Nur Bekri

In thisUyghurname, thegiven nameisNur.Bekriis apatronymic,not a family name.

Nur Bekri
نۇر بەكرى Nỗ ngươi · bạch khắc lực
Nur in 2010
Director of theNational Energy Administration
In office 9 January 2015 – 2 October 2018
Premier	Li Keqiang
Preceded by	Wu Xinxiong
Succeeded by	Zhang Jianhua
Chairman of theXin gian g Uyghur Autonomous Region
In office 22 January 2008 – 31 December 2014
Party Secretary	Wang Lequan Zhang Chunxian
Preceded by	Ismail Tiliwaldi
Succeeded by	Shohrat Zakir
Personal details
Born	9 August 1961(1961-08-09)(age62) Bole(Bortala),Xin gian g,China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party(expelled; 1982–2019)
Alma mater	Xin gian g University Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	NỗNgươi·BạchKhắcLực
Traditional Chinese	NỗNgươi·BạchKhắcLực
Hanyu Pinyin	Nǔ'ěr Báikèlì
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Nǔ'ěr Báikèlì
Uyghur name
Uyghur	نۇر بەكرى‎
Transcriptions Siril Yëziqi Нур бəкри

Nur Bekri(Uyghur:نۇر بەكرى;Chinese:Nỗ ngươi · bạch khắc lực;born 9 August 1961) is a Chinese former politician ofUyghurethnicity, best known for his term as Chairman of theXin gian g Uyghur Autonomous Regionbetween 2008 and 2014. Between 2014 and 2018, he was vice-chairman of theNational Development and Reform Commissionand Director of theNational Energy Administration,with rank equivalent of a minister. Bekri was one of the highest ranked ethnic minority officials in the Chinese government.

Bekri was born and raised in Xin gian g. Prior to his transfer to Beijing, he spent his entire life in the region, aside from a short stint as the Deputy Mayor ofFeicheng,Shandong Province.He is also former Mayor ofÜrümqi,the capital of Xin gian g. In 2019, he was dismissed from his posts, expelled from the Communist Party and sentenced to life in prison forcorruption.

Early life

Nur Bekri was born in a village nearKazakhstanin an area under the jurisdiction ofBole(known in Uyghur as "Bortala" ),Xin gian g.He received education in the Chinese language since early childhood and spoke Uyghur and Mandarin Chinese at a native fluency. He spent only one year in high school before taking the university entrance examinations, and scored highest in his township. He was sought after as a "minority talent" by the nation's top universities.

Ultimately, Bekri enrolled atXin gian g Universityin September 1978 and studied political theory. He joined theChinese Communist Party(CCP) in December 1982. He stayed at his alma mater to serve as a lecturer for political theory after graduation, and was a prominent member of the localCommunist Youth Leagueorganization, rising to become the Xin gian g University Youth League organization's deputy chief in the late 1980s, eventually being promoted to the First Secretary (i.e. leader) of the Xin gian g University Youth League, a position he held until 1992.

Political career

Between 1993 and 1995 Bekri served in theKashgarregion as an assistant to the local governor. Between 1994 and 2002 Bekri served in a series of local political roles, including the vice-mayor ofFeicheng,Shandong province, the deputy Secretary-General of the Xin gian g regional government, the deputy party secretary and mayor ofÜrümqi.At age 37, Bekri was the youngest mayor of a provincial-level capital in China at the time. Bekri then worked in the Xin gian g regional government beginning in 2000, becoming a member of the Party Committee, then Deputy Party Secretary in January 2005.

Chairman of Xin gian g

Nur Bekri was appointed Chairman ofXin gian g Uyghur Autonomous RegionPeople's Government, replacingIsmail Tiliwaldi,who resigned as chairman in December 2007. At age 46, Bekri became one of the youngest provincial governors (or equivalents) in China. As Chairman, Bekri was nominally Xin gian g's top government official, but in practice was subordinate to the Communist Party Secretary for the region,Wang Lequan(term 1994–2010), thenZhang Chunxian(2010 onwards).

After the2009 Ürümqi riots,Bekri delivered the televised address in which he explained the situation that has led up to the violence and then condemned who he deemed to be coordinators of the attack.Bekri has been subject to criticism by Uyghur economist and scholarIlham Tohti,founder ofUyghur Online,a website that criticized the chairman and his policies.Tohti said that Bekri was "unqualified" for his position and that he "does not care about Uyghurs". Tohti was later jailed on charges of "separatism". TheWorld Uyghur Congressand some in the overseas Uyghur community also considered Bekri to be a "puppetof the Chinese government. "Bekri was the highest-ranked government official to deliver a televised speech on this issue.

As the highest ranked ethnic Uyghur official in the Xin gian g government, Bekri toed the party line on issues related to Xin gian g independence, often issuing official denunciations of what the government saw as religious extremism or terrorism. He was sometimes called "Nol Bekri", a Uyghur language pun on his name which roughly meant "nil Bekri" or "zero Bekri", referring to his being seen as having little to no power.

National Energy Administration

Bekri was transferred to theNational Energy Administration(NEA) under the powerfulNational Development and Reform Commission,a body with wide jurisdiction over economic development, in December 2014. He was replaced as Xin gian g Chairman byShohrat Zakir.By taking on the top job at the National Energy Administration, Nur Bekri broke the mold of Uyghur government leaders, taking on a substantive post completely unrelated to ethnic affairs. His first act as leader of the NEA was to crack down on corruption; one of his predecessorsLiu Tienanwent to jail for corruption in a high-profile case. Under Bekri's leadership, the NEA pledged massive investment into renewable energy, and closed down over 100 coal-fired power plants. He became an outspoken proponent of renewable energy, meeting global industry executives and touting that China was contributing "strength and wisdom" to the transformation of the global energy production.

Bekri was an alternate member of the17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Partyand a member of the18th Central Committee.He was the only ethnic Uyghur with full membership on the 18th Central Committee. He did not gain a seat on the 19th Central Committee despite not having reached retirement age, raising speculation in 2017 that he had fallen out of favor.

Investigation

In the early morning hours of 20 September 2018, Bekri was placed under investigation by theCentral Commission for Discipline Inspectionand theNational Supervisory Commission.His last public appearance was a visit to Russia with Vice-PremierHan Zheng.On 2 October 2018, he was removed as the deputy director of the NDRC and director of the National Energy Administration. On 16 March 2019, he was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party.French news agency AFP reported that Bekri had been arrested for graft, citing a statement on 2 April 2019 by national prosecutors;the report did not give a date for the former official's trial.

On 25 July, he stood trial for taking bribes at the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court. The public prosecutors accused him of taking bribes directly or via others money and property worth more than 79.1 million yuan ($11.5 million) serving in his various positions between 1998 and 2018 in return for assisting certain organizations and individuals with their business operations, project contracting and job promotion or transfer and trading power for sex.On 2 December, Nur Bekri was sentenced to life in prison byShenyangIntermediate People's Court for bribery worth more than 79.1 million yuan ($11.5 million) during his term as head of the energy administration, deputy chief of the Ürümqi committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Xin gian g, mayor of Ürümqi and chairman of the region.All of his private property was ordered confiscated, and the money and related interests that he had received in the form of bribes will be turned over to the national treasury.He pleaded guilty in court and expressed remorse.He said he would not appeal to a higher court.