Sheikh Said rebellion Sheikh Said Rebellion ( Kurdish : " Serhildana Şêx Seîdê Pîran " , Turkish : " Şeyh Said İsyanı " , contemporary name : " Genç Hâdisesi " means " Genç Incident " ) was a rebellion to revive the Islamic Caliphate System and used elements of Kurdish nationalism to recruit . It was led by Sheikh Said and a group of former Ottoman soldiers also known as Hamidiye soldier s . The rebellion was particularly of two Kurdish groups , the Zaza people and the speakers of the related Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish : it " was led specifically by the Zaza population and received almost full support in the entire Zaza region and some of the neighbouring Kurmanji - dominated regions " . Background . The Azadî was dominated by officers from the former Hamidiye , a Kurdish tribal militia established under the Ottoman Empire to deal with the Armenians and sometimes even to keep the Kizilbash under control . According to various historias the main reason the revolt took place was that various elements of Turkish society were unhappy with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ' s abolition of the Islamic Caliphate system . There have been questionable British sources who label this as a nationalistic revolt by Kurds . While it can be considered we must understand that Britain was a sworn enemy of both the Islamic Caliphate and the Turks . According to British intelligence reports , the Azadî officers had eleven grievances . Apart from inevitable Kurdish cultural demands and complaints of Turkish maltreatment , this list also detailed fears of imminent mass deportations of Kurds . They also registered annoyance that the name Kurdistan did not appear on maps , at restrictions on the Kurdish language and on Kurdish education and objections to alleged Turkish economic exploitation of Kurdish areas , at the expense of Kurds . It was Sheikh Said who convinced Hamidiye commanders to support a fight for the return of Islamic Caliphate system . Some claim British assistance was sought realizing that Kurdistan could not stand alone . Events . Sheikh Said appealed to all Muslims of Turkey to join in the rebellion being planned . The tribes which actually participated were mostly Zazas . However the " Xormak " and " Herkî " , two Zaza - Qizilbash tribes were the most active and effective opponents of this rebellion . The participation from Kurds ( Kurmanchs ) was almost non - existent except a handful of Hamidiye leaders . Mindful of the depredations of the Hamidiye against them ( especially the Hamidiye commanded by Xalid Beg Cîbran ) , other Alevi tribes also refused to join the rebellion . In one of the bigger engagements , in the night of 6 – 7 March , the forces of Sheikh Said laid siege to the city of Diyarbakır with 5 , 000 - 10 , 000 men . The Muslim Revivalists attacked the city at all four gates simultaneously . All of their attacks were repelled by the numerically inferior Turkish garrison , with the use of machine gun fire and mortar grenades . When the rebels retreated the next morning , the area around the city was full of dead bodies . When a second wave of attacks failed , the siege was finally lifted on 11 March . By the end of March , most of the major battles of the Sheikh Said rebellion were over . The rebels were unable to penetrate beyond Hınıs , ironically this was one of the two major areas where Sheikh Said was well known and he enjoyed considerable influence there ( he had a tekke in Hınıs ) . This failure excluded the possibility of extending the rebellion . The main part of the uprising was over by the end of March , as the Turkish authorities , according to Martin van Bruinessen , crushed the rebellion with continual aerial bombardments and a massive concentration of forces . During this rebellion , the Turkish government used its airplanes for bombing raids in Palu - Bingöl area . In the course of this operation , the airfield near Elâzığ road was used . However according to the British Air Ministry there are few reports on the use of Turkish airplanes in suppressing the Sheikh Said rebellion . The reports originate from the British Air Command at Mosul , which was in charge of intelligence for all of Iraq . At the beginning of the rebellion the Turks had one squadron ( filo ) consisting of 7 airplanes . Of these only 2 were serviceable . Later four more arrived . The Turkish Air Force deployed a total of 11 airplanes against the rebellion , however , only 6 were serviceable . Result . Sheikh Said was captured around 1925 and executed by hanging . This was the last serious attempt for Turks to revive the Caliphate system . The rebellion diminished the negotiating power of Turkey , and the Ottoman province of Mosul was assigned to the British Mandate of Mesopotamia . In the Fall of 1927 , Sheikh Abdurrahman ( brother of Sheikh Said ) began a series of revenge attacks on Turkish garrisons in Palu and Malatya .