdish expansion, but he was defeated and killed by Simko's forces in 1922. In the battle for the conquest of Mahabad (then named Savoujbolagh Mokri), Simko himself commanded his forces with the help of Seyyed Taha Shamzini. After a tough battle in October 1921, Iranian forces were defeated and their commander Major Malakzadeh along with 600 Iranian Gendarmeries was killed. Simko also conquered Maragheh and encouraged the Lurs tribes of western Iran to revolt.

At this time, the government in Tehran tried to reach an agreement with Simko on the basis of limited Kurdish autonomy.[12] Simko had further organized a Kurdish army, which grew stronger and stronger. Since the central government could not control his activities, he continued to expand the areas of western Iran under his control. By 1922, the cities of Baneh and Sardasht were under his administration.[13]

In the battle of sari Taj in 1922, Simko's forces could not resist the Iranian Army's onslaught in the region of Salmas and were finally defeated and the castle of Chari, where Simko's forces were camping, was occupied. The strength of the Iranian Army force dispatched against Simko was 10,000 soldiers.[14] Simko and one thousand of his mounted soldiers, took refuge in what was now Turkey, where they were forced to lay down their weapons.

Aftermath

By 1926, Simko had regained control of his tribe and begun the another rebellion.[1] When the army engaged him, half of his troops betrayed him to the tribe’s previous leader and Simko fled to Iraq.[1]

In 1930, the commander of the Iranian Army, General Hassan Muqaddam sent a letter to Simko, who was residing in the village of Barzan, and invited him for a meeting in the town of Oshnaviyeh. After consulting with his friends, Simko along with Khorshid Agha Harki went to Oshnaviyeh and were invited to the house of the local army commander, Colonel Norouzi, and were told to wait for the Iranian general. Colonel Norouzi convinced Simko to go to the outskirts of the town to welcome the general's arrival. However, this was a trap, and Simko was ambushed and killed on the evening of June 30, 1930.

Foreign involvement

British

Tehran repeatedly accused Britain and Iraq of encouraging unrest, and deeply resented the asylum given by Iraq to Simko in 1922 and to Sardār Rashid in 1923.[15]

Ottoman Empire

According to The New York Times, July 10, 1922:

It is said that Simko commanded 85,000 men and was assisted by Mustapha Kemal Pasha, former Turkish [Ottoman] War Minister, with the fighting lasting several days.[16]

Simko's forces joined with the Ottoman forces in reportedly killing many of the escaping Christians in West Azerbaijan.[17]

Legacy

Simko's revolts are seen by some as an attempt by a powerful tribal chief to establish his personal authority over the central government throughout the region.[18] Although elements of Kurdish nationalism were present in this movement, historians agree these were hardly articulate enough to justify a claim that recognition of Kurdish identity was a major issue in Simko's movement.[18] It lacked any kind of administrative organization and Simko was primarily interested in plunder.[18] Government forces and non-Kurds were not the only ones to suffer in the attacks, the Kurdish population was also robbed and assaulted.[18] Simko's men do not appear to have felt any sense of unity or solidarity with fellow Kurds.[18] On the other hand, Reza Shah's military victory over Simko and Turkic tribal leaders initiated a repressive era toward non-Persian minorities.[18] In a nationalistic perspective, Simko's revolt is described as an attempt to build a Kurdish tribal alliance in support of independence.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Smith, B. (2009). "Land and Rebellion: Kurdish Separatism in Comparative Perspective" (PDF). Working paper.
  2. 1 2 3 Bruinessen, Martin (2006). "Chapter 5: A Kurdish warlord on the Turkish-Persian frontier in the early Twentieth century: Isma'il Aqa Simko". In Atabaki, Touraj. Iran and the First World War: Battleground of the Great Powers. Library of modern Middle East studies, 43. London; New York: I.B. Tauris. pp. 18–21. ISBN 9781860649646. OCLC 56455579.
  3. ↑ Arfa, Hassan (1966). The Kurds: An Historical and Political Study. London: Oxford University Press. p. 57. OCLC 463216238.
  4. ↑ Allen, William Edward David; Muratoff, Paul (1953). Caucasian battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian border, 1828-1921. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 296. OCLC 1102813.
  5. ↑ Maria T. O'Shea, "Trapped Between the Map and Reality: Geography and Perceptions of Kurdistan", Routledge, 2004. p. 100: "Simultaneously, a 1000 Christians were killed in Salmas, in a massacre instigated by Simko."
  6. ↑ Houtsma, M. Th.; van Donzel, E. (1993). E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936. p. 118. ISBN 90-04-08265-4.
  7. ↑ O'Shea, Maria T. (2004). Trapped Between the Map and Reality: Geography and Perceptions of Kurdistan. New York: Routledge. p. 100. ISBN 0415947669. Simko later arranged the assassination of Mar Shamon, the Assyrian patriarch in March 1918, under the pretext of a meeting to discuss cooperation.
  8. ↑ Nisan, Mordechai (2002). Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression (2nd ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 187. ISBN 0786413751. Simko, their leader in Iran, had invited Mar Shimon for conference in Kuhnehshahr, west of Salmas, kissed him—and then treacherously murdered the Nestorian patriarch and his men
  9. ↑ Joseph, John (2000). The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: Encounters With Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, and Colonial Power. Studies in Christian Mission (Hardcover ed.). Boston: Brill. p. 147. ISBN 9004116419.
  10. ↑ O'Shea, Maria T. (2004). Trapped Between the Map and Reality: Geography and Perceptions of Kurdistan. New York: Routledge. p. 100. ISBN 0415947669. Simultaneously, 1,000 Assyrians were killed in Salmas, in a massacre instigated by Simko.
  11. ↑ Elphinston, W. G. (1946). "The Kurdish Question". International Affairs. 22 (1): 91–103 [p. 97]. JSTOR 3017874.
  12. ↑ McDowall, David (1991). "The Kurds in Iran". The Kurds. London: Minority Rights Group. ISBN 0946690928. Archived January 1, 1970, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ Koohi-Kamali, F. (1992). "Nationalism in Iranian Kurdistan". In Kreyenbroek, P. G.; Sperl, S. The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview. Routledge. pp. 175–176. ISBN 0-415-07265-4.
  14. ↑ Cronin, S. (2000). "Riza Shah and the disintegration of Bakhtiyari power in Iran, 1921–1934". Iranian Studies. 33 (3–4): 349–376 [p. 353]. doi:10.1080/00210860008701986.
  15. ↑ Cronin, Stephanie (2002). "British Influence During the Rezā Shāh Period, 1921–41". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 2012-08-03.
  16. ↑ "Kurdish Republic Formed; Simko, Bandit Leader, Said to Have Defeated Iranian Troops". New York Times. July 10, 1922.
  17. ↑ Sanasarian, Eliz (2000). Religious Minorities in Iran. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 178. ISBN 0521029740. Simko's forced joined with the Turks and killed many escaping Christians.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 See:
    * Entessar, Nader (2010). Kurdish Politics in the Middle East. Lanham: Lexington Books. p. 17. ISBN 9780739140390. OCLC 430736528.
    * Kreyenbroek, Philip G.; Sperl, Stefan (1992). The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview. London; New York: Routledge. pp. 138–139. ISBN 9780415072656. OCLC 24247652.
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