Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe was a Zeybek

Zeybek

The zeybek is a form of folk dance peculiar to Western Anatolia in Turkey. It is named after the Zeybeks. The Greek popular dance of a similar name has different roots from the Turkish zeybek dance....

, who was active as an outlaw in the region enclosing İzmir

Izmir

Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

, Aydın

Aydin

Aydın is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River at a commanding position for the region extending from the uplands of the valley down to the seacoast...

, Denizli

Denizli

Denizli is a growing industrial city in the Southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about a hundred meters. Denizli is located in southwestern Turkey, in the country's Aegean Region.The city...

, Muğla

Mugla

Muğla is a city in south-western Turkey. It is the center of the district the same name, as well as of Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey´s Aegean coast. Muğla center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a distance of about from the nearest seacoast in the Gulf of...

 and Antalya

Antalya

Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...

 in modern western Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, from 1893 to 1910. Born in Ödemiş

Ödemis

Ödemiş is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey. North of Ödemiş, which is 113 km southeast of İzmir, are the ruins of Hypaiapa...

 in 1871, he went out to the Aegean

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

 mountains at the age of 22 seeking revenge for his father, Çakırcalı Koca Ahmet Efe, who was murdered by an Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 sergeant.

While the political standing of Çakırcalı is controversial, he is generally recognized as a legendary efe

Efe

The Efe were the leaders of Turkish irregular soldiers and guerillas from the Aegean Region of Anatolia, called the Zeibeks and Kızan. There are many theories about the origins of the word Efe....

, who was protective of common people, fought against authority, and established justice in regions of his control. In 1911, he was killed by Ottoman security forces during a fight and decapitated by his own men in order to prevent the identification of the body.

Until the year 1948 his body was on the mountain where he got killed; his younger daughter Hatice Akkas brought his body to the graveside Ödemis Kayaköy where her family has a glebe.

There are stories about him that he killed more than 1000 people; but he by himself killed no body.

The most famous folk song about him is Izmir'in Kavaklari. It used to be sang as Ödemis'in Kavaklari.
In 2010 the Ankara State Ballet played for the first time his life on the stage.