Shekak


The Shekak is a Kurdish tribe present in various regions, mainly in West Azerbaijan province, Iran.

History

The Shikaki are twice mentioned in the Sharafnama. First, in the chapter on the emirate of Bohtan, as being one of the four tribes living in Finik. Second, in the chapter on the Ayyubid emirate of Hasankeyf.
In a 16th-century Ottoman Defter, they are mentioned in the regions of Birecik, Kahta, Joum, Suruç and Ravendan, and called 'Taife-I Ekrâd-I Shikakî'. In another Defter, they are mentioned in the region of Çemişgezek.
Among the clans of the Shekak are the 'Awdoǐ or Evdoyî. According to their oral history they came from Diyarbakır in the 17th Century and settled west of Lake Urmia, which displaced the Donboli tribe.
The first known chieftain of the 'Awdoǐ was Ismail Agha who died in 1816 and whose tomb is beside the Naslu River. His grandson Jafar Agha was executed as a bandit in Tabriz in 1905. Jafar's brother, Simko Shikak, was allegedly responsible for leading the anti-Christian and anti-Alevite massacres in the area before and during World War I and supposed organized resistance against the cruel regime of Reza Shah.

Chiefs