Çerkes Ethem (1886 – 21 September 1948 ''also known as'' Psheu Ethem; ''Adyghe language'': Пщэу Iэтэм), known in English as Edhem the Circassian, was a Circassian Ottoman guerilla leader, social bandit,

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

and soldier. He initially gained fame for establishing the

Kuva-yi Seyyare Kuvâ-yi Seyyâre (), also known as the Green Army Society ( Turkish: Yeşil Ordu Cemiyeti) or the People's Branch ( Turkish: ''Halk Zümresi'') was a force of Circassian and Abkhazian volunteers led by Çerkes Ethem against the Allied invasio ...

and putting down multiple large-scale rebellions and gaining key major victories against the Greek armies invading

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

during the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

. In time, as Ethem's Islamic socialist views clashed with the

Turkish nationalism Turkish nationalism () is nationalism among the people of Turkey and individuals whose national identity is Turkish. Turkish nationalism consists of political and social movements and sentiments prompted by a love for Turkish culture, Turkish ...

of the

Turkish National movement The Turkish National Movement (), also known as the Anatolian Movement (), the Nationalist Movement (), and the Kemalists (, ''Kemalciler'' or ''Kemalistler''), included political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resu ...

, he cut ties with them to act independently, and was later attacked and defeated by

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish politician and military officer who served as the second List of Presidents of Turkey, president of Turkey from 1938 to 1950, and as its Prime Minister of Turkey, pr ...

. İnönü later claimed that Ethem subsequently cooperated with the Greek army, a claim which has been rejected by Ethem himself and disputed by most historians.

Early life and family

His family, House of Dipsheu, was originally a famous pirate and bandit clan from the Ubykhia province of

Circassia Circassia ( ), also known as Zichia, was a country and a historical region in . It spanned the western coastal portions of the North Caucasus, along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. Circassia was conquered by the Russian Empire during ...

, who were exiled to

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in the 1860s during the

Circassian genocide The Circassian genocide, or Tsitsekun, was the systematic mass killing, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement of between 95% and 97% of the Circassian people during the final stages of the Russian invasion of Circassia in the 19th centur ...

. Ethem was born in the Emre village of

Bandırma Bandırma ()Greek: Panormos(Πανορμος)is a municipality and district of Balıkesir Province, northwestern Turkey. Its area is 755 km2, and its population is 167,363 (2024). Bandırma is located in the south of the Marmara Sea, in the ...

as the son of Psheu Ali Bey. One of his brothers was a Member of Parliament for Saruhan (present-day Manisa) in the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

's first legislative term and previously in the fourth term of the Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire. His other brother was a senior military officer who graduated from the

Ottoman Military College The Ottoman Military College or Imperial Military Staff College or Ottoman Army War College ( or ), was a two-year military staff college of the Ottoman Empire. It was located in İstanbul. Its mission was to educate staff officers for the Ott ...

in 1902. Ethem the Circassian had blond hair, light blue eyes, and very pale skin, as described by

Halide Edib Adıvar Halide Edip Adıvar ( , sometimes spelled Halidé Edib in English; 11 June 1884 – 9 January 1964) was a Turkish people, Turkish novelist, teacher, and a nationalist and Feminism, feminist intellectual. She was best known for her novels criticiz ...

. He stood at 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) tall.

Education and military career

He ran away from home when he was 14 years old to join Bakırköy Cavalry Junior Officer School. He joined the

Balkan War The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defeated it, in the ...

and was wounded on the Bulgarian front. As a result, he was awarded with honours and seniority allowance. Later he joined the Ottoman Special Organization organized by Eşref Kuşçubaşı and participated in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He was again wounded and retired to his village. He later founded Kuvâ-yi Seyyâre which was the only organized military force in

during 1919–1920 period between the

Armistice of Mudros The Armistice of Mudros () ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between Ottoman Turkey and the Allies of World War I. It was signed on 30 October 1918 by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey and British Admiral Somerset ...

and the

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres () was a 1920 treaty signed between some of the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire, but not ratified. The treaty would have required the cession of large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, ...

. He coordinated his military operations with Ali Fuat Pasha in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

and harassed the invading Greek armies with his fast cavalry. He was instrumental in putting down various rebellions against the authority of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Eventually Çerkes Ethem had a disagreement with İnönü, refusing to join his forces with the regular army established under the command of İnönü, as he would be a regular soldier as well. Ethem claimed that his soldiers made up of Circassians and mountain clans would never obey anyone other than him, and so he should be given the rank of commander in the army. Although

Mustafa Kemal Mustafa () is one of the names of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name Moustafa * Moustafa A ...

had a positive view of Ethem, Ismet Pasha did not like him, and so he was not taken seriously, and the newly reconstituted Turkish Army had to put down the situation whilst also fighting the Greeks at

First Battle of İnönü The First Battle of İnönü () took place between 6 and 11 January 1921 near İnönü in Hüdavendigâr Vilayet (present-day Eskişehir Province, Turkey) during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22), also known as the western front of the larger ...

. While Ethem's forces were clashing with Greeks, the Turkish army under the command of İnönü arrived, and Ethem, stuck between two hostile armies, made a non-aggression pact with the Greeks and fled Anatolia. İnönü later claimed that Ethem subsequently cooperated with the Greek army (a claim which has been disputed and rejected by most historians). This resulted in Ethem's citizenship getting revoked on the grounds of treason and his being declared ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...

'' by the TBMM, amongst many others. From Greece, he went to Jordan and settled there.

Cooperation with Atatürk's forces against the Allied powers

Çerkes Ethem was an ally of

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

who appreciated him for his successful fight against invading Allied armies and bandits in different regions of Turkey. Atatürk awarded Ethem the Circassian with the title of ''Millî Kahraman'' (National Hero).

Kuva-yi Seyyare

The Kuvâ-yi Seyyâre was a force of Islamic socialist Circassian and Abkhazian volunteers, led by Ethem the Circassian against the allied invasion forces during the

. The group saw themselves as a force to fight against "those who caused disturbance to the greater good of

". The forces were a branch of the

Kuva-yi Milliye The Kuva-yi Milliye (; 'National Forces' or 'Nationalist Forces') were irregular Turkish militia forces active in the early period of the Turkish War of Independence. These irregular forces emerged after the occupation of the parts of Turkey by t ...

, and played a big role in significantly slowing down the Greek army during the

Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 was fought between Greece and the Turkish National Movement during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, between 15 May 1919 and 14 October 1922. This conflict was a par ...

Death and burial

Ethem Bey died on 21 September 1948 near

River Jordan The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic basin, endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and d ...

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

, Jordan. He was buried in the Islamic cemetery, before his death he requested for his grave to be unmarked, he was buried next to the wall of the cemetery.

Remembrance in literature

In her 1928 work ''The Turkish Ordeal'', the leading Ottoman female novelist and nationalist

mentions the first time she saw Ethem the Circassian and how respected he was by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in addition to describing Ethem Bey's physical appearance in a very positive way.

Exhumation and reburial plans

In 2015, the deputy prime minister of Turkey announced the planned exhumation and reburial of Ethem Bey in Turkey where he was born. This has not been carried out.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cerkes, Ethem 1886 births 1948 deaths Members of Kuva-yi Milliye Members of the Special Organization (Ottoman Empire) People from the Ottoman Empire of Circassian descent People from Bandırma Shapsugs Turkish people of Circassian descent Ottoman military personnel of the Balkan Wars Ottoman military personnel of World War I Turkish socialists Muslim socialists Turkish military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)