The Kurdish Rebellions of Sheikh Said (1925), Mt. Ararat (1930), and Dersim (1937-8): Their Impact on the Development of the Turkish Air Force and on Kurdish and Turkish Nationalism

Abstract

The Sheikh Said rebellion of 1925, the Mt. Ararat revolt of 1930 and the Dersim rebellion of 1937-38 were significant developments in the history of modern Turkish and Kurdish nationalism.1 In this article I argue that the rebellions also contributed to the development of Turkey’s air force (TAF) which was to be used as an instrument to control, suppress and eradicate Kurdish nationalism. The suppression of Sheikh Said’s rebellion dealt a severe blow to Kurdish nationalism in Turkey and its potential growth in Iraq and Iran. It contributed to squashing Kurdish nationalism in northwestern Iran by Reza Khan and to British restraining of Kurdish nationalism in northern Iraq. It should be noted that the suppression of the Kurds in Iran after 1925 by Reza Khan was accomplished in part by the use of the nascent Iranian Air Force. In Iraq the British Royal Force (RAF) was instrumental in Great Britain’s conquest of Iraq during WW I and its occupation of that country until 1958. I argue in this article that the development of the TAF from 1925 onward played an important role in the ability of the Turkish state to further consolidate its ideology of Turkish nationalism vis