Siege of Dimdim

37°21′36.46″N 45°10′15.08″E

Siege of Dimdim
DateNovember 1609–Summer of 1610
Location
Dimdim Castle, Azerbaijan, Safavid Iran
Result Safavid victory
Belligerents
Emirate of Bradost Safavid Iran
Commanders and leaders
Amir Khan Lepzerin Hatem Beg Ordubadi

The Siege of Dimdim was an operation orchestrated by the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I (r. 1588–1629), in which his forces besieged the Dimdim Castle of the rebellious Kurdish Emirate of Bradost from November 1609 to the summer of 1610. The siege was led by the grand vizier Hatem Beg Ordubadi, who captured the castle and massacred its garrison.

Background

Throughout the 17th-century, Safavid shahs (kings) of Iran opted to use harsh measures against the uncooperative Kurdish tribes in the western part of the country. Shah Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) had to decide whether to crack down on Kurdish parties that were in a semi-subordinate position or to maintain a reasonable equilibrium between the Kurds and Turkmens. In the case of Amir Khan Lepzerin, the ruler of the Emirate of Bradost, who constructed the Dimdim Castle close to the western part of the Lake Urmia and rebelled against the Safavids, Shah Abbas I chose the first course of action.[1]

The siege

There are well documented historical accounts of a long siege from 1609 to 1610 between Kurds and the Safavids. The Kurds were at a disadvantage numerically and technologically. After a siege lasting almost a year, the Safavid Grand Vizier Hatem Beg Ordubadi captured the fort and massacred the Kurdish garrison.[2]

Aftermath

After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November 1609 to the summer of 1610, Dimdim was captured. All the defenders were killed. Shah Abbas I ordered a general massacre in Bradost and Mukriyan (reported by Iskandar Beg Turkoman, Safavid Historian in the Book Alam Aray-e Abbasi) and resettled the Afshar tribe in the region while deporting many Kurdish tribes to Khorasan region. Shortly after the execution of Bodagh Soltan, the Mokri governor of Maragheh, Abbas married Bodagh’s reputable sister in 1610.[3][4] No issue is recorded from this marriage. Although Safavid historians (like Iskandar Beg ) depicted the first siege of Dimdim as a result of Kurdish mutiny or treason, in Kurdish oral traditions (Beytî Dimdim), literary works (Dzhalilov, pp. 67–72), and histories, it was treated as a struggle of the Kurdish people against foreign domination. In fact, Beytî Dimdim is considered a national epic second only to Mem û Zîn by Ahmad Khani. The first literary account of this siege is written by Faqi Tayran.[2]

References
  1. Atmaca 2021, p. 59.
  2. Hassanpour 1995, pp. 404–405.
  3. Butler, Herbert (2012). Sir Thomas Herbert, Bart: Travels in Africa, Persia, and Asia the Great : Some Years Travels Into Africa and Asia the Great, Especially Describing the Famous Empires of Persia and Hindustan, as Also Divers Other Kingdoms in the Oriental Indies, 1627-30, the 1677 Version. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies. ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies). p. 403. ISBN 978-0-86698-475-1.
  4. American Society of Genealogists. 1997. p. 244.

Sources
  • Atmaca, Metin (2021). "Negotiating Political Power in the Early Modern Middle East: Kurdish Emirates between the Ottoman Empire and Iranian Dynasties (Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries)". In Bozarslan, Hamit; Gunes, Cengiz; Yadirgi, Veli (eds.). The Cambridge History of the Kurds. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108473354.
  • Hassanpour, Amir (1995). "Dimdim". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume VII/4: Deylam, John of–Divorce IV. In modern Persia. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 404–405. ISBN 978-1-56859-022-6.
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