İsmet Pasha is charged with forming the government
During the struggle for independence and in the process of implementing the reforms of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal was faced with countless riots and threats. The most important one of these was the Sheikh Said rebellion that commenced on February 13, 1925 in the Piran province of Genç.
A religious and ethnic revolt against the founding principles of the Republic, the Sheikh Said Rebellion was one of the biggest threats the new government faced, both in terms of its extensity and the possible dangers it harbored. Initially breaking out near Bingöl, the revolt soon gained momentum and came to include a force of fifteen thousand rebels. Maden, Siverek, Ergani, and Varto were seized by the rebels and, in early March, Sheikh Said’s forces of ten thousand rebels laid siege to Diyarbakır.
Known for his moderate politics, Ali Fethi Bey (Okyar) was the head of the government at the time. However, the government’s lack of resoluteness vis-à-vis the rebellion led President Mustafa Kemal to charge İsmet Pasha with forming a new government on March 3, 1925.
The quelling of the Sheikh Said Rebellion constituted an important turning point in allowing the Republic administration to maintain control over the eastern provinces of Turkey. Meanwhile, the closing of Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet F?rkas? (Progressive Republican Party) for allegedly being involved in the rebellion delayed, for some time, the transition into a multiparty system in Turkey.
