East Turkestan Republic

Overview

"East Turkestan Republic" designates two short-lived breakaway entities in Xinjiang (Republic of China): the First East Turkestan Republic (Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan, TIRET, 1933–1934), an Islamic republic centered on Kashgar, and the Second East Turkestan Republic (ETR, 1944–1946), a Soviet-backed republic in the three northern districts of Ili, Tarbagatay (Tacheng), and Altay, whose administrative successor (the Ili District Council / "Three Districts" administration) persisted until incorporation into the People's Republic of China in 1949. At its peak the Second ETR controlled roughly 274,000 km².

First East Turkestan Republic (1933–1934)

Emerging from the Kumul Rebellion against Governor Jin Shuren's abolition of the Kumul Khanate and Sinicization policies, the TIRET was proclaimed in Kashgar on 12 November 1933 by jadidist-influenced Turkic (mostly Uyghur) intellectuals. Khoja Niyaz was president and Sabit Damolla prime minister. Its constitution endorsed sharia as guiding law while emphasizing reform, education, and development. It claimed all of Xinjiang but effectively controlled the Kashgar, Khotan, Aksu, and Kizilsu areas. Appeals for recognition to the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, and British India failed. The republic was destroyed in 1934 by Hui (Tungan) forces under Ma Zhongying nominally allied with the Kuomintang, in the battles of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Yangi Hissar; the government fled Kashgar in February 1934 and the state dissolved by April 1934. Sheng Shicai subsequently consolidated power in Xinjiang with Soviet backing.

Second East Turkestan Republic (1944–1946) and the Three Districts administration (1946–1949). After Sheng Shicai broke with Moscow in 1942–1943 and was removed in 1944, the Soviet Union supported the Ili Rebellion, which began in November 1944; rebels captured Ghulja (Yining), and the ETR was proclaimed on 12–15 November 1944. Its president was Elihan Tore (an Uzbek), its vice president Hakim Beg Khoja (a Uyghur), with a multiethnic government including Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Tatars, and Russians; the population of about 705,000 (1944) was majority Kazakh (52.1%). The East Turkestan National Army, formed April 1945 with Soviet arms, training, and officers, fought Republic of China forces to a standstill along the Manasi River. The 1945 Sino-Soviet Treaty ended overt Soviet support; Soviet-mediated negotiations led, on 27 June 1946, to the dissolution of the ETR and its transformation into the Ili District Council within a Coalition Government of Xinjiang Province in Dihua (Ürümqi), with Three Districts leader Ehmetjan Qasimi as provincial vice chairman. The Three Districts retained de facto autonomy. In 1949, as the Chinese Communists prevailed, the region's leadership negotiated with Mao Zedong's envoy Deng Liqun; several top leaders died in a plane crash en route to Beijing. Xinjiang was incorporated into the PRC in late 1949, and the National Army was absorbed into the People's Liberation Army as its 5th Army Corps on 20 December 1949. Xinjiang became the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 1955.

Note on historiography

Chinese, Soviet, and Western sources interpret these entities differently — as national-liberation movements, Soviet satellite/puppet states, or separatist rebellions — and some events (e.g., the 1949 plane crash) remain subjects of scholarly debate.