Şefik was born an Albanian family in 1877 to Selim Bey in Kesriye which was part of the Province of Manastir of the Ottoman Empire in what is now Western Macedonia in modern Greece.

He served with distinction in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and as a result was made a staff officer at the headquarters of the 28th Brigade in Istanbul.

Şefik was able to avoid the large-scale purge of the Ottoman army officer corps at the end of the Balkan war and was appointed to command of the 3rd Battalion of the 25th Regiment in the 9th Division which was stationed in the Dardanelles area at Çanakkale in February 1914.

[3] While its officers were from various parts of the Ottoman Empire most of the conscripts and NCOs of the 27th Regiment came from the Gallipoli Peninsula which had a diverse ethnic composition.

Due to the Ottoman authorities being suspicious of the reliability of its Greek and Armenians citizens most of the regiments combat soldiers were local Muslims, though non-Muslims made up half of its auxiliary and support staff.

At the time that took over command the regiment was responsible for the southern region of the Gallipoli Peninsula (including Helles, Kabatepe and Suvla).

He began a program of digging and fortification of trenches in order to avoid his men being caught out in the open by naval shellfire.

Following a detailed inspection of the terrain Şefik identified that the Ariburnu (ANZAC Cove) region was a critical point and in early March 1915 commenced the construction of a comprehensive defensive system, though it was soon halted due a change in defensive strategy imposed by Otto Liman von Sanders, who believed in the deployment of light screening forces along the coastline while retaining strong mobile reserves and supplies in the interior.

After he was woken by the sound of artillery fire to the west, Sefik telephoned the observation post at Kaba Tepe, who confirmed that an Allied landing was underway.

[3] Following the evacuation of the Allied forces and the end of the Gallipoli campaign in January 1916 the 19th Division was attached to the XV Corps and sent to reinforce the Austrian-Hungarian Army on the Galician Front.

Şefik used the opportunity while in command of the 19th Division to put it through an intensive training regime which transformed it into the best in the Ottoman Army.

This conflict resulted in him being recalled and reassigned on 7 October 1916, to head the Izmir Division of Military Service, which was basically responsible for provincial recruitment.

Despite his valuable combat experience, Şefik was obviously out of favour with his superiors and served for the remainder of the war commanding various reserve divisions employed in home guard and coastal defense.

The Armistice of Mudros which came into effect on 1 November 1918 ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I.

The militias were offered the option of either joining the regular army as reserve units or if they would not fight or had committed crimes of demobilizing.