Simko Schikak

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Simko Schikak

Simko Schikak ( Kurdish Simkoyê Şikak , Persian سمكو آغا شكاك, DMG Simko Aġā Šikāk , also Ismail Simitqu ; * 1887 in Cahriq near Urmia ; † June 30, 1930 in Oschnaviyeh ) was a Kurdish nationalist and tribal leader of the Shikak . Simko ruled the area around Urmia from 1919 to 1920. He organized uprisings against the Persian central government in Tehran with the aim of establishing a Kurdish state of its own . In 1930, however, he was ambushed and murdered on the pretext of negotiations with the government.

Life

Simko was born in 1887 in the Cahriq Fortress (also known as Chihriq) near the Baranduz River in the Urmia region. His family was one of the most famous and politically important families in Persia during the Qajar era . Several of his ancestors were recognized and respected followers of the rulers in Persia. However, some were also eliminated by the respective rulers for political reasons. When Simko became a tribal leader, the Persian central government also planned his elimination. In 1919 the governor of Azerbaijan Province sent Simko a bomb disguised as a gift. Simko escaped this attack. Because of this event, he devoted the rest of his life to resisting the Persian central government.

Simko (back row middle) with Dr. Wilder P. Ellis to his left and Dr. William A. Shedd to right. (1916)

Simko maintained contact with other politically active, nationalist Kurds, such as a son Bedirxan Begs Abdurrazaq Bedirxan and Seyyed Taha Gilani, who was a grandson of Sheikh Ubeydallah Nehris. Seyyed Taha Gilani propagated the amalgamation of the Kurds from Persia and the Ottoman Empire / Turkey under a common Kurdish state. Simko himself married a sister of Seyyed Tahas Gilani.

In the summer of 1918, Simko had brought the area west of Lake Urmi under his control - due to the final phase of the First World War and the associated withdrawal of Russian military units . From 1919 he was able to bring several towns in the area under his control with his irregulars. Urmia became his headquarters, where one of his relatives was installed as governor. Later, the cities fell Mahabad , Choy , Miandoab , Maku and piranshahr in a series of struggles under the rule Simkos. In 1921 Simko conquered the city of Maragha, also encouraging the Lurs to revolt against the Shah. Since the military situation was in his favor, the government in Tehran offered him limited Kurdish autonomy. In 1922 Simko conquered the cities of Baneh and Sardasht .

In 1918, many Assyrian Christians fled the declining Ottoman Empire to Persia. Mar Benjamin Schimun was able to settle near Choy with around 3500 Assyrians. A short time later, the followers of Shimun were captured by Ottoman troops and killed. Shimun fled and was executed in the city of Kuhnashahir on Simko's orders. His body was desecrated and carried through the streets in a parade until days later the body was picked up and buried by Assyrians.

Simko planned to consolidate the Kurdish culture and opened a Kurdish school in Choy. He also published a monthly magazine called Kurdistan in 1912 with Abdulrazzaq Bedirxan, who was executed by the Ottoman government in 1918 . Cultural activities were mainly organized by the organization Gîhandanî ( Rush to Help), which was founded in Choy in 1912. From 1919 to 1922 the newspaper Roja Kurd , the official press organ of the Kurdish government in Urmia, was also published. The editor was Muhammad Turjanizade.

Simko's military supremacy in the region was broken in 1922 by the Persian army under the leadership of Reza Khan , the later Shah, near the city of Salamas . After this defeat, the Persian army was even able to conquer the family seat of Simko Chari. Simko himself fled with a thousand of his fighters to Iraq, where they, however, had to surrender their weapons.

In 1930 Simko received an invitation from a commander of the Persian Army to meet in the city of Oschnaviyeh. After consulting with his men, Simko accepted the invitation and went to Oschnaviyeh. There he was met by the local military chief, who told him that a general had been appointed negotiator and would be arriving soon. He was advised to await the general's arrival in the outskirts of the city. However, this turned out to be an ambush and Simko was shot dead.

literature

  • Martin van Bruinessen : A Kurdish Warlord on the Turkish-Persian Frontier in the Early Twentieth Century: Isma`il Agha Simko . In: Touraj Atabaki (ed.): Iran and the First World War: Battleground of the Great Powers . London 2006, IB Tauris, pp. 69-93

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ B. O'Leary, J. McGarry: The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq , University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 0-8122-1973-2 , p. 7
  2. ^ C. Dahlman: The Political Geography of Kurdistan . In: Eurasian Geography and Economica , No. 4, Vol. 43, 2002, p. 283
  3. ↑ MM Gunter: The Kurdish Question in Perspective . In: World Affairs , No. 4, Vol. 166, 2004, p. 203
  4. ^ F. Kashani-Sabet: Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946 . IB Tauris, 1999, ISBN 1-85043-270-8 , p. 153
  5. ^ WG Elphinston: The Kurdish Question . In: International Affairs , Vol. 22, No. 1, 1946, p. 97
  6. ^ The Kurds in Iran ( Memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), David McDowall, 1991.
  7. ↑ F. KOOHI-Kamali: Nationalism in Iranian Kurdistan . In: PG Kreyenbroek, S. Sperl (Ed.): The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview . Routledge, 1992, ISBN 0-415-07265-4 , pp. 175/76
  8. ↑ M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel: EJ Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936 . ISBN 90-04-08265-4 , 1993, p. 118
  9. ^ S. Cronin: Riza Shah and the disintegration of Bakhtiyari power in Iran, 1921–1934 . In: Iranian Studies , Vol. 33, No. 3-4, 2000, p. 353
personal data
SURNAME Schikak, Simko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Şikak, Simkoyê; Shikak, Ismail Aga; Simitqu; Ismail
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Kurdish tribal leader and politician from Iran
DATE OF BIRTH 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Chari at Urmia
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1930
Place of death Oschnaviyeh