Lice District from the First World War to the National Struggle

Abstract

Due to its geographical position, Lice has been a critically important town during the First World War and the National Struggle as well as in the earliest periods of history. Starting from Lice the number of those who participated in the battles in Çanakkale, Caucasian, Syria-Palestine, Iraq-Basra and HejazYemen Fronts during the First World War is not at all. While the region was going through one of the most chaotic times in history, the patriotic Liceans did not remain indifferent to the occupation of Bingöl, Bitlis and Muş next to it. During the years of the War of Independence, when a relentless example of resistance was exhibited for the liberation of the Turkish homeland, the Liceans, who tried to cope with a thousand and one difficulties, sided by Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his friends as much as they could. Despite the harmful structure created in the district center, a national organization could not be established. However, the people of Lice supported the national-religious organizations established by the notables and bureaucrats of Diyarbakır. The District Mufti of the period took an exemplary stance by signing the Ankara fatwa. Some of the soldiers of Liceli, the snake from the uninterrupted wars, deserted from the army. Therefore, it was very difficult to maintain order in Lice and its surroundings during the War of Independence. The appeals of some prestigious people in Hani and Kulp regions in favor of national resistance reduced the number of fugitives. Liceans, especially in Al-Jazeera and Western Fronts, resisted the enemy by taking sides with the national troops.