SHIKAK

(Shakak)

The Shikak are atribalconfederation that became powerful in the second half of the 19th century on both sides of theOttomanandPersianborders in the mountainous regions west and northwest of Lake Urumiya. They are Sunni Muslim and speakKurmanji. They obtained a reputation for attacking both the Kurdish andChristianrayat(peasants) and refusing to pay taxes. In some sources, they are confused with theShakaki(a Turkish-speakingAlevi tribeof Kurdish origin), who live to the east and northeast of Tabriz and early in the 20th century provided four regiments for the Qajar shah's army.On the other hand, the relationship between the Shikak and Shakaki also seems to be more than a mere similarity of names.

The Shikak opposedSheikh Ubeydullah of Nehriwhen he invaded Persia in 1880. In 1896, the Shikak ambushed some 800Armenianrevolutionaries retreating from Van in the Ottoman Empire, while two years later they were chasing Armenians on behalf of the Persians. Shikak tribesmen capturedSheikh Abdul Salam IIofBar-zan, the elder brother ofMulla Mustafa Barzani, and handed him over to the Ottomans for execution in 1914 when the Sheikh tried to flee after being charged with conspiring with theRussians.

Ismail Agha Simko, the famousIranianKurdish rebel of the 1920s, was the leader of the Abdui section of the Shikak. During the days of theMahabad Republic of Kurdistan, the Shikak played a cautiously opportunistic role and quickly deserted the cause. They acted similarly in 1979 when central authority was temporarily absent following theIslamicrevolution. Likewise, the Tudeh (Iranian Communist Party) office in Urumiya in northwestern Iran was able only temporarily to enroll thousands of Shikaks in 1945.