From the Real Efe to the Fake Efes, With or Without Heels

Before we bring up the subject of the Efes, Zeybeks, and kızans, we must address the environment, economic, and social structure that gave rise to these figures in the Aegean region.  

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the removal of state-owned land from public ownership and its looting by local power centers, the comprador bourgeoisie flourishing in port cities—primarily İzmir (Aydın province)—and the exploitation by usurious merchants would drastically increase poverty and income inequality in the region. So much so that the Turks, the primary element of the country, were far from being even a secondary element in economic terms!  The Ottoman state, meanwhile, was struggling within the economic and political grip of the West.

When one moves beyond the folkloric/musical/melodic image, the tragedy experienced by the Turkish peasant during the period described is seen in all its reality in the melodies, folk dances, and legends.

The peasant, who was forced to deliver the tobacco they grew to the French Régie Administration down to the last gram, was mercilessly murdered by the Régie guards whenever they wanted to smoke a pinch of their own tobacco or sell it to earn a few pennies.

It has unfortunately long been forgotten that the Çökertme, Karaşar Zeybeği, and similar Ayıngacı (tobacco smuggler) folk songs, which are now turned into dance music, are actually laments for the poor Turkish peasants murdered by the guards.

The stories of how the famous Efes of the period took to the mountains are similar to one another.

The lives of Gerali (Kara Ali), Atçalı Kel Mehmet, Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe, and Yörük Ali Efe are undoubtedly the subject of a separate article.

The poor people saw the Efes as a kind of Köroğlu of their time against the oppression of the Ayan (local notables), the tax farmers (tax collectors), the gendarmerie, the Régie guards, and the feudal lords.

After the stanzas taken from the folk songs sung for Kara Ali Efe, who took to the mountains against the oppression of the feudal lord Karaosmanoğlu, and for Çakırcalı, the nightmare of the Régie guards and feudal lords, it is time to bring the subject to today's "Fake Efes."

Gerali Folk Song

Gerali is taller than a cypress tree                                   

He watches the mountains in summer and autumn                                  

In İzmir, the daughter of Balyoz                                   

"I will wrap my arms around you," says Gerali    

I left Adelle with my hands tied                               

In the Manisa mansion, my noose is ready 

What did I do to you, oh Karaosmanoğlu                          

My youth is gone, says Gerali  

 Two separate stanzas from the Çakırcalı folk song

The poplars of İzmir   

Their leaves are falling

They call us Çakıcı

We raid the mansions

My grave faces Bozdağ

The soil above is the tears of my eyes

Wake up mother, wake up, see what happened

The top of Karıncalı mountain is filled with blood

By some researchers, the Efe phenomenon of the period described is characterized as "Social Banditry." The life stories of the Efes, who took up arms and went to the mountains against the cruelty of the order and the oppression of the landlords, feudal lords, guards, and gendarmerie, would become legendary over time through the narratives and melodic embroidery of the people. 

Leaving the Efes, the folk heroes of the 19th and early 20th centuries, in the mountains and Yörük camps they inhabited, it is time to bring the subject to today's fake Efes.

It is a known reality that titles such as "Heeled Efe / Non-heeled Efe" given generously to certain politicians in the Aegean region gain political points and increase popularity. It is time to question these kinds of title usurpations made from the Efes of the past, whose stories are told from tongue to tongue and generation to generation, and who took from the rich to give to the poor.

Apart from the Efes who rebelled against injustice and took to the mountains, those who took to the mountains to steal, plunder, and rob the people were locally called "Çalı kakıcı" (thieves/looters).

Do you think the Efes of the past would believe it if they were told that one day, today's political "çalı kakıcı"—who reap rent from the local and the general, and who pledge allegiance to the power of the day instead of being accountable to the people—would be applauded and sanctified as Efes?