Fedai

Discussions on the final era of the Ottoman Empire, from the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 until the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
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Peter H
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Fedai

#1

Post by Peter H » 21 Jun 2007, 14:21

Mehmed Fasih's Diary,9th November 1915:
The prospect of success in the near future pleases me so much that I tell the battalion commander that I am prepared to be our regiment's 'fedai' when the new offensive starts .He is delighted.
fedai--means a 'man of sacrifice.'An ancient Islamic concept akin to Japanese kamikaze.

How common was this practise?

gallipoli1915
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#2

Post by gallipoli1915 » 26 Jun 2007, 02:51

Hi Peter.

It's an old and very common practice in Ottoman army...

This explanations between paranthesis is almost correct...
Fedai = Serdengeçti... You can find the meaning of this term in one of Mr. Saral's threads in this Forum..

Yetkin


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Peter H
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#3

Post by Peter H » 26 Jun 2007, 05:00

Hi Yetkin

Thanks.

Found it:
It is a very old and long Turkish military system. Actually they were called in the long history of Ottoman Turkish Army as "Serdengecti" which means that "those who gave up living"

Ser= is an persian origin word used by Turks means head
serdar= ruler, commander
serden= from the head
gecti= gone, gave up.
Serdengecti warriors of Turkish Army were lightly equipped. They had only bows arrowas and a Turkish sytle sword. They were mobile, quick and hard to resist, well trained soldiers. They had no armour. Serdengeci were the first ones to attack the enemy. They demoralized the enemy.


Regards
Peter

Tosun Saral
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#4

Post by Tosun Saral » 28 Jun 2007, 11:32

Serdengecti Agasi the commander of Serdengecti Units.(standing 2nd from the right)
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