[4] In a 16th-century Ottoman Defter, they are mentioned in the regions of Birecik, Kahta, Joum, Suruç and Ravendan, and called 'Taife-I Ekrâd-I Shikakî'.
According to their oral history they came from Diyarbakır in the 17th century and settled west of Lake Urmia,[7] which displaced the Donboli tribe.
[7] Jafar's brother Simko Shikak then began a rebellion against Qajar Iran with support from the Ottoman Empire.
He was responsible for leading the anti-Christian and anti-Alevi massacres in the area before and during World War I, and for the organised resistance against the regime of Reza Shah which eventually led to his death in 1930.
[10] The tribe inhabits the villages of Akçakuşak, Çevrimli, Düğünyurdu, Koçtepe and Yatağankaya in the Şırnak Province of Turkey.