Sıdkî Baba

Sıdkî Baba
Born	1865 Yenice, Tarsus, Mersin, Turkey
Died	1928
Occupation	Poet

Zeynel Abidin, known by the pen names Sıdkî Baba, or Sıtkı Pervane, was born in 1865 in the village of Yenice, located in the Tarsus district of Mersin, Turkey. His father’s name was Mehmet, and his mother was named Eşeli. Sıdkî’s family lineage traces back to the Dede Garkın tribe and religious order, which is a branch of the Bozok division of the Oghuz Turks.

Sıdkî lost his father at a young age and was raised as an orphan. Together with his brother, he learned to read and write in the village medrese (religious school). According to tradition, he began composing poetry under the pseudonym Pervane when he was only six years old. At the age of twelve, despite his mother’s objections, he left home driven by a spiritual yearning and traveled to the Hacı Bektaş Veli Lodge, which he had heard of for its renown. Based on his poems, it is understood that he was twelve years old when he became affiliated with the spiritual guide Feyzullah Efendi, the head of the Hacı Bektaş Lodge, in the year 1876.

Two years later, overwhelmed by longing for his mother, Sıdkî received permission from his mürşid (spiritual mentor) to return to Yenice for three months. Upon his return to the Lodge, he learned that Feyzullah Efendi had passed away, and his son Cemalettin Efendi had assumed leadership of the dergâh. Sıdkî’s devotion to Cemalettin Efendi—his spiritual mentor and also his former classmate from the medrese—was so profound that at the age of fourteen, Cemalettin Efendi bestowed upon him the pen name Sıdkî, replacing the earlier name Pervane that he had used in his poetry. Sıdkî later expressed the significance of this transformation in his verse:

“On dört yıl dolandım pervanelikte / Sıdkî ismin buldum divanelikte” (“For fourteen years I wandered in the state of a pervane / I found the name Sıdkî in the realm of spiritual ecstasy”)

Sıdkî Baba accompanied Cemalettin Efendi on all of his visits to the talips (spiritual followers) and was formally granted a berat (official decree) approved by the Hacı Bektaş Veli Lodge, confirming him as Cemalettin Efendi’s authorized khalifa (successor) and representative.

In July 1893, Sıdkî Baba married Hatice, the daughter of Ali Ağa, who was a descendant of the Mehmed Dede lineage from the village of İmad Hüyüğü in the Alaca district of Çorum and had been serving at the Hacıbektaş Lodge. Shortly after the marriage, during his visits to various villages of the talips, Sıdkî Baba came upon the village of Harız (present-day Gümüştepe) in the district of Merzifon and took a liking to it. He subsequently settled there with his wife.

Because his first residence was established in Harız, his population registration was recorded there, his children were born in the village, and he spent the remainder of his life in this location, many sources refer to him as being from Merzifon or Harız. Sıdkî Baba himself also emphasized his identity as a native of Merzifon on various occasions.

Spending the rest of his life in Merzifon, Sıdkî Baba served for many years as the regional “Baba” (spiritual leader) of the Hacıbektaş Veli Lodge. During this time, he also oversaw the restoration of the türbes (mausoleums) of Piri Baba and Koçu Baba located in the area. During World War I, at the request of Cemalettin Çelebi, Sıdkî Baba served as an honorary captain (fahri yüzbaşı) in the volunteer mücahit (combatant) battalion formed by Alevi communities in defense of the homeland. He notes in his poetry that other poets, such as Agahî Baba and Yediharf, also participated in this battalion.

Sıdkî Baba devoted 51 of his 63 years of life in service to the Hacı Bektaş Veli Lodge. After settling in the village of Harız in Merzifon, his first wife, Hatice, passed away in 1911. Subsequently, he married a woman named Naciye from the same village. From his first marriage, he had four daughters—Kenzi, Fadime, Güleser, and Sakine—and a son named Ali Baki. From his second marriage, he had a son named Hamdullah and two daughters named Kadıncı and Naile. Sıdkî Baba passed away in 1928 in the village of Harız, where his grave is also located.

Detailed information about Sıdkî Baba’s life can be found in two key works: Şeyh Cemaleddin Efendinin Aşığı Halk Ozanı Sıdkî Baba: Hayatı ve Şiirleri (Ankara, 1984), written by his grandson Muhsin Gül, and Sıdkî Baba Divanı (Ankara, 2013) by Baki Yaşa Altınok.

In his poetry, Sıdkî Baba placed strong emphasis on themes such as love, tolerance, unity, solidarity, and brotherhood. He also addressed various historical events, including the Turkish War of Independence. Over 800 of his poems are preserved in cönks (anthologies) and manuscript collections. Notably, he composed the Hürriyet ve Müsavat Destanı (“Epic of Liberty and Equality”) on the occasion of the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era, and the Sulh Destanı (“Epic of Peace”) at the conclusion of the War of Independence.

Renowned for his strong poetic technique, Sıdkî Baba demonstrated great skill in word choice. He composed his poems using both the syllabic (hece) and prosodic (aruz) meters, showcasing his mastery of traditional Turkish poetic forms.

There is a distinct elegance in the simplicity of Sıdkî Baba’s poetry. He avoids reliance on foreign vocabulary, instead employing the language of the people. His themes reflect the concerns, joys, and everyday experiences of the common folk. In essence, his verses have been described as “pure, unfiltered expressions of our traditional folk poetry” Aslanoğlu 1973: 24, as cited in Altınok 2013: 18–19

Sıdkî Baba’s poetry exhibits the full spectrum of the Alevi-Bektashi literary tradition. Terms such as meydan (ritual gathering place), talip (seeker), muhip (devotee), dervish, ayin-i cem (ritual ceremony), dört kapı (four spiritual gates), and mürşid (spiritual guide) are commonly found and form the foundation of his poetic expression. His deyişler (lyrical poems), semahs (ritual dances), and nefes (spiritual hymns) continue to be widely performed within Alevi communities today (İvgin 1987: 143, as cited in Altınok 2013: 19).

Sıdkî Baba was also among the poets who influenced Âşık Veysel. Researcher İbrahim Aslanoğlu recounts, in an interview with Veysel, that when the latter lost his eyesight, his father gave him a saz (a traditional stringed instrument) to distract him. He also taught him to memorize verses compiled from renowned poets such as Pir Sultan Abdal, Âşık Veli, Hüseyin, Kul Sabri, Kemter Baba, and Sıdkî Baba (Aslanoğlu 1973: 24, as cited in Altınok 2013: 19).

One of Sıdkî Baba’s most famous works is the poem popularized by the musician Ali Ekber Çiçek under the title “Haydar Haydar.” The original line, “on dört yıl dolandım pervanelikte” (“for fourteen years I wandered as a moth around the flame”), refers to the poet’s use of the pseudonym Pervane for fourteen years. However, in Ali Ekber Çiçek’s rendition, this line was adapted to “on dört bin yıl gezdim” (“I wandered for fourteen thousand years”), and has been recorded and circulated in that form (Altınok 2013: 21–22).

Sıdkî Baba received a sound medrese (Islamic school) education. Among his known works is the Nasihatnâme (“Book of Counsel”), a 1,393-verse didactic poem originally written in rik’a script. He also produced a cönk (manuscript collection) in nesih script, a 104-verse composition titled Destan-ı Hürriyet-i Osmanî (“The Epic of Ottoman Liberty”) written in rik’a, and a collection of elegies and laments composed upon the death of his spiritual guide, Şeyh Cemalettin Efendi.

A highly skilled âşık (folk poet), Sıdkî Baba was proficient in both the hece (syllabic) and aruz (metrical) forms, and demonstrated a solid understanding of divan (classical Ottoman) poetry. His deyişler and semahs, many of which have been adapted as folk songs, remain popular among audiences (İvgin 1987: 143–157). As a poet affiliated with the Bektashi order, Sıdkî Baba, like all Alevi-Bektashi poets, frequently explored themes such as love for the Ehl-i Beyt (the Prophet Muhammad’s family), praise of Imam Ali, and devotion to Hacı Bektaş Veli (İvgin 1976: 10–11).

Sıdkî Baba is well known throughout Anatolia, especially among communities adhering to the Alevi-Bektashi faith. His poems are often performed during cem rituals as part of sacred duties such as semah, düvaz imam, and tevhid, and continue to be an essential part of Alevi liturgical tradition. Many of his verses have been performed and recorded by renowned musicians and folk poets, including Ali Ekber Çiçek, Âşık Gülabi, Dertli Divani, Âşık Sefai, Arif Sağ, Erdal Erzincan, Cengiz Özkan, and Erkan Oğur. Dozens of his works have been included in the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) repertoire and performed by various vocalists and instrumentalists.

In recognition of his cultural significance, two symposia on Sıdkî Baba were organized by the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality—the first in 2016 and the second in 2018. The proceedings of the first symposium were published under the title “Yeniceli Âşık Sıdkî Baba ve Popülerlik Çerçevesinde Kültür Sanat Sempozyumu Bildirileri” (“Yeniceli Âşık Sıdkî Baba and Cultural Arts Within the Framework of Popularity”) (Çıblak Coşkun et al., 2016).

Sıdkî Baba’s poetry reveals a deep knowledge of Alevi-Bektashi tradition and spiritual discourse. In addition to his poems, he authored a religious and mystical didactic work titled Nasîhatnâme-i Sıdkî, written in mesnevi form. This text, structured into four sections and forty spiritual ranks (makams), addresses themes of sharia (Islamic law), tariqa (spiritual path), marifa (spiritual knowledge), and haqiqa (ultimate truth). In exploring these themes, he employs a clear, simple, and accessible language, avoiding unnecessary complexity. His works contain relatively few Arabic and Persian expressions, and he frequently uses rich and full rhymes—sometimes formed with Arabic and Persian words, and other times entirely in Turkish (Aydoğan 2011).^[1]