The Rebellion Of Sheikh Said And The Construction Of Early Nation - State In Turkey

Shaikh Said rebellion is the first large Kurdish resistant movement that erupted in the early Turkish Republic, the development of the Kurdish nationalism and the radical nation-state building policy of Turkey are the reasons of this rebellion. This mutiny resembles the first confrontation of Kurdish nationalism and Turkish nationalism since the foundation of the Turkish Republic, it do not only depicts the challenge of the peripheral Kurdistan to the central authority, but reflects the competition of two kinds of relationships of identity and loyalty, namely Kurdish identity and primordial loyalty to their traditional powers; the new republic’s requirement of Kurdish loyalty to the Turkish country.Shaikh Said rebellion possesses the dual natures of nationalism and religion, the elements of modern nationalism escalates compare to its predecessors. It is the Azadi who makes the decision of launching this rebellion with the independent Kurdish country as its aim. Moreover, this rebellion is provided with religious coat since Shaikh Said, who acts as a religious chief, is chosen as the leader, and then the restoration of caliph and defending Islam become another goal of this movement. The joint of Azadi and Kurdish traditional authority established the relationship between the Kurdish elites and eastern Kurdistan, namely the combination of Kurdish nationalism and religious Islam. Even though these two political discourses have played different roles, their cooperation largely contributes the organization and mobilization of this rebellion.The Turkish government, who was striving to the construction of the homologous nation-state, thinks that rebellion is an integral part of nation- state instead of paying enough attention to this rebellion. However, the Ankara authority continual carries out the forced assimilation to the Kurds, who are the victims of the repulsion and coercive migration during the process of eastern reconstruction. For these violent policy resulted in the repetition of Kurdish rebellion.This rebellion describes the complicate interactive relationship between the Kurds and the early Turkish nation-state construction, the secularization and Turkification gave rise to the disaffection of Kurds, then the burst of Shaikh Said rebellion; meanwhile, this mutiny has produced deep impacts to the Kurdish nationalism and Turkish politics and diplomacy. The Turkish improper solution of Kurdish question and the complicity of the transboundary of this issue lengthen this problem and continual challenge the nation-state building of the Turkish Republic.This thesis consists of three parts:The first part:analysis about the reasons of Shaikh Said rebellion. This Kurdish resistance movement is resulted from the development of the Kurdish nationalism and the secularization and Turkification in the early Turkish republic. This thesis reviews the events of Shaikh Ubaydallah revolt of the late19th century, the establishment of numerous Kurdish political organizations of the early 20th century, sign of Sevres Treaty and their respective impacts to the Kurdish nationalism; Additionally, this article discusses the nation-state views of the founding fathers with Mustafa Kemal as their head, of which the comprehensive secularization and Turkification, which are in clear contrast with the Turkish Kurdish policy of the Turkish independent war, trigger the confrontation of Kurds and Turks.The second part:Discussion about the process of the Shaikh Said rebellion and the measures that is taken by the Ankara authority to cope with this mutiny. This rebellion falls into two different periods:preparation and activation. I analyze the arrangement and mobilization of the Azadi which resembles Kurdish notables’ club and show the features of this rebellion in the first period while the specific process of this rebellion and suppression of Ankara government are emphasized in the second period:analyzing the eruption and process of this munity, listing measures such as sending troops, issuing laws and founding Independent Tribunals to punish and suppress the rebels. Last but not least, this article refers to the external conspiracy theory which invented by the Turkish government so as to expound the external dimension of this revolt.The third part:comments about the influences of Shaikh Said rebellion and the Turkish southeastern construction in the post-rebellion years. I stress the impacts of this insurgency to the Turkish politics and diplomacy, especially the formation of authoritarian politics shaped by Kemal who borrow the chance of suppressing Kurds to strike the internal opposition. Moreover, the reconstruction of the southeastern Turkey is another crucial point of this chapter, I analyze the policies and measures of Ankara government who dominated this social engineering project:Turkey strengthens the forced assimilation and requires the western migration of Kurds while increases the Turkish-speaking migrant in this area with the aim of diluting the Kurdish characteristics and reducing the Kurdish people in the local demographic census. All the measures above induce the frequency of Kurdish rebellion. Finally, this chapter discusses the natures of Shaikh Said rebellion.The conclusion part summarizes the above three chapters and gives rise to the experience and regularity of nation-state building to our country in which multi-ethnicity coexist.