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