Atçalı Kel Mehmet Efe (c. 1780–1830) was a Zeybek who led a local revolt against Ottoman authority and established control of the

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 ...

region for a short period between 1829 and 1830 (''during the reign of''

Mahmud II Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...

Early Ages

Kel Mehmet was born in about 1780 to a Turkish peasant family in

Atça Atça is a town in the district of Sultanhisar in Turkey's Aydın Province. The plan of the town comes from Paris's Place de l'Étoile. History After the Greek invasion, the town was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt as a circular town. Town ...

. According to the legend, while he was an ordinary young man, he witnessed the fight between a tiny, sick dog and three healthy, powerful dogs. After being beaten for a long time, the tiny dog ends up in an alley with no exit. At that point, it fights back with his final energy and gets rid of its opponents. Inspired by the tiny dog, Mehmet established an analogy between the situation and the relation between the Ottoman reign and

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n peasants, and decided to go out to the mountains as an outlaw.

Revolt

In 1829, Mehmet started a revolt in

Kuyucak Kuyucak is a town and a district of Aydın Province in the Aegean region of Turkey, from the city of Aydın on the E24 highway that connects İzmir and Denizli, east of İzmir. Kuyucak is near the larger town of Nazilli. Etymology The word ...

a town near Atça, demanding tax cuts, fair laws, and shorter military service. As the people were tired of the heavy tax load and endless military service from continuous wars of the declining empire, he quickly gained popularity. After he controlled

, people from neighboring regions also subscribed to his authority. Although this was a revolt against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, he stayed loyal to the Padishah. Under his rule he collected taxes in the name of the Padishah and sent the money collected to the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

. On the coins he provided, he wrote his famous quote:
"Vali-i Vilayet Hademe-i Devlet Atçalı Kel Mehmet" (''meaning'' "Head of the Province, Servant of The State, from Atça; the Bald Mehmet").

Death and legacy

The

was struggling with ongoing revolts in those years. Obviously the Padishah didn't approve of Atçalı's rule, and sent his forces to regain control of

. Eventually, Atçalı was killed in a combat against the Sultan's forces in 1830. Due to his courage, he became a prominent figure in the region. He influenced many other

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 ...

's including Yoruk Ali Efe and

Demirci Mehmet Efe Demirci is a town and district of Manisa Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. According to the 2000 census, population of the district is 59,314, of which 21,230 live in the town of Demirci. The district covers an area of , and the town lies ...

. There is a statue of him in

Early Ages

Revolt

Death and legacy

See also

References

Further reading