The Shekak (also Shakkak, Shikakan or Shekkāk;
;
) is a
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
present in various regions, mainly in
West Azerbaijan province,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
History
The Shikaki tribe are first mentioned in a
Yezidi
Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The ma ...
mişûr (manuscript) from 1207 AD, where they're mentioned as one of the tribes affiliated to
Pir Sini Darani, who is a Yezidi saint represented in the
Yezidi religion as the Lord of the sea.
In the
Sharafnama
The ''Sharafnama'' (Kurdish: شەرەفنامە Şerefname, "The Book of Honor", Persian: Sharafname, شرفنامه) is the famous book of Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi (a medieval Kurdish historian and poet) (1543–1599), which he wrote in 1597, in Pe ...
, they are mentioned twice. First, in the chapter on the emirate of
Bohtan
Bohtan (also Buhtan, ''Bokhti'') was a medieval Kurdish principality in the Ottoman Empire centered on the town of Jazirah ibn 'Omar (modern Cizre also known as ''Cizîra Botan'' (''Jazira Botan'') in southeastern Anatolia. Bohtanis were an a ...
, as being one of the four tribes living in
Finik
Finik is an archaeological site in southeastern Turkey. It is located on the rocky cliffs overlooking the eastern bank of the Tigris, 14 kilometers upstream from the city of Cizre. It has been identified with the ancient ''Pinaka'', mentioned by S ...
. Second, in the chapter on the
Ayyubid emirate of
Hasankeyf.
In a 16th-century
Ottoman Defter, they are mentioned in the regions of
Birecik
Birecik; ku, Bêrecûk is a town and district of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on the Euphrates.
Built on a limestone cliff 400 ft. high on the left/east bank of the Euphrates, "at the upper part of a reach of that river, which runs near ...
,
Kahta, Joum,
Suruç Suruç (, ku, Pirsûs, script=Latn, ''Sruḡ'') is a rural district and city of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on a plain near the Syrian border southwest of the city of Urfa.
History
In antiquity the Sumerians built a settlement in the area. ...
and Ravendan, and called 'Taife-I Ekrâd-I Shikakî'. In another Defter, they are mentioned in the region of
Çemişgezek
Çemişgezek ( ku, Melkişî; hy, Չմշկածագ, translit=Čmškacag) is a town and district of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The mayor is Levent Metin Yıldız ( AKP).
The district has a population of 7,418 as of 2021.
Demographics
The town an ...
.
Among the clans of the Shekak are the 'Awdoǐ
or Evdoyî. According to their oral history they came from
Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province.
Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...
in the 17th Century and settled west of
Lake Urmia
Lake Urmia;
az, اۇرمۇ گؤلۆ, script=Arab, italic=no, Urmu gölü;
ku, گۆلائوو رمیەیێ, Gola Ûrmiyeyê;
hy, Ուրմիա լիճ, Urmia lich;
arc, ܝܡܬܐ ܕܐܘܪܡܝܐ is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is l ...
,
which displaced the
Donboli
Donboli (, ) is a Turkic- speaking Kurdish tribe living around Khoy and Salmas in West Azerbaijan Province in Iran.
History
The Donboli came from Bokhtan, a Kurdish region between Siirt and Cizre in what is now southeastern Turkey. The f ...
tribe.
The first known chieftain of the 'Awdoǐ was
Ismail
Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...
Agha, who died in 1816 and whose tomb is beside the
Naslu River.
His grandson Jafar Agha was executed as a bandit in
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
in 1905.
Jafar's brother
Simko Shikak
Simko Shikak. Birth name: Ismail Agha Shikak. born 1887, was a Kurdish chieftain of the Shekak tribe. He was born into a prominent Kurdish feudal family based in Chihriq castle located near the Baranduz river in the Urmia region of northwestern ...
was responsible for leading the anti-
Christian and anti-
Alevi
Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, w ...
massacres
A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
in the area before and during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, and for the organised resistance against the regime of
Reza Shah
,
, spouse = Maryam Savadkoohi Tadj ol-Molouk Ayromlu (queen consort) Turan Amirsoleimani Esmat Dowlatshahi
, issue = Princess Hamdamsaltaneh Princess Shams Mohammad Reza Shah Princess Ashraf Prince Ali Reza Prince Gholam Reza P ...
.
The Shaqaqi tribe has been described as brave warriors and they trained officers of soldiers of the
Qajar dynasty since the reign of
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar.
Spread
The tribe inhabits the villages of
Akçakuşak,
Çevrimli,
Düğünyurdu,
Koçtepe and
Yatağankaya in the
Şırnak Province
Şırnak Province ( tr, Şırnak ili, ku, Parêzgeha Şirnexê) is a province of Turkey in the Southeastern Anatolia Region. Şırnak Province was created in 1990, with areas that were formerly part of the Siirt and Mardin Provinces. It borders ...
of
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
.
Turkicized Shiite portions of the tribe historically inhabited
East Azerbaijan
East Azerbaijan Province ( fa, استان آذربایجان شرقی ''Āzarbāijān-e Sharqi''; az-Arab, شرقی آذربایجان اوستانی) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is located in Iranian Azerbaijan, bordering Armenia, ...
.
Leaders
*Ismail Agha (d. 1816 or 1820)
[Mihemed Resûl Hawar. Simko Axayê Şikakî û Tevgera Neteweyî ya Kurd. Translated by Ziya Avci (Istanbul: Nûbihar, 2016), 190-2.]
*Ali Khan
*Mehmed Agha
*Timur (Teymûr) Agha
*Jafar Agha (d. 1905)
*
Simko Agha (b. 1887 d. 1930)
Notes
Kurdish tribes
West Azerbaijan Province
Şırnak Province
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