Xoybûn


Xoybûn or Khoyboun, was a nationalist organisation of Kurds that is known for leading the Ararat rebellion, commanded by Ihsan Nuri. Many Armenians joined the movement as well.

Establishment

On October 5, 1927, in Greater Lebanon, Xoybûn was founded by Memduh Selim and his colleagues with the involvement of former members of Kurdish nationalist organisations like Society for the Elevation of Kurdistan, Kürt Teşkilat-ı İçtimaiye Cemiyeti and Kürt Millet Fırkası, together with Kurdish intellectuals who took refuge in Iraq, Iran and Syria, at the house of Vahan Papazian, who was a member of the central committee of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. In the same year Xoybûn signed a treaty with ARF. The Xoybûn had two separate sections. And armed section and a political one. The armed wing was led by Ihsan Nuri, an ottoman soldier. The political wing was based in Damascus, represented in several western countries and mostly by members of the Bedirxan family.
Celadet Alî Bedirxan who was elected as its president as well as Mehmet Şükrü Sekban, Memduh Selim, Haco Agha, Ramanlı Emin, Ali Rıza, Bozan bey Shahin, Mustafa bey Şahin and Süleymniyeli Kerim Rüstem Bey were elected as members of the first central committee of Xoybûn.

Ararat rebellion

Under the leadership of Celadet Alî Bedirxan, Kamuran Alî Bedirxan, Ekrem Cemilpaşa, Memdûh Selîm and others, Xoybûn decided to promote Ihsan Nuri, a former officer in the Ottoman and Turkish armies, to general and sent him to Erzurum with 20 comrades. They published a newspaper named Agirî. The Republic of Ararat declared its independence on October 8, 1927.
The central committee of Xoybûn appointed Ibrahim Heski, who was one of the chieftains of Jalali tribe, to the governorship of Agirî Province and Ihsan Nuri Pasha to the post of general commander of the Kurdish Armed Forces. Xoybûn also made appeals to the Great Powers and the League of Nations, but under pressure from Turkey the British Empire and France restricted the activities of those involved in Xoybûn.
It was the chief "instigator" of the Ararat rebellion, where the Kurdish Republic of Ararat was founded and subsequently put down by Turkish forces in 1931.