The Shekak (also Shakkak, Shikakan or Shekkāk;
;
) is a
Kurdish 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 confl ...
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 Turkm ...
.
History
The Shikaki tribe are first mentioned in a
Yezidi mişûr (manuscript) from 1207 AD, where they're mentioned as one of the tribes affiliated to
Pir Sini Darani
Pir or PIR may refer to:
Places
* Pir, Kerman, a village in Kerman Province, Iran
* Pir, Satu Mare, commune in Satu Mare County, Romania
Religion
* Pir (Alevism), one of the 12 ranks of Imam in Alevism
* Pir (Sufism), a Sufi teacher or spiritu ...
, who is a Yezidi saint represented in the
Yezidi religion as the Lord of the sea.
In the
Sharafnama, they are mentioned twice. First, in the chapter on the emirate of
Bohtan, as being one of the four tribes living in
Finik. Second, in the chapter on the
Ayyubid emirate of
Hasankeyf.
In a 16th-century
Ottoman Defter, they are mentioned in the regions of
Birecik,
Kahta, Joum,
Suruç and Ravendan, and called 'Taife-I Ekrâd-I Shikakî'. In another Defter, they are mentioned in the region of
Çemişgezek.
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 ...
,
which displaced the
Donboli tribe.
The first known chieftain of the 'Awdoǐ was
Ismail 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 sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...
in 1905.
Jafar's brother
Simko Shikak was responsible for leading the anti-
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
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, ...
massacres in the area before and during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, and for the organised resistance against the regime of
Reza Shah
Reza Shah Pahlavi ( fa, رضا شاه پهلوی; ; originally Reza Khan (); 15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944) was an Iranian Officer (armed forces), military officer, politician (who served as Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (Iran), ...
.
The Shaqaqi tribe has been described as brave warriors and they trained officers of soldiers of the
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty (; fa, دودمان قاجار ', az, Qacarlar ) was an IranianAbbas Amanat, ''The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831–1896'', I. B. Tauris, pp 2–3 royal dynasty of Turkic origin, ...
since the reign of
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ( fa, آقا محمد خان قاجار, translit=Âqâ Mohammad Xân-e Qâjâr; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (, ), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, rul ...
.
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 list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
Turkicized Shiite portions of the tribe historically inhabited
East Azerbaijan.
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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