37°21′36.46″N45°10′15.08″E / 37.3601278°N 45.1708556°E /37.3601278; 45.1708556

Thesiege of Dimdim was an operation orchestrated by theSafavid rulerShah Abbas I (r. 1588–1629), in which his forces besieged theDimdim Castle of the rebelliousKurdishEmirate of Bradost from November 1609 to the summer of 1610. The siege was led by thegrand vizierHatem Beg Ordubadi, who captured the castle and massacred its garrison.

Throughout the 17th-century,Safavidshahs (kings) ofIran opted to use harsh measures against the uncooperative Kurdish tribes in the western part of the country.Shah Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) had to decide whether to crack down on Kurdish parties that were in a semi-subordinate position or to maintain a reasonable equilibrium between the Kurds andTurkmens. In the case of Amir Khan Lepzerin, the ruler of theEmirate of Bradost, who constructed theDimdim Castle close to the western part of theLake Urmia and rebelled against the Safavids, Shah Abbas I chose the first course of action.^[1]

There are well documented historical accounts of a long siege from 1609 to 1610 betweenKurds and the Safavids. The Kurds were at a disadvantage numerically and technologically. After a siege lasting almost a year, the Safavid Grand VizierHatem Beg Ordubadi captured the fort and massacred the Kurdish garrison.^[2]

After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November 1609 to the summer of 1610, Dimdim was captured. All the defenders were killed. Shah Abbas I ordered a general massacre in Bradost andMukriyan (reported by Iskandar Beg Turkoman, Safavid Historian in the BookAlam Aray-e Abbasi) and resettled theAfshar tribe in the region while deporting many Kurdish tribes toKhorasan region. Shortly after the execution of Bodagh Soltan, theMokri governor ofMaragheh, Abbas married Bodagh’s reputable sister in 1610.^[3][4] No issue is recorded from this marriage. Although Safavid historians (like Iskandar Beg ) depicted the first siege of Dimdim as a result of Kurdish mutiny or treason, in Kurdish oral traditions (Beytî Dimdim), literary works (Dzhalilov, pp. 67–72), and histories, it was treated as a struggle of the Kurdish people against foreign domination. The first literary account of this siege is written byFaqi Tayran.^[2]

• Atmaca, Metin (2021). "Negotiating Political Power in the Early Modern Middle East: Kurdish Emirates between the Ottoman Empire and Iranian Dynasties (Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries)". In Bozarslan, Hamit; Gunes, Cengiz; Yadirgi, Veli (eds.).The Cambridge History of the Kurds. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-1108473354.
• Hassanpour, Amir (1995)."Dimdim". InYarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. VII/4: Deylam, John of–Divorce IV. In modern Persia. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 404–405.ISBN 978-1-56859-022-6.

• Battle of Dimdim
• Conflicts in 1609
• Conflicts in 1610
• Battles involving Safavid Iran
• History of West Azerbaijan province
• 1609 in Asia
• 1610 in Asia

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