Hodja Niyaz

Hodja Niyaz

Hodscha Niyaz Hāddschi (also Hoja Niyaz Haji ; Uighur خوجا نىياز ھاجى Xoja Niyaz Haji , خوجا نياز حاجی, Chinese  和加 · 尼 牙 孜 · 阿吉 , Pinyin Héjiā Níyázī Ājí ; Russian Ходжа Нияз Chodscha Nijas ; * 1889 ; d. 1938 / 1943 , Urumqi ) was a leader of the Uighur independence movement. He led several rebellions in Xinjiang , both against the Khanate of Kumul , as well as against the Chinese Governor Jin Shuren and later against the Hui -Warlord Ma Zhongying. He also served as the first and only President of the short-lived Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (1933–34).

life and career

Niyaz was born in 1889 in a small mountain village in Kumul Prefecture, Xinjiang. At the age of 18 he took part in an uprising when he fought with farmers and mountain people in 1907 against Shah Mahsut , the Khan of Kumul, a semi-autonomous prince of the Qing dynasty . The uprising was put down and he fled to the Turpan region , where he attended an Astana , a religious school, where he came into contact with other future leaders, especially the brothers Maksut and Mahmut Muhiti. After a year of teaching, he left Turpan and went to Mecca on the Hajj and acquired the title "Hajji".

In 1912, Niyaz returned to Xinjiang, where an uprising against the Kumul Khanate was developing at the time . The leader of the uprising was Timur Halpa and Niyaz joined the insurgents. After Timur Halpa was murdered at a feast of the governor of Xinjiang, Yang Zengxin , who had previously promoted Halpa to commander of the provincial troops and mediated in the conflict, Niyaz had to flee.

In 1916 he stayed in the Russian border town of Sharkent , Semiretschje . The city lies in the area of ​​the Ili , where mainly Uyghurs settle, who fled to the Russian Empire after 1881 when the Qing dynasty (re) conquered the Ili Valley in Xinjiang. In Scharkent he worked for the local Uyghur leader and wealthy trader Valiahun Yuldashev and, after the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917 , he helped put together small Uighur self-defense troops . After the Russian Civil War also reached Semiretschje, Niyaz met the Uyghur revolutionary Abdulla Rozibakiev in 1921, one of the founders of the Inqlawi Uyghur Ittipaqi ("Revolutionary Uyghur Union"). This revolutionary nationalist organization was under the umbrella of the Comintern .

Revolutionary leader

In 1923 Niyaz returned to Xinjiang, first in Gulja , then in Ürümqi , where he took part in the organization of revolutionary groups in the underground and prepared a rebellion. In 1927 he returned to Kumul for his father's funeral, and after the death of the ruler of the Kumul Khanate, Shah Mahsut, in March 1930, he was appointed advisor to the new ruler.

At the same time, however, the governor of Xinjiang, Jin Shuren (1928–1933) tried to take advantage of the power vacuum and ordered the deposition of the khanate. He prevented Shah Mahsut's son Nazir from taking office. At the same time, Jin Shuren allowed Han Chinese settlers from Gansu to settle in the ruled area. These events sparked the 1931 Kumul Rebellion , led by Hui warlord Ma Zhongying, who met with Hodja Niyaz and Yulbars Khan in June 1931 . Ma Zhongying agreed that he would use his troops to overthrow Jin Shuren. Hodscha Niyaz also received support from the Mongolian People's Republic : In autumn 1931 he received 600 sets of winter clothing, tents and 120 rifles from there.

The rebellion quickly spread across east Xinjiang and then across the province. In February 1933, Urumqi was besieged by Uyghurs and Hui and the provincial government only controlled 10% of the territory of Xinjiang. General Sheng Shicai came to power on April 12, 1933 after Jin Shuren was ousted in March by a mutiny by the Russian Cossacks . Sheng Shicai received support from the USSR after signing off all of the secret deals his predecessor made with the Soviet Union . In June 1933 he entered into an alliance with Hodscha Niyaz against Ma Zhongying. The alliance between Niyaz and Ma Zhongying was broken by the battle of Jimsar . Niyaz had suffered heavy losses, but was able to force the defenders to surrender. During this battle, Ma Zhongying's units mainly protected the flanks and rearguard of the common entourage, while the Uighur troops were placed in the main battle lines against the fortress of Jimsar. Niyaz agreed to allow the garrison to move freely in exchange for the weapons, but at night Ma Zhongying raided the fortress, looted the arsenal (12,000 rifles, 6 machine guns, and 500,000 rounds of ammunition) and incorporated the Chinese garrison into his Tungan formations. He refused to share the stolen weapons with Niyaz. That happened on May 28, 1933 and just a few days later Niyaz met with agent of the Soviet Consul General in Urumqi, Garegin Apressoff, to begin peace talks with Sheng Shicai. The Sheng Shicai-Hodja-Niyaz treaty was signed on June 4, and the Soviets provided Niyaz with "nearly 2,000 rifles with ammunition, a few hundred bombs and three machine guns." The newly appointed consul in Urumqi, Apresoff, who also led the negotiations, urged Niyaz to lead his troops against the Tungans (Hui), which led to a series of massacres of various population groups and ultimately to the suppression of the rebellion by the provincial troops.

Niyaz led his troops through Dawan Cheng to Toksun , where he was defeated in the Battle of Toksun by Tungans under General Ma Shiming. Hodscha Niyaz retired to Kashgar on January 13, 1934 and fled Aksu on a 300 mile march (480 km) along the Tengri Tagh on the Soviet-Chinese border, bypassing Ma Fuyuan's Tungan troops who were carrying him expected on the main route from Aksu to Kashgar. In Kashgar he accepted the presidency of the newly proclaimed Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan . The connection with the establishment of this separatist republic violated his agreement of June 4, 1933 with Sheng Shicai ( Jimsar Agreement ). In this 7-section agreement, Niyaz relinquished his claims to northern Xinjiang ( Dzungaria ) and in return received recognition of rights for the entire territory south of the Tengri Tagh (Tianshan), including Kashgar , the Turpan Depression and the Kumul Depression ( Hami). In this treaty the entire area was guaranteed "autonomy" and the Chinese promised not to exceed the Tengri Tagh. However, an offensive by the Tungan troops, Soviet military interventions and Soviet support for Sheng Shicai soon led to the defeat of the Islamic Republic of East Turkestan in June 1934.

death

There are conflicting reports of his death. Although Sheng Shicai made him vice-chairman of the government of Xinjiang and "civil governor for life" in 1934, he was sealed off and kept as a puppet by Soviet agents in Urumqi. His request to speak to Stalin personally and to clarify the Xinjiang question in accordance with the right of self-determination of the peoples , as it was officially announced by the USSR in its revolutionary doctrine, was denied him. In April 1937, after the rebellion of the 6th Uyghur Division under General Mahmut Muhiti against the provincial government in Kashgar , Niyaz was arrested in Urumqi and allegedly executed in 1938. Moscow upheld the death penalty . Hodja Niyaz and his 120 followers have been described as anti-revolutionary " Trotskyists " and " Japanese agents". Niyaz denied all charges, stating that it was all a Sheng Shicai conspiracy against him. His last words are passed down: “This death sentence is not new to me. In fact, I died when I came to Urumqi. I will die, but my people will live on ... The revolution is not over yet. "

Other sources report that he was held in prison until the summer of 1943 and executed on the orders of Chiang Kai-shek , who restored control of the Kuomintang over Xinjiang in 1943 and ousted the Soviets and their advisors.

Quotes

Sven Hedin passed on a saying by "Niaz Haji":

“No man can hurt me. But these Tungans are not people. They are wild beasts that sneak the streets. Talking to wild animals is hopeless. They always have their rifles and pistols ready. They don't understand any other language. "

There is also a poem floating around about Niyaz and his battles.

Father Hodjam Niaz Ghazi
His cannons kill five.
When he fights with the Tungan, he
kills thousands of war victims.

Aftermath

Yulbars Khan named one of his sons "Niyas".

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The rifles were actually exchanged for horses.
2. ↑ The Cossacks had withdrawn to North Xinjiang during the Russian Civil War in 1921 and were recruited by Jin Shuren to suppress the rebellion.
3. ↑ "nearly 2,000 rifles with ammunition, a few hundred bombs and three machine guns." Andrew DW Forbes: Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949 . CUP Archives, Cambridge, England 1986, ISBN 0-521-25514-7 , pp. 145 (accessed June 28, 2010).
4. ^ Andrew DW Forbes: Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949 . CUP Archives, Cambridge, England 1986, ISBN 0-521-25514-7 , p. 111 (accessed June 28, 2010).
5. ↑ This death sentence is not new for me. Actually, I have died in a day when I came to Urumchi. (he meant his departure from Aksu later in 1934 after negotiations with Soviet Consul-General in Urumchi G. Apresoff, who urged him to come to Urumchi and accept the offer from Sheng Shicai to become a Vice-Chairman of Xinjiang Government, Commander of 6th Uyghur Division Mahmut Muhiti was against this move, considering that it affected badly the uyghur cause for independence), I will die, but my people will continue to live ... Revolution will not be terminated.
6. ↑ "No man can harm me. But these Tungans are no men. They are wild beasts roaming about the streets. It is hopeless to talk to wild beasts. They always have their rifles and pistols ready. They do not understand any other language. " History of the Expedition in Asia, 1927-1935: vol. 3
7. ↑ Ildikó Bellér-Hann: Community matters in Xinjiang, 1880-1949: towards a historical anthropology of the Uyghur . BRILL, 2008, ISBN 90-04-16675-0 , p. 74 (accessed June 28, 2010). : Father Hodjam Niaz Ghazi
   his guns are killing five
   When he is fighting with the Tungans
   he is killing thousands of victims of war.
8. ^ Andrew DW Forbes: Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 . CUP Archive, October 9, 1986, ISBN 978-0-521-25514-1 , p. 225.