Osman of the Merziki Tribe

When I returned from my mission for Shmuel, I learned that trouble had arisen with Surdeli Osman, one of the leaders of the Merziki tribe. Two regiments had been ordered to the Ser-Elbak region¹ to destroy houses, burn villages, and expel the tribe. I knew Osman and did not consider him a rebel; I wanted to understand how matters had come to this.

It was said that the kaymakam and regimental commander, on their way to meet the Iranian frontier commander, stopped near Kerchiyan to visit Dervish Bey, chief of the Merziki. The soldiers made camp; the party planned to eat and continue to Hanasor. Kaymakam Kemal Bey then saw four riders approaching, Osman among them.

The riders wore Kurdish kulas. At the time the kula was forbidden and only the brimmed hat permitted. Not every villager owned one, so several hats were kept in the village centre; anyone going to town exchanged his kula and returned the hat afterwards. Osman wished to turn back rather than embarrass the kaymakam, but the official recognised and summoned him.

Dervish Bey welcomed the visitors handsomely. In the crowded room the kaymakam approached Osman, asked whether he knew the kula was prohibited, and knocked it from his head. Humiliated and enraged, Osman went outside and declared that he would kill him. Dervish Bey begged him not to commit murder in his home and bring ruin on the family, but could not calm him.

Osman and his men left the village and hid beside the road. When the party appeared, Osman picked out the kaymakam and fired once. The kaymakam fell and rolled on the ground; believing him dead, Osman returned to Dervish Bey’s house. He told Dervish’s wife, Siti Hanım, to take the children and flee. She refused to go without her husband’s order.

A gendarme named Mehmet remained at the edge of the village. One of Osman’s men demanded his weapon. Mehmet refused, saying he would be tried and imprisoned if he surrendered it; the man shot him dead and took the rifle. Hearing of the killing, Siti Hanım agreed to escape with the children.

The kaymakam, however, had merely been knocked down and was unharmed. On his return, secret telegrams reported that the Merziki were in rebellion and attacking the town while government troops repelled them. Orders followed to burn every village in Ser-Elbak and arrest the inhabitants. The First Regiment came from Siirt and joined the Fifth in Başkale.

Suddenly we saw an aeroplane. Başkale had no airfield, so it landed on the plain between the town and Iran. A major disembarked, changed his boots, mounted a horse, and joined the regiment. The mufti, Sheikh Ilayiddin Arvasi, came to my shop and asked me to accompany him in welcoming the officer on behalf of the townspeople.

At the barracks we met Hüsnü Bey, commander of the Fifth Regiment. He said the force must leave at once, but the mufti asked only to shake the new officer’s hand. Şükrü Kanatlı² overheard and invited us into his room. He asked the mufti to calm the Kurds and prevent a repetition of their actions.³ Afraid of appearing to defend his own people, the mufti pointed to me: “He is a Jew, not one of us. Let him speak.”

Şükrü was surprised that Jews lived in Başkale. I told him that the Kurdish villagers were not as wicked as they were portrayed. He listened, shook our hands, and said we would speak at length when he returned.

The regiments entered the villages and found farmers working their land everywhere. The order to burn the entire district was halted at that stage. Life proceeded normally in Ser-Elbak’s thirty villages; only Osman’s abandoned village was burned. Şükrü took Dervish Bey’s twelve-year-old son with him, cared for him, and later sent him to school on a government scholarship. On returning, he thanked the mufti and me and said our words had inspired him.