Muhammad Amin Bughra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (August 2006) |
Muhammad Amin Bughra (1901-1965) was a Turkic Muslim leader, who planned to set up an independent state, the Eastern Turkestan Republic, with the support of the Axis Powers, in the spring of 1937.
Contents |
[edit] Muhammad Amin Bughra and the Eastern Turkestan Republic
In the spring of 1937, rebellion again broke out in southern Sinkiang. A number of factors contributed to the outbreak. In an effort to appease the Turkic Muslims, Sheng Shicai had appointed a number of their non-secessionist leaders, including Khoja Niyaz Hajji and Yulbars Khan, another leader of the Kumul uprising (February,1931- October,1931), to positions of influence in the provincial government, both in Di Hua (modern Ürümqi) and Kashgar.
At the same time, educational reforms, which attacked basic Islamic principles, and the atheistic propaganda program, which was being extended into the south, were further alienating the local population from Sheng's administration. In Kashgar Mahmud Shih-chang, a wealthy Muslim, former leader of the Turpan uprising (1932), and one of Sheng's appointees, became the focal point for opposition to the government.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan under Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan, Muhammad Amin Bughra, the exiled leader of the Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (TIRET, known as the first East Turkestan Republic), had approached the Japanese ambassador in 1935 with "a detailed plan proposing the establishment of an 'Eastern Turkestan Republic' under Japanese sponsorship, with munitions and finance to be supplied by Tokyo.... he suggested as the future leader of this proposed Central Asian 'Manchukuo' none other than Mahmud Shih-chang (Mahmut Muhiti - commander of the 6th Uyghur Division, stationed in Kashgar as part of the Sinkiang provincial armed forces, since August, 1934), amongst the invitation at such political entity as Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere how active member." However, this plan was aborted when Mahmud, fearful for his life, fled from Kashgar to India in April 1937.
Mahmud's flight sparked an uprising amongst his troops against provincial authorities. Those who were pro-Soviet in any way were executed, and yet another independent Muslim administration was set up under leadership of the close associate of Mahmut Muhiti General Abduniyaz (killed in action in Yarkand on August,15,1937), who adopted a command of troops. Sheng Shicai's provincial troops were defeated and routed by rebels in the fierce battle near city of Karashahr in July,1937, but eventually the uprising was quelled by Soviet troops (by the so-called Kyrgyz Brigade, consisted of two tactical groups- " Oshskaya " and " Narinskaya ", each included 2 mountain regiments, one of Red Army and one of NKVD, reinforced by armoured vehicles, tank battalion (21 BT-7) and aviation. There were unconfirmed reports of the use of chemical weapons by these intervention forces against rebels), invited by Sheng Shicai to intervene in the August, 1937.
In 1940, Muhammad Amin Bughra published the book Sharkiy Turkestan Tarihi (East Turkestan History) while in exile in Kashmir, which described the history of the region from ancient times to the present day, and contained an analysis of the reasons for the loss of its independence in the middle of the eighteenth century.
In December, 1948, Muhammad Amin Bughra was appointed by Chiang Kai Shek as vice-chairman of the Sinkiang Government, led by Burkhan Shahidi. He declared an alliance with the Chinese nationalists (Kuomintang) in order to gain freedom for Eastern Turkestan, under formal protection of the "Republic of China", and necessity of quelling all communist forces in Sinkiang.
[edit] Exile
Upon the approach of the Chinese People's Liberation Army to Sinkiang in September, 1949, Muhammad Amin Bughra fled to India, then to Turkey, where he joined another exiled Uyghur leader, Isa Yusuf Alptekin, former General Secretary of the National Assembly of TIRET or Republic of Uyghurstan (Uyghurstan, Jumhuriyeti - under such names were minted the first coins issued by the Republic). The latter Republic had existed a short time, from November 12, 1933, to February 6, 1934, and fell apart under attacks by the Hui armies of Ma Chung-ying, who was formally allied with the Kuomintang government in Nanking.
Muhammad Amin Bughra died in exile in Turkey in 1965.
[edit] References
- Mark Dickens. The Soviets in Xinjiang (1911-1949). 1990.
- Allen S. Whiting and General Sheng Shicai. Sinkiang: Pawn or Pivot ?. Michigan State University Press, USA, 1958.
