Sabit Damulla Abdulbaki
Encyclopedia
Life
Sabit Damulla Abdulbaqi was born in 1883, in county of AtushArtux
Artux, Atush or Atushi is a county-level city in Xinjiang. The area is 15,509 km² and the total population is 200,000 . Artux is the seat of Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture....
in the
Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
vilayet, in Qeshqer (astern Turkistan]), Turkestan
Turkestan
Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...
, where he received religious education. In 1920s he graduated from Urumchi Academy of Politics and Laws in Urumqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
(later becoming Xinjiang University
Xinjiang University
Xinjiang University is one of the major universities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, and is a national key university...
), that was opened by Governor Yang Zengxin
Yang Zengxin
Yang Zengxin , born in Mengzi, Honghe, Yunnan in 1859, was the ruler of Xinjiang after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 until his assassination in 1928.-Life:...
in 1924 and originally performed courses in Chinese, Uyghur, and Russian. After completing university, he visited the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, touring Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia; he also visited the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, where he continued his studies. In 1932 he returned to Eastern Turkistan through India, where he joined Emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
Muhammad Amin Bughra
Muhammad Amin Bughra
Muhammad Amin Bughra also Muḥammad Amīn Bughra , Муххамад Эмин Бугро, was a Turkic Muslim leader, who planned to set up an independent state, the First East Turkestan Republic....
in preparing a rebellion in Khotan
Khotan
Hotan , or Hetian , also spelled Khotan, is the seat of the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴/於窴 and to 19th-century European explorers as Ilchi....
district. Sabit Damulla was convinced that the Islamic world was not interested in supporting Uyghur
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
independence, and so he turned to the Great Powers instead.
Achivements
Between November 12, 1933 and February 6, 1934 he was selected the prime minister of the short-lived Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (TIRET) in Kashgar. While Sabit Damulla Abdulbaki favoured the co-official "Republic of Uyghurstan" moniker, Muhammad Amin BughraMuhammad Amin Bughra
Muhammad Amin Bughra also Muḥammad Amīn Bughra , Муххамад Эмин Бугро, was a Turkic Muslim leader, who planned to set up an independent state, the First East Turkestan Republic....
opposed it, considering that to create a broad anti-Chinese and anti-Tungan front in East Turkistan, all of the Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
should be called "Turks", with no distinction of nationality. Sabit Damulla was also behind a creation of Independent Government in Khotan on March 16, 1933, which he proclaimed together with Emir Muhammad Amin Bughra. Later this Government expanded its authority to Kashgar and Aksu through the "Eastern Turkestan Independence Association" and contributed to the proclamation of a republic in the Old City of Kashgar on November 12, 1933. Khoja Niyaz Khaji
Hoja-Niyaz
Hoja Niyaz Haji also Khoja or Xoja Niyaz Haji was a Uyghur independence movement leader who led several rebellions in Xinjiang against the Kumul Khanate, the Chinese governor Jin Shuren, and later the Hui warlord Ma Chung-ying...
, the former leader of Kumul Rebellion
Kumul Rebellion
The Kumul Rebellion was a rebellion of Kumulik Uyghurs who conspired with the Chinese Muslim General Ma Zhongying to overthrow Jin Shuren, governor of Xinjiang. The Kuomintang wanted Jin removed because of his ties to the Soviet Union, so it approved of the operation while pretending to acknowledge...
, was invited by Sabit Damulla to Kashgar to assume presidency of the self- proclaimed republic.
Death
The circumstances of Abdulbaki's death are unknown. Contemporary sources say that Abdulbaki was executed by hanging in June 1934 in Aksu by Sheng ShicaiSheng Shicai
Sheng Shicai was a Chinese warlord who "ruled" Xinjiang province from April 12, 1933 to August 29, 1944....
's forces with the support of the Soviet Union. Later sources allege that he was imprisoned by Sheng in Urumqi, where he traded his translation skills for better conditions in his cell. Fellow Chinese Muslims such as Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
officer Liu Bin-Di
Liu Bin-Di
Liu Bin-Di was a Hui muslim KMT officer in Xinjiang, working for the Republic of China government and was sent by Ürümqi to subdue the Hi area. Turkic Muslim rebels backed by the Soviet Union were revolting against the Republic of China. His mission failed due to being long overdue...
provided him the Koran and other Arabic and Chinese Islamic texts to be translated into Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
. (The establishment of Islam in China in 650 stemmed from the delivery of a Quran by Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Usman to Tang
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
Emperor Gaozong in 650 and headed by Envoy Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas, one of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
's first companions) Liu had been dispatched from Urumchi to pacify the Hi region, but he was too late. It's unknown if this job was finished, Liu Bin-Di himself was shot dead by rebels in Ghulja in November, 1944 during revolt, that led to establishment of Second East Turkestan Republic
Second East Turkestan Republic
The Second East Turkestan Republic, usually known simply as the East Turkestan Republic , was a short-lived Soviet-backed Turkic people's republic which existed in the 1940s in three northern districts of Xinjiang province of the Republic of China, what is now the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous...
on November 12, 1944.