zeybek

Zeybek is the historic name given to the armed militia and guerilla fighters from the Aegean Region of Turkey, who made a name for themselves by rebelling against the system. They hid in the highlands, lived off the land, elected their chief (called Efe), and had a strict code of honour.¹

With its heavy steps and majestic choreography, their dance - also called by the same name - expresses the fighter’s courage and stability. Referencing similar characteristics, the symbolism behind the movements is that they resemble that of an eagles.²

Zeybek men wore fezes, which were secured in place by a wrap and decorated with a string of colourful motifs in Oya needlework (often flowers), handmade for the fighters by their lovers.³

Their fezes remind us of the beautiful sentiment that this delicate, arguably feminine accessory belonged to some of the most daring and fearless men on the land.

Though there were both male and female Zeybeks, their dance was performed only by men until a physical education teacher named Selim Sırrı Tarcan rearranged the dance in the 1910’s, opening it up to everybody’s participation.²

Like every folk dance, Zeybek also carries traces of stories of the society in which it developed.

It is widely accepted that Zeybeks, who gave the dance its name, character and its majestic costumes, first lived on the Aegean coast in the 16th century and were of Turkic descent.²

That said, some sources declare Zeybeks to be Islamised Greeks, while others state that they emerged in the 13th century and were Turkmens who settled in the Aegean Region.⁴

Traditionally, a Zeybek group, with their leader Efe, acted as protectors of village people against landlords, bandits and tax collectors. When they believed the order of society to be deteriorating, they opposed the injustices of the state and the imbalances in social life by forming these groups.²

In contradiction, they themselves were also technically bandits as they more often than not governed themselves. This kind of behaviour resulted in numerous accounts stating Zeybeks to be “terrorising” the Aegean coast from the 17th - 19th century [5]. The groups really came to the forefront when they showed specific resistance during the Ottoman Empire’s administrative, economic and social decline and fall.²

With the invasion of Ottoman land post WW1, Zeybeks became significant forces in the fight against Greek occupation on the Western front, making them heroes of Turkey’s War of Independence.⁵

And so their fate changed from one extreme to the other, a shift jump from bandits to heroes, and their dance became one of the most famous folklore dances of Turkey, telling their story as the protectors of the hills.