Şêxbizin (Kurdish: شێخبزێنی, romanized: Şêxbizinî)^[1] is a Kurdish tribe present near Koy Sanjaq in Kurdistan Region, Iraq with smaller communities dispersed throughout Turkey. While the tribe speaks Sorani in Kurdistan Region, the ones in Turkey have kept their tribal sub-dialect of Laki called Şêxbizinî or Kirmancekîman.^[2][3] Nonetheless, many in Turkey only know Turkish due to the assimilatory policies of Turkey.^[4]

They lived around Kermanshah in present-day Iran but were expelled towards Ottoman Kirkuk by Safavid Ismail I in the 16th century. Many members of the tribe would later migrate towards Anatolia.^[5]

It is believed that the name of the tribe is a compound of the two words sheikh and Bazan. The latter is the name of the region near Sulaymaniyah where they were exiled to before relocating to Anatolia decades after.^[6] The name appears in different spellings in Ottoman documents.^[7]

The tribe was caught between the many wars between the Ottomans and the Safavids in Kurdistan and were forced to leave towards Kirkuk by the Safavids after failed negotiations between Shah Ismail and Şêxbizinî leader Qazî Hûseyîn. The reason for the exile was the religious beliefs of the tribe since they were Sunni. Entering Ottoman Kurdistan, they were tolerated by Sultan Selim I since he was attempting to gather support from Sunni Kurdish tribes against the Safavids.^[5][8] Due to the support from the Şêxbizin during the Battle of Chaldiran, the tribe received privileges including the liberty to settle wherever they wanted. This allowed members of the tribe to migrate upward towards Anatolia after temporarily staying in Palu.^[9] By the end of the 18th century, the tribe lived in Haymana during the winter and around Antalya, Samsun and Aydın in the summer.^[10]

In his work on Kurdish tribes in 1908, Mark Sykes mentioned the Şêxbizin tribe near Kirkuk which numbered around 4,000 families. He wrote:

A great and warlike tribe, turbulent and fierce. Noted robbers. Great horsemen. Very intelligent, make Martini–Henry rifles. Live in villages in winter, dwell in tents in the vicinity of their villages in spring.^[11]

Many Şêxbizin Kurds were Peshmerga and fought with the Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani during the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict.^[5]

• Reşwan (tribe)

• Çelebî, Cemile (2017), "Bezeynî – Historie, Migration, Diaspora und linguistische Besonderheiten" (PDF), Wiener Jahrbuch für Kurdische Studien (in German) (5)
• Dr. Mikaîlî (2020), "Îskana kurdên şexbezenî (şêxbizin) li Anatolîyê" (PDF), Bîrnebûn (in Kurdish) (76), ISSN 1402-7488
• Fiğan, Mehmet (2017), Etnik Sınırlarda Gezinmek: Haymanalı Kürtlerin Kimliklenme ve Kültürlerarası İletişim Pratikleri (PDF) (in Turkish), Hacettepe University, retrieved 25 September 2020
• Turkish state (2014), Aşiretler Raporu (in Turkish) (3 ed.), Kaynak Yayınları, ISBN 978-975-343-220-7
• Ruciyar, Baran (2008), Allgemeine Geschichte: Şêx Bizin (in German), Kurdica, archived from the original on 2012-10-22, retrieved 26 September 2020
• Sykes, Mark (1908), "The Kurdish Tribes of the Ottoman Empire", The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 38, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: 451–486, doi:10.2307/2843309, JSTOR 2843309

• Bane, Xamgelî (2012). "Şêxbizingel kî ye, ji ku kêçax raçe hatiyîne Heymene" (PDF). Bîrnebûn (in Kurdish). 53: 41–44. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
• Lewendî, Mahmûd (1988). "Ferhengoka Şêxbizinkî" (PDF). Bîrnebûn (in Kurdish). 4: 68–72. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
• Lewendî, Mahmûd (1997). "Kurdên Şêxbizinî" (PDF). Bîrnebûn (in Kurdish). 3: 78–98. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
• Ruciyar, Baran (2015). "Der Zusammenhang zwischen den Lek und Shêx Bizinî" (in German). Kurdica. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 26 September 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Şêxbizinî, Brang (2011). "Guranîyeli kurdgeli Şêxbizinî" (PDF). Bîrnebûn (in Kurdish and Turkish). 48: 65–66. Retrieved 25 September 2020.