The Sütçü İmam incident (Turkish: Sütçü İmam olayı) also known as Uzun Oluk incident^[1] (Uzun Oluk olayı) occurred on October 31, 1919, when an occupying French Legionnaire ripped off the hijab of a Turkish woman in the city of Kahramanmaraş (then Marash). In the following fight, a local man named Sütçü İmam would fire what is considered the first shot against French occupying forces in Marash.^[2] The incident is considered the beginning of the tension leading to the Battle of Marash, which was the first major victory of the Turkish War of Independence.^[2][3]

After the Armistice of Mudros was signed, Marash, Aintab and Adana (Çukurova) came under the occupation of British forces. In the autumn of 1919, the British handed control over of these regions to the French, who in October entered Marash. The French occupation force was primarily made up of troops from the French Colonial Forces and the French Armenian Legion. The Armenian Legion, comprising 2000 armed auxiliaries entered the city the day after, on 30 October.^[4]

According to the version found in Turkish sources, on the night of 31 October, three Muslim women who were coming out of a public bath (hamam) on Uzunoluk street were accosted by an Armenian legionnaire and harassed and molested. The soldier attempted to tear off the veil of the women stating, "This is no longer the land of the Turks, you cannot walk around with a veil in French territory." The women started to scream and ask for help. A 17-year-old^[5] local Çakmakcı Sait, who ran forth without carrying a weapon was then shot and killed by the Armenian legionnaires.^[6] Soon after, an individual by the name of Sütçü İmam (literally, milkman Imam) opened fire on the legionnaires, killing or wounding (depending on the version) one or more of the soldiers.^[7]

After the incident, Sütçü İmam escaped and took refuge in a village nearby. The troops from the French Armenian Legion who arrived allegedly opened fire in retaliation at the civilians present on the spot. Kahramanmaraş officially commemorates both Hüseyin, son of Zülfikar Çavuş (a reported bystander) and Kadir, Sütçü İmam's cousin as being victims of the French Legion's retaliation.^[8]

The tension sparked by these incidents increased gradually and led to the armed uprising against the French army in February 1920 (Battle of Marash).

An American relief worker who was working in Marash at the time, Stanley E. Kerr, was able to interview an Armenian soldier who was serving in the French Legion at the time. He was interviewed years later for Kerr's book, and was unaware of the Turkish version. According to him, an Armenian rakıcı (that is, a person who prepares the popular alcoholic drink rakı) was serving several Armenian legionnaires with his drink when one of them, who was intoxicated after drinking one cup too many, approached a Muslim woman exiting the bath and removed her veil. An altercation followed and an unknown assailant (possibly Sütçü İmam) shot and killed one of the legionnaires, but, incidentally, not the offending one.^[9]

In memory of this incident, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University is named after Sütçü İmam in 1992. Çakmakcı Sait would be commemorated with both a school and a mosque in his name.^[6][10] Necmettin Erbakan tended to reference the role of Islamic notables during the Turkish War of Independence- such as Sütçü İmam and Rıdvan Hoca.^[11]

• Battle of Marash
• Franco-Turkish War
• Turkish War of Independence
• Timeline of the Turkish War of Independence

• Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University - Sütçü İmam Kimdir? (in Turkish)
• Stanford J. Shaw, "The Armenian Legion and its Destruction of the Armenian Community of Cilicia", in Türkkaya Ataöv, İlber Ortaylı (ed.), The Armenians in the Late Ottoman Period, Turkish Historical Society, 2001, pp. 155–206.