10 Facts About Sheikh Ubeydullah

Sheikh Ubeydullah known as Sayyid Ubeydullah, was the leader of the first modern Kurdish nationalist struggle.

Sheikh Ubeydullah was an influential landowner in the 19th century and a member of the powerful Kurdish Semdinan family from Nehri.

Sheikh Ubeydullah was the son of Sheikh Taha and a nephew to Sheikh Salih, from whom he inherited the leadership of the Naqshbandi order in Semdinan.

Sheikh Ubeydullah was one of several religious leaders who were there to fill the void and reestablish a sense of lawfulness in the former principalities that had been since left to feuding chieftains.

Sheikh Ubeydullah was from an already powerful family, the Semdinan from the region of the same name - Semdinan - who owned considerable amounts of land in the Kurdish areas of the Ottoman Empire.

Sheikh Ubeydullah was able to gain the military support of Kurdish tribesmen as well as Nestorian Christians from the Hakkari region.

Sheikh Ubeydullah was able to successfully assert his control over the area by gaining the support of Kurdish tribesmen who were hopeful of his objective to restore order in the war-ravaged region.

British correspondence during the height of Sheikh Ubeydullah's power indicates that he was able to successful assert control over a vast region that stretched the former Bohtan, Badinan, Hakkari, and Ardalan confederacies.

Sheikh Ubeydullah demanded recognition of a Kurdish state and his rule over the region.

Sheikh Ubeydullah's militia was defeated by the Qajar army and he withdrew his forces to Ottoman territories.