FROM THE DERVISH LODGE TO THE FRONT: THE BEKTASHI MUJAHIDIN REGIMENT IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Drawing on the success of volunteer units in the Tripoli and Balkan wars, the Committee of Union and Progress sought to implement a similar strategy in the First World War. The basis of this strategy was that volunteer troops would reinforce the regular army in areas such as intelligence, guerrilla tactics and frontline logistical support, as well as strengthening local resistance movements. Accordingly, the deployment of two influential religious groups such as the Bektashi and Mevlevi orders, which were very effective within the empire, as military units on different fronts in the First World War shows the full implementation of this strategy. The attempt by the Bektashi sect, which had close links with the Committee of Union and Progress, to form a regimental military unit is a remarkable example of the Ottoman state’s policy of using religious groups for military purposes. Preparations for the formation of the Bektashi Regiment began in Sivas in May 1915. Through representatives appointed by Cemaleddin Çelebi, efforts were made to recruit volunteers from Alevi communities in the region. The establishment of the Bektashi Regiment was the result of an alternative approach developed in the face of the inability to mobilise Kizil Bash Alevis, especially in and around Dersim, through religious discourses such as Jihad-ı Ekber. However, the Bektashi regiment was not able to stop the Russian advance on the Caucasian front on its own. As a result of the Russian occupation of Erzurum on 16 February 1916 and the withdrawal of the Ottoman forces, Cemaleddin Çelebi Efendi had to return to Erzincan with his entourage. This study deals with the formation, frontline activities and the end of the Bektashi Regiment that operated under the command of Cemaleddin Çelebi Efendi, the postmaster of Hacı Bektaşi Veli Dervish Lodge. © Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)