Public Order and Tribe in Doğu Beyazıt (1943)
Yücel YiğitThe file titled ‘Ağrı’ which is obtained from the Archive of General Directorate of Security contains important informations about the Sakanlı tribe and the public order of Doğu Beyazıt. This research is a two-part study investigating the public order and tribe events at Dogu Beyazit in 1943. In the first part: it is dealed with the political attitude of the Sheikh Abdulkadir, the Chief of the Sakanlı Tribe, who participated in the last phase of Ağrı Rebellion and was protected by Russia and Iran. In the second part of the study, which is about public order, Dogu Beyazit comes to the fore. Because of its geographical location, theft, border violation and inter-tribal struggle are intensely seen here. Therefore, acording to the report, there is no ethnic political attempt after the Ağrı Rebellion. In this study, the relevant files dated 1943 in the Archives of the General Directorate of Security, became our main data source.
Doğu Beyazıt’ta Asayiş ve Aşiret (1943)
Yücel YiğitEmniyet Genel Müdürlüğü Arşivi’nden elde edilen Ağrı isimli dosya, Sakanlı Aşireti ve Doğu Beyazıt’ın asayişi hakkında önemli bilgiler içermektedir. Araştırma, 1943 yılında Doğu Beyazıt’ta asayiş ve aşiret olaylarını inceleyen iki bölümlü bir çalışmadır. İlk bölümde; Ağrı İsyanı’nın son evresine iştirak eden, Rusya ve İran tarafından himaye edilen Sakanlı Aşireti Reisi Şeyh Abdülkadir’in siyasi tavrı ele alınmaktadır. Türkiye’de ve İran’da mukim Sakanlıların varlığı, büyük bir nüfuz sahibi olan aşiret reisinin Türkiye ile irtibatta kalmasını kolaylaştırmıştır. Çalışmanın ikinci basamağını oluşturan asayiş kısmında, Doğu Beyazıt ön plana çıkmaktadır. Zira coğrafi konumundan dolayı hırsızlık, sınır ihlali ve aşiretler arası mücadele, yoğun olarak burada yer almaktadır. Dolayısıyla rapora göre Ağrı İsyanı sonrası etnik temelli herhangi bir siyasi kalkışma söz konusu değildir. Daha çok ekonomik ihtiyaçlara yaslanan asayişe müessir suçlar işlenmiştir. Bu çalışmada Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü Arşivi’ndeki, konuyla ilgili 1943 yılına ait dosyalar başlıca veri kaynağımız olmuştur.
After the Sheikh Sait Rebellion in the Early Republican Period, the biggest rebellion in the Eastern Anatolia Region was the Ağrı Rebellion that lasted for four years between 1926 and1930. The Ağrı Rebellion broke out at a time when the Great Depression has occupied the country’s agenda. While the rulers tried to reduce the impact of the economic contraction, they also tried to suppress this uprising, which was attended by different Kurdish tribes in the east.
While the Ağrı Rebellion was underway, the government decided to exile some Kurdish tribal leaders, who have the potential to interfere with the military measures, to the western parts of the country. One of them is Sheikh Abdulkadir, the Chief of the Sakanlı Tribe. Although there were people of Sakanlı in the rebellion area, Sheikh Abdulkadir preferred to be passive and did not actually participate in the rebellion initially. Only after he was exiled to Bergama for the second time in 1928 that he decided to take part at the last stage of the uprising.
Participating in the last link of the Ağrı Rebellion, Sheikh Abdulkadir, the Chief of the Sakanlı tribe, fled to Iran after the failure of the rebellion. Undoubtedly the biggest factors that facilitated his escape was the fact that Jalal tribe had branches in both Turkey and Iran. Abdulkadir, who used the title of sheikh, dominated other Kurdish tribal groups with his leadership qualities. The Sakanlı chief stayed in Iran for 16 years and cooperated with foreign states, primarily the Russians, vis-a-vis Turkey. Although he also had some contacts with the Iranian state, he was mostly protected by the Russians, as the latter reinforced the tribe with weapons, ammo and money. Indeed, the Russian government wanted to use the Kurdish tribes in the case of a German invasion of the Caucasus during the Second World War or in Turkey’s entry into the war on the side of the Axis Powers.
Sheikh Abdulkadir, who took refuge in Iran after the rebellion, continued his contacts within Turkey. He continued his constant communication with either the tribal members or the Iranians he held with money. On the other hand, the Turkish Government followed the Sakanlı tribe and chieftain through their spies. The information and rumours compiled during this period were first evaluated locally and then sent to the capital. In particular, Ağrı and Kars Governorships have made great efforts in this regard.
When the Russians investigated this claim and learned that it was not true, the relations with the Sakanlı became more strained. Sheikh Abdulkadir died n 1946, few months after he served as the governor, and the relations between Turkey and the rest of the tribe improved thereafter.
In addition to the public order report, it is possible to find information in various individual sources about the Sakanlı Tribe Chief Sheikh Abdulkadir and his family who took refuge in Iran after the Ağrı Rebellion. The Sakanlı chief did not take part in the first phase of the uprising. Because the government forced him to live in Izmir twice at different times. Being sent into exile was not easy for a tribal leader to easily accept, since the exile shook Sheikh Abdulkadir’s authority and brought him under state control. The head of the people of Sakanlı, who drew the first and rejected the second, entered the game at the last link of the attempt. Undoubtedly, explaining the rebellion to the exile only by exile would distort the truth. The process is teeming with Kurdish nationalism and dreams of establishing an independent state. As a result, Sheikh Abdulkadir escaped to Iran, where he would remain until death when he failed. He intensified relations with the Russians and Iranians during his period as a fugitive.
The main purpose of this study is to reveal the contacts of the Sakanlı Tribe Chief Sheikh Abdulkadir in Iran and reveal the state of security in Ağrı in 1943. It seeks to examine which states have come into contact with Sakanlı, who fled to Iran after the Ağrı Rebellion, hat crimes are the public order events focused on, whether there was information about the Ağrı Rebellion and Sakanlı in the public order report dated 1943. This research solely focuses on 1943, Because, in the screening in the Archive of the General Directorate of Security (EGM), the first public order report sent by the Ağrı Police Department to the Police Department is from this year. No similar reports from previous years could be located. The report is based on East Beyazıt. In this context: The causes, development, suppression and results of the Ağrı Rebellion are not the subject of the research. However, in the context of the subject will be mentioned from place to place. The review first included the Sakanlı tribe, followed by an emphasis public security.
