Khoja Niyaz
Khoja Niyaz خوجا نىياز | |
|---|---|
 Khoja Niyaz in front ofKökbayraq | |
| President of the Islamic Republic of East Turkestan | |
| In office November 12, 1933 – April 16, 1934 | |
| Preceded by | Polity established |
| Succeeded by | Polity abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1889 Kumul,Xin gian g,Qing China |
| Died | August 21, 1941 Urumchi,Xin gian g,Republic of China |
| Nationality | Uyghur |
Khoja Niyaz,alsoKhoja Niyaz Haji(Uyghur:خوجا نىياز ھاجى,romanized:Xoja Niyaz Haji;Chinese:Cùng thêm ni nha tư;pinyin:Héjiā Níyázī;1889 – 21 August 1941), was aUyghur independence movementleader who led several rebellions inXin gian gagainst theKumul Khanate,the Chinese governorJin Shurenand later theHuiwarlordMa Zhongying.He is best remembered as the first and only president of the short-livedIslamic Republic of Eastern Turkestanfrom November 1933 until the republic's defeat in April 1934.
Early life and uprisings[edit]
Khoja was born in 1889 in a small mountainous village inKumul Prefecture,Xin gian g.He participated in his first rebellion at the age 18, joining a 1907 uprising of peasants and mountaineers againstShah Maqsud,hereditary ruler of Kumul (who was allowed semi-autonomous rule byQing China). After being defeated, he fled to theTurpanregion, where he entered "Astana," religious school and became acquainted with future prominentUyghurTurpan revolutionary leaders, brothers Maksut andMahmut Muhiti.After one year of studying, he left Turpan and went on theHajjtoMecca,adding to his name the title "Hajji".
In 1912, Khoja returned toXin gian gwhere another uprising against theKumul Khanate,led by Temur Halpa, was developing and he joined the rebellion, quickly being promoted to the position of an adviser to the leader of uprising. Following the treacherous killing of Temur Halpa at the banquet on September 06 1913, held by Xin gian g GovernorYang Zengxin,who previously had mediated the conflict and raised Temur Halpa to the position of Commander of Provincial Troops in the Kumul Region, Hoja Niyaz was forced again to flee.
In 1916, he came to the then-Russianboundary town ofJarkent,Semiryechye Oblast,founded and populated byIliUyghurs who had escaped to Russia after 1881, whenQing troopsre-took theIli valleyof Xin gian g. InJarkent,he served under local Uyghur leader and wealthy merchant Valiahun Yuldashev and, after theRussian Revolutionerupted in 1917, helped to organize small, local Uyghur self-defense groups. After theRussian Civil War came to Semiryechye,Hoja Niyaz met Uyghur revolutionary Abdulla Rozibakiev, one of the founders of theInqlawi Uyghur Ittipaqi( "Revolutionary Uyghur Union" ) in 1921, a revolutionary nationalistic organization under umbrella of theComintern.
Revolutionary leader[edit]
In 1923, Khoja Niyaz returned to Xin gian g, first toGhulja,then toUrumchi,where he was involved in organizing underground revolutionary groups and preparing a new rebellion. In 1927, he returned to Kumul for the funeral of his father, and after the death of Kumul Khanate ruler Shah Mahsut in March 1930, Hoja Niyaz was appointed to the high position of adviser to new ruler of the Kumul Khanate.
Nevertheless, the Xin gian g GovernorJin Shuren(1928–1933), sought to take advantage of the power vacuum left after the death of Shah Mahsut and decreed the abolition of theKumul Khanate,preventing the new ruler, Shah Mahsut's son Nazir, from assuming control. At the same time,Jin Shurenarranged for Han Chinese migrants fromGansuto settle in the abolished Khanate. These events sparked theKumul Rebellionin 1931, which was led byHuiwarlordMa ZhongyinginGansuafter his June 1931 meeting with Hoja Niyaz andYulbars Khan.Ma Zhongying agreed to add his troops to the campaign to topple Jin Shuren. Hoja Niyaz also received support from theMongolian People's Republic:in autumn 1931 they provided him 600 sets of winter clothes, felt tents and 120 rifles (which were actually bartered for horses, one rifle was given for two horses).
Rebellion soon spread from the East of Xin gian g throughout the whole province and by February, 1933, when Urumqi was laid siege by joint Uyghur and Hui troops, the Provincial Government controlled no more than 10% of Xin gian g's territory. On April 12, 1933, GeneralSheng Shicaicame to power in Xin gian g after former GovernorJin Shurenwas toppled off in March by the mutinied Russian Cossack troops ( retreated to Northern Xin gian g in 1921 after losing civil war in Russia), who previously were mobilized by Jin Shuren into Provincial Army in late 1931 in desperate attempt to quell Rebellion. Sheng Shicai gained support from USSR after confirming all secret agreements that previous Governor concluded with theSoviet Unionand in June 1933 he made an alliance with Hoja Niyaz againstMa Zhongying.Previous alliance between Hoja Niyaz and Ma Zhongying was destroyed following the battle ofJimsar.On this battle Hoja-Niyaz forces suffered heavy casualties, but forced garrison of Jimsar to surrender. Ma Zhongying's forces during the battle guarded mostly the flanks and the back of joint troops, while Uyghur troops were put into the frontal attack on Jimsar fortress. Hoja-Niyaz agreed to provide the free retreat of besieged garrison in exchange of weapons of the fortress' Arsenal. But at night, Ma Zhongying suddenly came to the fortress, seized all Arsenal (12,000 rifles, 6 machine guns and 500,000 bullets) and joined Chinese garrison to his Tungan troops. He refused to share weapons of the seized Arsenal with Hoja-Niyaz, that outraged the latter. This happened on May 28, 1933 and on the next few days Hoja-Niyaz already met with the representatives of Soviet Consul-General in UrumchiApressoffto start peaceful talks with Sheng Shicai. Agreement of alliance betweenSheng Shicaiiand Hoja-Niyaz was signed on June 4, 1933 and at this time the Soviets gave Hoja Niyaz "nearly 2,000 rifles with ammunition, a few hundred bombs and three machine guns."[1]The newly appointed Soviet Consul in Urumqi,Garegin Apresoff,who arranged negotiations, forced Hoja Niyaz to turn his troops against Tungans (Hui) forces, and that eventually led to the rebellion's turning into massacres between different national groups, and its defeat in the hands of Provincial troops.
Hoja Niyaz marched his troops across Dawan Ch'eng to Toksun, where he was defeated at theBattle of Toksunby Tungans under General Ma Shih-ming.[2]Hoja Niyaz then fell back to Kashgar on January 13, 1934, retreating fromAksuthrough a 300 miles-long march byTengri Taghmountain road along the Soviet/Chinese border, bypassing this way generalMa Fuyuan's Tungan forces who waited him on the main road from Aksu to Kashgar, and assumed the Presidency of the self-proclaimedTurkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan.Joining the break-away republic went against his deal of June 4, 1933 with Sheng Shicai (the so-calledJimsarAgreementin 7 articles, in this Agreement Hoja-Niyaz dropped his claims to Northern Xin gian g orJungariain exchange of recognizing his rights for the whole territory south ofTengri Tagh,includingKashgaria,Turpan DepressionandKumul Depression,in this Agreement all this vast territory was granted "Autonomy" and Chinese promised not to cross Tengri Tagh, that divides Xin gian g onto two parts ). However, offensive of Tungan forces, direct Soviet military intervention into Xin gian g and Soviet ultimate support of Sheng Shicai led to the defeat of East Turkestan Republic by June 1934.
Death[edit]
There are contradictory statements about his death. Though appointed bySheng Shicaias the Vice-Chairman of the Xin gian g Government and "Civil Governor for life" of the Xin gian g province in 1934, Khoja Niyaz actually was separated from his troops and held in Urumchi as a puppet under close supervising of Soviet agents. He was denied his request to meetStalinin person and to settle the Xin gian g issue in accordance with theRight of nations to self-determination,which was officially supported by the USSR in its revolutionary doctrine. In November 1937, following the Rebellion of the 6th Uyghur Division under generalMahmut Muhitiagainst the Provincial Xin gian g Government atKashgar,Artush,Yarkand,Aksu,KuchaandKarasharin April-October 1937 in Southern Xin gian g, Khoja Niyaz was arrested inUrumchiand allegedly executed in 1938. The death penalty was approved byMoscow,Khoja Niyaz and his 120 followers were labeled as counter-revolutionary "Trotskysts"and" Japanese agents. "Khoja Niyaz rejected all accusations against him saying that they were all fabricated bySheng Shicai.Being sentencing to the death penalty, Khoja Niyaz said in his last words:This death sentence is not new for me. Actually, I have died in a day when I came to Urumchi(he meant his departure fromAksuin August 1934 after negotiations with Soviet Consul-General inUrumchiGaregin Apresov,who urged him to come to Urumchi and accept the offer from Sheng Shicai to become a Vice-Chairman of Xin gian g Government, Commander of 6th Uyghur Division Mahmut Muhiti was against this move, considering that it will affect badly Uyghur cause for independence),I will die, but my People will continue to live...Revolution will not be terminated.He reportedly told a visitor (Ziyauddin) that "I trusted Apresoff and relied on his guarantee, now look what Sheng Shih-ts'ai has done to me. I'm his prisoner. Go tell Apresoff of my predicament",but Apresov was nowhere to be found.[3]Other versions speculate he was held alive in prison as far as summer 1943, when he was executed on the orders ofChiang Kai-shek,who restoredKuomintangcontrol over Xin gian g in 1943 following Sheng Shicai expelling Soviet military personnel and advisers from the province. It is reported that he was strangled to death in his cell after spending 14 months in jail.[3]
The name Niyas was used for a son ofYulbars Khan.[4]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Andrew D. W. Forbes (1986).Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949.Cambridge, England: CUP Archive. p. 145.ISBN0-521-25514-7.Retrieved2010-06-28.
- ^Andrew D. W. Forbes (1986).Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949.Cambridge, England: CUP Archive. p. 111.ISBN0-521-25514-7.Retrieved2010-06-28.
- ^abPahta, Ghulamuddin. "Soviet-Chinese collaboration in Eastern Turkestan: the case of the 1933 uprising".Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs:250.
- ^Andrew D. W. Forbes (9 October 1986).Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949.CUP Archive. p. 225.ISBN978-0-521-25514-1.
Sources[edit]
- Pahta, Ghulamuddin (1990)."Soviet-Chinese collaboration in Eastern Turkestan: the case of the 1933 uprising".Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs.11(2): 250.doi:10.1080/02666959008716168.