[8][9][10][11] His family, House of Dipsheu, was originally a famous pirate and bandit clan from the Ubykhia province of Circassia, who were exiled to Ottoman Empire in the 1860s during the Circassian genocide.

Ethem the Circassian had blond hair, light blue eyes, and very pale skin, as described by Halide Edib Adıvar.

He later founded Kuvâ-yi Seyyâre which was the only organized military force in Anatolia during 1919–1920 period between the Armistice of Mudros and the Treaty of Sèvres.

He coordinated his military operations with Ali Fuat Pasha in Ankara and harassed the invading Greek armies with his fast cavalry.

Ethem claimed that his soldiers made up of Circassians and mountain clans would never obey anyone other than him, and so he should be given the rank of commander in the army.

Although Mustafa Kemal had a positive view of Ethem, Ismet Pasha did not like him, and so he was not taken seriously, and the newly reconstituted Turkish Army had to put down the situation whilst also fighting the Greeks at First Battle of İnönü.

[18][4][19] The forces were a branch of the Kuva-yi Milliye, and played a big role in significantly slowing down the Greek army during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).