The Sheikh Said rebellion was a Kurdish nationalist rebellion in Turkish Kurdistan in 1925 led by Sheikh Said and with support of the Azadî against the newly-founded Turkish Republic. The rebellion was mostly led by Zaza speakers, but also gained support among some of the neighboring Kurmanji-speaking Kurds in the region.
Turkish soldiers encircling Palu, Çapakçur (present-day: Bingöl), Genc (present-day: Kaleköy, Solhan), Piran, Hani, Lice, Ergani, Egil and Silvan, Cumhuriyet Newspaper, 30 March 1925.
Front row, left to right: Sheikh Sherif, Sheikh Said, back row: Sheikh Hamid, Major Kasim (Kasım Ataç), Sheikh Abdullah.
Turkish troops with the detained Sheik Said
Kurdish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Kurdish-inhabited areas according to the CIA (1992)
Saladin's heroism and leadership were a great inspiration for the rise of Kurdish nationalism during the Ottoman Empire.
Pro-Kurdish HDP supporters celebrating election results in Istanbul, 8 June 2015
Pro-independence rally in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, 22 September 2017