Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe (1872–1911) was a Zeybek, who was active as an outlaw in the region enclosing

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar'', Ancient and Modern Greek: Τράλλεις /''Tralleis''/) is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of B ...

Denizli Denizli is an industrial city in the southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about . Denizli is located in the country's Aegean Region. ...

Muğla Muğla () is a city in southwestern Turkey. The city is the center of the District of Menteşe and Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean coast. Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a dista ...

and

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

in modern western

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, from 1893 to 1910. Born in Ödemiş in 1871, he went out to the Aegean mountains at the age of 22 seeking revenge for his father, Çakırcalı Koca Ahmet Efe, who was murdered by an Ottoman sergeant. While the political standing of Çakırcalı is controversial, he is generally recognized as a legendary

efe Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major multimedia news agency in Spanish language and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was created in 1939 ...

, who was protective of common people, fought against authority, and established justice in regions of his control. He also called by the Ottoman Empire "kirserdar" in other words commander-in-chief (of an army) a military rank in Ottoman Empire. But he decided to be in charge on his own. In 1911, he was killed by Ottoman security forces during a fight and decapitated by his own men in order to prevent the identification of the body. Until the year 1948 his body was on the mountain where he was killed; his younger daughter Hatice Akkas brought his body to the graveside Ödemis

Kayaköy Kayaköy is an abandoned village in southwest Turkey. It was anciently known in Greek as Carmylessus ( grc, Καρμυλησσός), shortened to Lebessos ( grc, Λεβέσσος) and pronounced in Modern Greek as Leivissi ( el, Λειβίσσι ...

where her family has a glebe. There are stories about him that he killed more than 1000 people. The most famous folk song about him is "Izmir'in Kavaklari". It used to be sung as "Ödemis'in Kavaklari". In 2010 the Ankara State Ballet portrayed his life on stage for the first time. There are also many movies about his life. The first one, ''Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe'' (1950), was directed by Faruk Kenc. The part of Efe was played by Turkish actor Bülent Ufuk. There was a sequel to this film, entitled ''Treasure of Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe'' (1952). In 1957,

Fikret Hakan Fikret Hakan (born Bumin Gaffar Çitanak; 23 April 1934 – 11 July 2017) was a prolific Turkish film actor and a recipient of the honorary State Artist, a title awarded by the Turkish government. Hakan was born as Bumin Gaffar Çitanak in 1934 to ...

starred in another film about Efe: '' Dokuz Dağın Efesi''. And in 1969 another film about him was released, starring

Kartal Tibet Kartal Tibet (27 March 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Turkish actor and film director. Some of his famous films include ''Ölmeyen Aşk'', ''Dağlar Kızı'', ''Senede Bir Gün'', ''Sultan'', ''Zübük'', ''Gol Kralı'', and '' Şalvar Davası''. T ...

. The movie Tsakitzis, Protector of the Poor (1960) directed by

Kostas Andritsos Kostas Andritsos, also known as George Andrews ( el, Κώστας Ανδρίτσος; 1 May 1916, Athens – 10 October 1993) was a Greek film director and writer. Selected filmography *Oneira koritsion 1953 *Bouboulina 1959 *Exo oi klefte ...

and starring

Andreas Barkoulis Andreas Barkoulis ( el, Ανδρέας Μπάρκουλης; 4 August 1936 – 23 August 2016) was a Greek actor. He was among the most popular male actors of the 1950s and 1960s in Greece. He was considered such a heartthrob that a popular expres ...

is about Çakırcalı's life and is accompanied by the songs about him. The book about Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe's life is written by Yasar Kemal called Çakırcalı Efe* (The Life Stories of the Famous Bandit Çakircali) (1972).

References

Views of the "outlaw concept" in comparative perspective: "The American West" and the "Zeybeks" in the Turk lands, Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe example
: Lectures on Central Asia,

H.B. Paksoy HB or Hb may refer to: Academia * H-b index, an extension of the h-index used in determining academic impact * H-B Woodlawn, a secondary education program in Arlington, Virginia, US * Hathaway Brown School, an all-girls private school in Shaker He ...

The movies are listed in the following link: http://www.sinematurk.com/arama/?a=%C3%87ak%C4%B1rcal%C4%B1+Mehmet+Efe Zeybeks People from Ödemiş 19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire 1872 births 1910 deaths {{crime-bio-stub